By Parvez Jamil
IMAGINE difference between leadership and statesmanship! Indeed it is worth-pondering by man in the street, men of letters and men at the helm of affairs.
It is for being non-partisan and forpeace and harmony names of parties, politicians and statesmen need not be singled out but all is left for the judgement of readers and reviewers in this connection.
In many a respect statesman is the opposite of politician. Politicians are thought of as people who will say or do anything to get elected or to gain power. A statesman is someone who does everything for good of the people he or she represents.
In this context it is a common fact that leaders are aplenty, so many many; statesmen are a rarity, very very few; be it social, educational, managerial, political or religious faculties or fields.
Readers and reviewers can themselves analyze and assess the in and out of the general and ordinary leadership. That means rosy promise and promising campaigns for votes/mandates to fancy and lure the masses.
Once the campaigns are over, rosy promises dissipate amid hidden agenda and lopsided priorities of the so-called leaders as innocent masses are bewitched and bewildered until the next election of this vicious cycle continues unabated.
Public memory is short and people generally tend to forget about false promises despite their problems remain unattended by leaders. Also continues is an unending spree of political mud-slinging leg-pulling and backbiting bringing educational, social and economic demoralization, stagnation and degeneration.
Amid this rampant and bewildered political scenario of blind ego and selfish ends and public chaos and helplessness, dawns a ray of hope over the battered and shattered social and economic horizon. Here is the dawn of rare statesmanship!
True statesmanship, though very rare, is an enlightened form of leadership, rising over and above self and pursuing public interests, especially those of the impoverished, straight from the heart by sheer self-sacrifice. Besides being humane and a model of human touch, true statesmanship carries and delivers exemplary managerial skill and acumen for the benefit of the masses behind mandate.
Here the emphasis is on practical and beneficial provisions for public safety, security, justice, health, environment, education, training, rehabilitation, especially on public confidence-building and self-reliance so that people can stand on their own feet and pursue respectable livelihoods with grace, dignity and honor in the comity of nations.
At the international level the very essence of real statesmanship revolves around being trend-setters with exemplary skills and acumen in conflict resolution or pacific settlement of disputes through result-oriented negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration.
It is through exemplary international statesmanship that world trend-setters can lead from the front in transforming aid with strings psychology and devise feasible ways and means for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the teeming millions irrespective of caste, color, country or continent.
What ever and where ever leadership or statesmanship is in question, it has to be borne in mind both need to have highest responsibility and priority for people and society and for their very own accountability and credibility all for which they are answerable to humanity and to their very own conscience.
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The writer is educational, philanthropic and media professional and contributes to media on local, national and international affairs.
parvezjamil@hotmail.com