It is natural to cultivate expectations from others, so do the citizens. People have a natural propensity to pin their hopes for bliss and joy on fulfilled expectations. There is nothing wrong with this idea, as long as we have good reasons to believe that meeting an expectation will make us happy, and we take the necessary steps toward accomplishing those expectations. The good reasons include our experience that certain things surly make us happy, and how we reach to them. For instance, if some people know from their experience that morning cup of coffee makes them a little bit happy, they indeed expect this experience each morning.

Moreover, the problem of expectation is that they cannot make a cup of coffee just by thinking it into existence. They get to take the necessary steps to make it happen: grinding beans, putting coffee and water in coffee maker, push the button and wait. Just expecting a cup of coffee to appear is delusional. Wishing something to happen will not make it happen. Jean Piaget, a developmental psychologist, noticed that childish minds have difficulty in differentiating between the subjective worlds in their heads and the outer objective world. According to Piaget, children, consequently, most of the time, start believing that their thoughts can directly cause things to happen. Piaget denoted this act as magical thinking and indicated that we all come out of it by around age seven. Piaget study results do not fit with the citizens of Pakistan. Because for them it is difficult to let go of the idea that expecting something to happen will make it happen, till their last breath.

In a democratic structure, citizens plough and seed the ground through a vote and then expect the best outcome. But our political parties and narrative builders remain naïve in realising that it is in their job description to explain the public time, and their duty of watering, that requires a seed to turn into a fruit carrier tree. The bragging, incorrectly stipulated, temporally flawed claims by political parties in election campaigns trigger the expectations and cause attracting votes. But such assertions also turn into accusations against them very quickly, as it is happening with PTI since it has come to power.

There has always been a great gap between the pre-election promises and the post-election performance. One reason could be the incapacity or inadequacy of the cabinet. At the same time, there are political adversaries and their well-injected agents who put their entire might in creating a perception of government failure. Politicians convince the voters before each election campaign, and the voters expect the fulfilment of those promises. The voters expect from the governments that the country will achieve the targets of development, and all their problems would be resolved. But we beat around the bush; unfortunately, our scholarly and journalistic figures do not upgrade the cognitive ability of the public, rather play around with their emotions.

Let us reiterate our expectation from the present government, and rationalise some of the matters. Reforms in the judiciary, administrative structure, education, health, police and other public offices! Have we ever realised the intricate complexities of doing so? The entrenched selfish approach of beneficiaries sitting on the authoritative seats will do their best in creating obstacles for any reform that could stop the benefits of ineffective structure. Improvements need a clear-cut majority because the opposition uses these buttons to halt or slow down the reform process, and alliances manipulate and twist things for the sake of their benefits.

Are the so-called political scholars, narrative builders, influencers and journalists not aware of these facts? They expect and make the public expect all this happen with a magical wand. We expected IK to stabilise the economy. Instead of borrowing, import expansions, and eye washer projects we look forward to doing the alternatives, don’t we? But have we ever realised that doing so makes those unhappy, who were tripling their investments and let the poor become poorer. Have ever our narrative builders promulgated the fact that a change, which makes strong miserable, is supposed to be a right change and such strong self-centred stakeholders control the influencing networks, start perception twisting and build the rye mountain? The untrained, non-analytical majority, with short-term memory starts believing the crafted ill fantasy as a fact. These arguments are not to justify or camouflage the imperfections of PTI. The purpose is, instead, to discontinue a wave of hopelessness, and awakening people sitting in the corridors of narrative making, to educate masses and upgrade their intellect.

Let us get back to expectations and go global. Didn’t we expect PTI to reshape the international image? The so-called unbiased analysts must speak out the level of complications involved at a diplomatic front. Even then the flawless speech of PM at UNGA, a first-ever public talk to the largest gathering of Pakistani Americans in Washington DC, keeping balance approach in Iran-KSA conflict, the appearance of IK picture along with four other world leaders for the TIME magazine World Economic Forum (WEF) edition, positively revised UK travel advice for Pakistan etc. are examples of manoeuvring in foreign relation that is meeting to our expectations. In a globally integrated system, streamlining international relations will bring in opportunities that will lead to the meeting the socio-economic aspirations of people of Pakistan.

Let there be no illusion. Social, cultural and civic re-construction needs time and support. This is a demanding challenge for politicians, scholars, influencers and narrative builders to rise above their selves and groom general public about a thousand slips that lie between the cup and the lips. Citizens must be nurtured not to stop expecting, but make them realise the process it takes to meet the expectations. Without doing this, we cause only moral outrage and spread nothing but hatred. Thus instead of earning ease from expectations, we intentionally make them wait for the worry. We need to encourage, strengthen and make public stop considering expectations as premeditated resentments.