Do our leaders read?

As a compatriot, to our multitude of politicians, I cannot but lament at the lowest of intellectual capacity that is put on wanton display by them, every single day. It is a period of regret, between 7:00p.m, and midnight, to watch the uncountable TV talk shows. As a viewer, nay listener, you want to commit yourself to suicide or break the idiot box! With total disdain to grace, modesty and decency, these politicians and the supposed SMEs (subject matters experts) indulge into the verbal warfare; where the verbal part is culled from the gutters of the society and the warring methodology is borrowed from ancient Greek history of torture (Thankfully, only verbally).
Polonious: What do you read?
Hamlet: Words, words, words
Let me re-construct this:
Interviewer: What do you read Sir?
Our Politician: (With a puzzled look of harassment) Nothing, nothing and Nothing
Why can't or why don't, our politicians spend some time each day to read history and current affairs. They ought to choose to read, just as they choose the constituency, to win an election - and with same degree of interest. Because of this apathy towards reading, they come up with superficial knowledge, less than average analysis, indicating fairly well, the lack of depth of their own understanding of the issues. There is no iota of any thinking that is emancipated and liberated. Because they haven't read, how can anyone expect a frog of the pond, to talk about the mighty beauteous ocean!
M.A. Jinnah, to whom every single creed of politician, commits his/her allegiance, should know that he was an avid and veracious reader. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is known more for his intellectual astuteness than political maneuvering; so is the case of Dr. Zakir Hussain. Where is our breed? Perhaps, after the Quaid, Pakistan could only produce Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who had the ability, largely due to his reading habit, could speak at length on any subject, barring economics, which remained his weakest area. His articulation was superb, his intelligence unmatched. The spontaneity of wit and humour, was ever noticeable in his speeches and conversations. Our current politicians cannot crack a "decent" joke, in their most "indecent" speeches.
Artists communicate through their works. Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh did not have to be good speakers. Their paintings spoke, and that it did so well, is a testimony to their "unspoken" intelligence. Handel, Mozart and Beethoven (deaf and dumb) were not articulate in speech, but their music compositions, spoke. "All leadership takes place through communication of ideas to the mind of others". (Charles Colley). A politician therefore has to speak and speak with substance. Leaders, especially, those seeking public office must know how to communicate - only if they would "read, will the audience get to hear, something of value, and not gibberish. They can't even lace any of their arguments with wit and humour.
Reading maketh a man. Politicians should read with an insatiable urge, history and bio-graphies. I understand to keep in touch with national politics, ZAB used to read / scan 18 newspapers before retiring for the day. Why don't politicians read Churchill's - life and times or Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar's speeches, editorials, op-eds, etc. There is so much to learn out there. Shouldn't politicians be good story - tellers? They must; but they can only, if they have a dream, to sell. And how does the dream dawn only through extensive reading - Allama Iqbal read "Goethe" more than Goethe could read, what he wrote! He took the pains to achieve the status of a philosopher.
Listening to some recent speeches, I find our politicians not selling dreams but nightmares - each worse than the other - of course none can have 'spiritually inspired intellectual dreams, when the gut is full of "siri and paya"!.
The currency and traffic of all types of leadership is knowledge and communication. Robert Oppenheimer, possibly had us, as a pre-monition, when he paradoxically wrote, "No man should escape our university without some sense of the fact that not through his fault, but in the nature of things, he is going to be an ignorant man and so is everyone else". By sheer jerking, breaking micro-phones and shouting with hoarse voice, our leaders wish to influence our minds, with expectation to rule over us; what a fallacy, they believe in that they know everything better? I have had politicians come to my book launch, they spoke, not a single word about the book but everything else - because possibly they had not even flipped through the first pages!
Of late, Imran Khan has been quoting from Islamic history and some random comments about Nelson Mandela, Mahatir,Lee Kaun Yew, etc. - but only he knows, how much time he invests in "reading" every day. Always prefer reading over political mud-slinging. Imran Khan, like my own-self is fascinated, by British history, but I wonder if he spends time to re-read (there is hidden assumption here!) the life and times of Disraeli, Gladstone, William Pitt, Oliver Cromwell, Churchill etc. At least he will learn to give an educated, decent repartee to other politicians. NS, I am sure, though not being privy to personal lives, but because it just "shows", hasn't read a single book, since leaving college. Even from the "parchments" that he funnily tugs into his trousers back pocket and pulls them out with great difficulty, he is unable to speak with any passion or clarity. Even in spoken English, to our politicians of all creed and colour,Japan is "Jaapaan" and London is, "Loundoughn"! In TV talk shows, the only exception to all of the above is Asad Umar. And that too, shows.
Why can't Imran write a column for any newspaper, atlas east once in two months, detailing his vision, his game plan, his strategy, etc, in black and white - I am sure by doing so, he will develop clarity, that he badly needs too! And we as his admirers, need more from him. Churchill, Lenin, Mao, Nixon, and many other political leaders wrote regularly. Even Jawaharlal Nehru's letters from prison to his daughter Indira are a treat to read, for they are full of political philosophy.
Please read, because a leader is also an educator. "A great leader must be an educator, bridging the gap between the vision and the familiar. But he must also be willing to walk alone to enable his society to follow the path he has selected" (Henry Kissinger).
Reading would make our leaders mentally strong. Napoleon had a memory like filing cabinet and he knew, when and where to draw from. Only Churchill could have said, "we shall fight on the beaches......". I cannot re-call any statement of an atom's worth of profundity, uttered by our leaders. A former city government official, when he speaks, he merely confirms to the audience that he never set in any Class, at any level of educational institute; uncouth is his stance, indecent is his posturing and filth is his conversation.
My dear politicians, read Mr. Jinnah to discover and know what discipline, uprightness, honesty and fair play mean in politics. If you read, your electorate will be inspired to do so.
(The author is freelance contributor and columnist)