Articles of the year 2016
Published on October 20th 2016
We stand at the crossroads of our history. One Path leads us to glory under the leadership of our only living legend who has achieved more in his lifetime, than all the others before him. Arrayed against him is a motley collection of rogues who would require the best legal minds to keep them out of jail. Their crimes would be a lesson in how to get the maximum benefit from circumventing the law, while first getting elected to positions where you control the levers of the law, and thus manage to keep your friends out of jail, and your enemies in. A very simple elegant procedure, betraying a feudal mindset, that has been running Pakistan to date and has found acceptability amongst the major players, including the anti establishment. It is to yet to be determined who is the establishment and who is the opposition.
The other path is where we are at the moment, looking into an abyss bottomless but with the horrific knowledge of impending doom. The question arises, whether we can stave off a future that is not of our choosing, and certainly not with the rewards that may be forthcoming.
Worse, every aspect of the ride is downhill at an ever increasing speed, and no way off the train. The only fault in Pakistan is that nobody obeys the law, and like good feudals everyone consider himself above the law. Be it Nawaz Sharif Shabaz or any Bhutto, the laws of Pakistan are beneath them. The rationale is that they have won the election, and therefore in a select group that are above the law. This is the fundamental flaw the exists in Pakistan. When in fact everyone is governed by the same set of laws.
Whichever system is brought in, presidential, or Parliamentary, the law remains unchanged. But it must be obeyed. It is like religion, the sins and virtues are well established, but if the sinners continue in their ways, and buy absolution, then society decays. It is the same with our lawmakers. They must obey the laws and punish the law breakers. A very well defined and complete set of laws is already in place–courtesy the British, and has served us well. But the Parliament in Pakistan is kept busy in finding loopholes to show that the law does not apply to them. So a whole section of society is tasked with the search for loop holes o r in most cases, a blatant defiance of the laws. This is the first challenge our society must face. Everybody must obey the law. Democracy, theocracy, communism, monarchy, are all different forms of government, but the basic laws of governance are the same, and they must all stop at the traffic lights, or there would be gridlock and chaos. The amazing part is that the slogan of democracy has been used by the 3 major political parties to bring their candidates into power, and aided and abetted by the western super powers. Condoleezza Rice in her book ‘ No greater honour ‘ proudly describes how she drafted the NRO a black law that allowed Pakistani politicians to be absolved of all their crimes by granting special immunity, guaranteed by the US and the British Governments, this was granted for crimes committed by the politicians and including heinous crimes like murder and kidnapping and arson. The US was guilty under international law of allowing this amnesty. How could these two Governments,UK and the US, force amnesty to criminals who had committed crimes in Pakistan under Pakistani Law which had a functioning penal code. Forcing the Pakistani Government to violate the Pakistani constitution, on crimes committed in Pakistan. Perhaps MS Rice should be charged as an abettor to Murder, and other crimes. This was a clear violation of the Pakistani constitution under the direction of the Americans. MS Rice is sadly quite proud of her achievement.
Unfortunately these criminal suspects have gone on to commit more crimes, and Pakistan is facing these criminals who never stopped their activities with a ‘license to kill’ granted by the US and UK allies. Now well practiced in their criminal skills, their rewards are increased manifold. At Pakistan’s expense. No wonder our poverty traps are increasing. Sadly all the above indicators reveal a weakness on behalf of the Pakistani leadership, and the inclination to acquiesce to foreign dictation as quickly as possible. Except for the Pakistani Army, all the civilians succumbed in indecent haste. This is probably due to a long period under colonial rule, so that the slave mentality is deeply ingrained and we have learned to live like slaves. While the masters thrive on our sweat.
Except for our Armed forces, where the dictation order is purely domestic, but the suffocative effect is the same. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the civilian Government has out corrupted itself, and Nawaz Sharif following his usual Feudal Mindset, feels that the Chief of Army staff is also an old family retainer, and cannot challenge his authority. How dare Gen Raheel challenge the ‘Born to rule’? In only the first generation? The Gullu Butts are chaffing at the bit. Waiting to be unleashed on errant Gen Raheel, soon to be taught a lesson in ‘know your place’.
Or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court no less has recently observed that the ‘behaviour of the Government is more like a monarchy than a democracy’. Surely the Chief Justice needs to issue an order to this effect, because our officers will need specific orders, which are lost in the translation from English to Punjabi, wherein the ears of the Punjab are more attuned to direction and the need of the commander. It appears that the Punjabi is more amenable to obedience than the other ethnic groups.
The time has come for us to decide, and regardless of the orders, act in our own interest and not in support of a ‘Sharif’. Only Imran can be trusted not to sell the country. Zardari has been exposed in the memogate scam in which he was lucky that he got saved by the US. With Condoleezza Rice bringing in her infamous NRO that locked Pakistan into the clutches of the most corrupt and criminal political parties like the PPP, MQM and PMLN to take turns pillaging Pakistan, helpless against the powerful political parties who had established their hold over all the institutions like the judiciary, police, and the civil Service. That is the reason Imran has not been able to challenge the rigging in the last elections. Securing their position till the elections in 2018, which would be a foregone conclusion. And Pakistan would be stuck in more of the same old mess. The scams surfacing are embarrassing and the size is increasing.
The western powers do not see the dangers of allowing a corrupt Dictatorship to continue its hold on a country as important in the area. The only institution independent of the corruption ridden politicians is the the Army, and even the COAS is being bullied into a corner by the accusation that he is against democracy. This slogan has been effectively sold the the international media and the western powers. Who should take another look at their present focus and shift their own direction. For this destabilisation of Raheel Shareef could spell doom for Pakistan, and a unleash a wave of terror which could make the Syrian problem look tame by comparison.
Maybe unleashing a worldwide conflict.