Reap the Whirlwind

MAY 2002 - What is one to do with Pakistan? It’s a question that sends waves of despondency and despair over us because it seems there is nothing that one can do about Pakistan. There is simply nothing that looks remotely like putting the country right. No dosage of slogans and pipe dreams is going to pull us out of this suicidal dive. Better nations than ours have succumbed. Why should we be the royal exception just because we are Muslims and just because we are Pakistanis? There is no silver lining here and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. They stole the silver lining and as for the tunnel, it never had an end. We are consigned to it forever.

Sanctity of life and protection of people’s property are two of the most hopeless causes in Pakistan. We cannot set the balance right ever again, because we have compromised our best interests for personal gain and vainglory. Nothing can change things here except miracles. Of that commodity, universally in short supply, there has been a divine embargo where this once land of the pure is concerned. We are a bloody-minded and inhumane lot. A comparison to animals would be insulting the good beasts. We kill without provocation and we kill anyone and everyone. The writ of the government is the biggest joke and believed only by a handful of groveling sycophants and all those who are not prepared to accept responsibility. Why hasn’t Mr. Moinuddin Haider resigned so far? Well, why should he? He is not responsible for the latest carnage, is he? Every helpless ordinary citizen of this country is at the mercy of killers on the loose – some in the garb of freedom fighters, liberators, patriots, and divinity license holders – the line goes on. Others come dressed in uniforms of various hues. All terrorise the people, one way or another.

Every day Pakistanis have woken up hoping and praying for a miracle that would at last put the country on something loosely resembling a civilized society and every day there have been dozens of incidents – killings, lootings, bombings that have pushed us deeper into the darkness. And every year has been a succession of failures, of shattered hopes and wistful dreams. Whoever has come to rule us has turned on us. They have cheated, betrayed and destroyed us while becoming richer and richer at our cost. Then when the going gets tough, they decamp in the dead of night. Some refuse to go and have to be blown out of the skies. Those who have won elections have reneged on every promise. Those who have simply usurped power haven’t even done that. The line of promises and commitments is longer than the Great Wall of China. The line of betrayals, even longer. There has been not a single leader who believed in his people. Everyone has honoured the established tradition of loot, plunder and ill governance.

It took us years to put together a constitution. Having cobbled together something that resembled one, we set about eroding it day by day, driving nails into the coffin, even though the body died years ago. Every leader who struck power in Islamabad turned and twisted the constitution. The country’s greatest ‘independent’ legal minds, sold their souls again and again, making ‘suitable’ changes to suit their masters. Expediency has been the perennial favourite policy as careers climbed and nationhood plummeted into the murky gloom. The constitution still remains but its mutilation has no end. It is of course another matter, and a rather futile one, that even if we had it in pristine condition, our fate would still have been more or less what it is today.

This week the suicide bombing of a naval bus in Karachi has brought home the truth that has been staring at us for years. We are not a viable proposition. We are without the most basic of values and we have allowed ourselves to be hijacked repeatedly, plundered and looted repeatedly and in the process allowed our country to become a 5 star haven for the world’s terrorists, dope peddlers, smugglers, killers and demented preachers. Hatred, intolerance, bigotry are the ideals by which the country lurches from crisis to crisis. Those at the power controls have nothing else to offer other than the customary clichés, the deeply-grieved, shocked-and-dismayed and heartfelt-condolences that pour out of the mouths of our leaders with not a single iota of sincerity or purpose. The ritual has to be maintained and maintained it is, with a straight face.

Who in his right mind would want to come here? What do we have to offer? The world’s highest mountains and the cheapest labour? So what is the big deal about that? Violence in our daily lives is as certain as the sunrise. Somewhere, some outrage is committed, largely in the name of God and often for notions of honour and integrity. No one is immune. Christians, Shias, Sunnis, you name them. Clerics, doctors, students, traders, businessmen, you name them. Acid throwing police officers, slighted lovers, jealous fathers, warped brothers, enraged citizens, you name them. Everyone operates outside the law and because there is no accountability – there cannot be any accountability because the list of ‘accountables’ is far too large and contains far too many important people, everyone gets away with murder – literally. Judicial enquiries are a joke, as are probes and investigations. When can anyone recall the findings of an enquiry being made public and then the guilty punished? Never. No one is ever punished. If caught, you just pay and get out, like you do in a game of monopoly. At best, a lot of dust is kicked up, firm resolves of ‘bringing the culprits to book’ are announced, to ease the pressure and cover up the glitches. The words of presidents, prime ministers, governors and other power brokers about bringing the guilty to justice are so trite and so false that it must take an awfully thick coat of insensitive skin to go on issuing these statements that mean absolutely nothing.

In fifty years and more, we have successfully destroyed whatever semblance of civilized existence we ever professed and we are continuing the destruction, though there is not much left to destroy. Can our problems be ever solved? Most people would say they cannot be, because we neither have the will, nor the leaders, nor the systems to tackle these head-on. Some still believe that all it requires is a leader who decides that his or her first job is to clean up this country and ensure peace for the common people in their daily lives, but where in the world will we find such a man or woman? The latest President might have picked up 98% of whatever that got stuffed into ballot boxes, but instead of wearing funny headgear and making boring speeches, he should put on his commando fatigues and truly launch a full-scale clean up of this mess. As a front-line state for the US, he should know the gifts that will come in its wake. The frightening decline into a bloodthirsty and demented nation that thinks nothing of taking lives is forcing more and more Pakistanis to seek their fortunes in countries as far away as possible from their country of birth. This week is one more opportunity to really do some soul searching and it must begin both with Islamabad, where everyone seems to be a character out of Tennyson’s ‘The Lotus Eaters’, and from commoners like us. No one else is going to do it for us and Islamabad will default again. There will be no reprisals, no Moeenuddin Haiders will ever resign and the blame for the latest tragedy will be pegged into another convenient slot and life will carry on in its shaky and treacherous manner, till the next human tragedy hits us again. The frightening thing is, we won’t have to wait long.