A man apart by Mr Basharat Husain Qizilbash published on December 6, 2010, could have been an objective piece on Col Gamal Abdul Nasser, only if the writer had not tried to eulogise the man. Nasser was just another autocrat in the long list of Arab autocrats. While admittedly a man who stood up to the West, carrying the flag of pan-Arabism, he was the chief architect of its demise in the sands of Sinai, where divisions of his Soviet made tanks lay destroyed, thanks to the havoc wreaked by the Israeli military.
The socialist Nasser waged a jihad against Israel in 1967 when his soldiers were bogged down in Yemen fighting against the pro-Saudi forces. The allies of Nasser in this holy war, Syria and Jordan, lost the Golan Heights and the West Bank respectively, not to mention the whole of Sinai desert and Gaza Strip lost to Israel by Egypt. While his national security policies on behalf of Egypt and its allies were no success, it was the same story in the realm of foreign and domestic policies. While the Al-Sauds of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemites of Iraq and Trans-Jordan were doing the Wests bidding, Nasser was doing the Soviet Unions bidding in the region.
The union between Egypt and Syria, popularly known as the United Arab Republic, went sour primarily because of Cairos insistence to play the role of all-knowing big brother despite Damascuss objections. His land reforms; utter disaster, leaving an average Egyptian poorer. The concept of democracy never bothered him; hence he maimed democratic elements of all shades (Sayyed Qutb, chief ideologue of Muslim Brotherhood was jailed, tortured and later killed) in Egypt.
He may very well be the most charismatic Arab personality of the last century, but it is because his contemporaries had none and also because Muslim societies have a penchant for a saviour on a white horses back. Lets not forget, if Nasser was betrayed by Sadat, Nasser too betrayed King Farouk, who had assigned him to purge the army of Free Officers Movement. What goes around comes around!
TAIMOOR ASHRAF
Lahore
