There are many sides to the self-proclaimed Libyan Guide the man with the so-called Green Book (to rival Maos Red or so he probably believes). Is it any wonder that one of the multitudes of even trivial debates surrounding the man relates to his name? Few seem to get it right.
Is he Gaddafi, Qaddafi, Qadhafi or Kadhafi (the k, in this instance, sounding like the pretentious k in kool instead of the more regular cool). To compound the moniker blues, there is also confusion over the variants of the first name: is it Moammer or Muammar? The connection to the surname is also two-fold: Al Qaddafi and el-Qaddafi.
Whatever be the choice and appeal to the name, there was until now a denominator surrounding the maverick Gaddafis (my choice is simply based on how the stadium in Lahore is named) person eccentricity with a capital E.
The events of the last fortnight have however, relegated the part about eccentricity to an aside. Whereas eccentric folk are often the most lovable of the breed going around on two legs, Gaddafi has given enough evidence to suggest he has moved on to become a monster, a reincarnation of the evil that played out in the Lockerbie episode.
What kind of Guide to call him a leader would be an insult would call his own people rats and dogs deserving of death? Only a devil like him could discriminate among his people and then urge those who side with him to go house-to-house and kill them. His deranged condescension reminds one of Louis IVs ltat cest mois (Im the State).
Whilst Gaddafi vowed to fight on to the last drop of my blood, his crafty heir, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, left few in doubt about the Dracula inclination of his father, when he threatened to unleash rivers of blood and fight to the last bullet.
Not that Gaddafi and his son were content with rabble rousing. Forces loyal to the autocrat have reportedly, killed a thousand Libyans for taking to the streets more than 200 of them through aerial bombing in a fortnight. It is the frenzied obsession with his own place in the universe that bemuses most people.
The single most defining trait of dictators, which never ceases to amaze is their failure to see the writing on the wall and near-disbelief at any possibility of the sun setting on their empire one day.
Given to the delusion surrounding his indispensability, Gaddafi continues to fancy bringing down the revolting populace, which he has fancifully described as Osama bin Ladens force!
Not that it offers any surprise coming from a man, who says in his Green Book that democracy is the abortion of an individuals rights. Some of the contents were turned into national slogans, one of which unambiguously, states: The house belongs to those who live in it. As a consequence, those holding multiple properties were forced to surrender these.
The bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, which left 270 dead, was perhaps only the final confirmation of his evil. He famously dismantled the countrys chemical, biological and nuclear weapons stockpiles in 2003 to bail out Tripoli from years of global sanctions, which had reduced Libya to a pariah. This again, was only an attempt at self-perpetuation.
That decision sat in stark contrast to the decades of cultivated image of a macho man taking on the might of the West, particularly America.
However, the recent WikiLeaks cables revealed a man, who only has buxom female bodyguards (the favourite being a blonde Ukrainian), who travel with him everywhere, perhaps, to take his mind off the fear of flying over water, but someone who is shy of making eye contact with women of substance.
Prior to one such meeting then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was cautioned against shifty eyes and long intervals of silence!
Closer home a majority of Pakistanis are understandably, miffed with him for insulting their country.
The debate has understandably veered around to a fervent pitch for renaming the famous Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Amongst a wide array of opinion one has come across, TV anchor Dr Moeed Pirzadas take was interesting. Opposing any such move, he set store by history attached to people, places and things, which he felt shouldnt be changed based on emotion.
Many others with professed liberal values also feel it is a trivial issue. My considered opinion is that while the historic part is valid, it is also a question of having the moral courage to be on the right side of history. A history that sides with the inalienable right of the people to be free and masters of their own destinies. Makes sense to exorcise the Gaddafi ghost. In fact, there never was a better time to rechristen it Imran Khan Stadium.
The writer is a newspaper editor and can be reached at [email protected]
