The perception that Pakistan is slipping into chaos has been gaining ground for a number of years, for a number of reasons. The most critical contributing factor has been the total absence of transparent accountability of those who control the fate of the country. Such are the depths of depravity that our traditional political leaderships have sunk to that they have become shamelessly immune to criticism. Instead, combative strategies are formulated around an immoral use to powers vested in constitutional offices to let convicted criminals escape with impunity. Such individuals are then handed lucrative posts so that they could continue indulging in their mafia-riddled activities.
The Osama killing within a kilometre of a high-security zone near Abbottabad makes the senses numb. The fact that the intruding flying machines, in the air and on the ground for over one-and-a-half hour, went un-noticed is a matter that raises serious concerns about the entire security mechanism. Merely ascribing it to lack of available technical expertise would be an abject insult to human intelligence. The incident is so grave that, in any society driven by the laws of accountability, heads would have rolled by now. Instead, our erstwhile interior minister had the gall to say that “what happened is known to the nation”. Well, the nation does not know what really happened, but it knows that you would make every endeavour that it never does because that would bare your own incompetence, even complicity.
Osama may be gone, but he has left behind a trail that would, for ever, keep providing fodder for fact and fiction alike. He may have been killed inside the compound, but the logic behind not showing the photograph of a dead Osama for fear of reprisals is incomprehensible. What adds to the mystery is the decision to bury him at sea because the US did not want a shrine to be built. People are already postulating that there was no Osama and the whole operation was hogwash to put Pakistan, more particularly its intelligence agency, under further pressure. The fact that it happened in the wake of the Raymond Davis incident that had exposed the gnawing gap between the conflicting perceptions of the ISI and the CIA and which, according to reports, had led to the former demanding of the latter to reduce the level and scope of its clandestine operations in Pakistan, is a case in point.
The operation was a blatant infringement of Pakistan’s sovereignty and security and needs to be probed thoroughly. The statements emanating from various US officials point in one direction alone: that the US did not have requisite trust in Pakistan to share the nature and the dynamics of the operation with it beforehand. So, it opted to do so after its completion, and that, too, by way of information alone. There were no regrets, no apologies. Instead, there has been a vociferous reiteration of the US right to repeat the regimen if it felt the need to do so. To add insult to the injury was the US assertion that Pakistan and its agencies were either incompetent or complicit – an accusation that, on the face of it, and for as long as some ingredients are not ascertained through an exhaustive study that led to the total collapse of our radar mechanism and our intelligence ability, would seem to hold. But, there is another aspect that cannot be pushed out of perspective: the total insensitivity and failure of our political leadership to comprehend the enormity of the incident and respond urgently and effectively to mitigate its after-effects. As various facets of the midnight-early morning operation were still unfolding, the presidency witnessed the gruesome circus of PML(Q) ministers taking oath for a profitable dip in the corruption-infected juices of the incumbent government and to save their crumbling political empire. That’s not all: while the COAS showed considerable sense by calling off his trip to Brussels, the prime minister went ahead with his Paris visit along with a fat entourage of toadies and sycophants for what could have easily been postponed for a convenient date in the future. Maybe he had gone there to hold the world responsible for what had happened in Pakistan:“ World agencies failed on Osama. Only Pakistan cannot be held responsible”. The French must be having a good laugh and may oblige by extending another invitation to our clueless prime minister to visit again to provide a much-needed comic relief. Seriously, back home, there was nothing even remotely connected with an effort that had been made to untangle the knot.
As this scribe has advocated on numerous occasions in the past, Pakistan needs to redefine its relationship with the US. Its shortcomings aside, it can no longer continue to barter its sovereignty for sustaining its corrupt political leaderships. While the US is focussed exclusively on advancing its interests, Pakistan seems groping in the dark, trying to see whether it has any strategic goals that it needs to secure. Instead, its political leaderships are consumed by their lust to hang on to power.
Not that the government ever had any moral, even legal basis to continue in the saddle after a spate of mishaps during its incumbency, but the utter lack of will to address the collective national shame of Pakistan is a compelling reason for it to quit forthwith. Going by the mindset of the ruling elite, this would never be a prospect. Under the circumstances, there is no option but to provoke a popular movement for its ouster. Deeply plagued with its dominantly self-serving agenda that has put the country and its strategic national interests on sale for sporadic economic crumbs or providing longevity to its corrupt political elite, the government has lost out on its right to rule. It should quit before the looming prospect of a clash of institutions becomes a reality.
The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com