Narrative reversed

We are all Syeds, all 180 million of us. Yes, we are all children of Prophet Mohammad’s family. Somehow, despite the Umayyad invasion of Sindh, we continue to be Syeds. But our Muslim heritage is traced back to Mohammad bin Qasim, a warrior in the grandest Arab traditions. Pakistani machismo, and certainly our armed forces’ honour, is built on the bravery and principles of Mohammad bin Qasim – a man not representing the clan of the Prophet Mohammad but instead, his adversaries. And yet, the self-proclaimed defender of anything Islam charts its lineage to Mohammad bin Qasim.
Because of Mohammad bin Qasim, our collective consciousness precludes any possibility of having Hindu ancestry. Raja Dahir was an evil Hindu ruler, devoid of the religious and cultural supremacy that Mohammad bin Qasim brought with him. This narrative of good Muslim versus evil Hindu creates a George W Bush-esque binary: one that does not have much place for smaller cultures and alternate narratives – the greys, if you will.
Pakistan’s treatment of the Osama bin Laden fiasco has asked the same broad question, over and over again: why was there an intelligence failure? While the parliament asked why bin Laden stayed in Pakistan for as long as he did, the Army and ISI’s “failure” is couched in very different terms. The Army and ISI seem to indicate that the failure in intelligence is not over why bin Laden stayed in Abbottabad for five years, but how it remained undetected that American spies were watching over his safe house, and second, why didn’t Pakistan know that a US offensive was about to take place.
Of course, this second kind of reading is as parochial and insular as our interpretation of Mohammad bin Qasim’s invasion of Sindh. The Americans have been painted as the Raja Dahirs of this age, the evil that needs to be washed away for the truth to prevail. The truth, at least for those gracing our parliament, continues to rest with the armed forces and intelligence agencies – the real masters of their chequered fortune. Till now, and even after the closed-doors explanation provided by the armed forces, the truth has still not rested with civilians. Had that been the case, the nation would surely have gotten that address it so deserved, and still does.
For all the talk of a “watershed moment” in Pakistan’s history, the convoy of the Army Chief was grander than President Asif Ali Zardari’s protocol. Smoke breaks took precedence over what was being said. Offers to resign were never quite real, just a symbolic gesture. A need for an “independent enquiry” was felt to fix responsibility despite the responsible accepting responsibility. “National sovereignty” is widely accepted as a commodity for the consumption of ordinary citizens, for those in power only act in self-interest. Those in government acted to preserve their tenure while those who want to begin a tenure of their own are mindful of their crooked past.
We are only living in the illusion of being sovereign; in fact, our military, under the able leadership of General Pervez Musharraf, sold our sovereignty and bases to the United States. The United States’ and the world’s anger at what amounts to betrayal points to the responsibility they feel about wasting millions of their tax-payers’ money on Pakistan, but sums that have already gone unaccounted for and certainly unspent on Pakistani citizens.
In the Pakistani Mohammad bin Qasim narrative, what is conveniently glossed over is the inter-Arab rivalry at play. G M Syed, in his book Sindhudesh, claims that Raja Dahir had given asylum to a Syed, Mohammad bin Allafi – a man considered to be a follower of Imam Hussain. The Umayyads wanted to get rid of him since he was a symbol of the Ahl-e-Bait, but Raja Dahir refused to return bin Allafi to “Arab imperialists”. And so, Mohammad bin Qasim was sent over in what was perhaps this region’s first war between Islamist and secular forces.
Since long, the GHQ has wanted to play Mohammad bin Qasim, even though it seems to have played the role of Raja Dahir by not handing over Osama bin Laden. ISI may have apologised to the parliament for an intelligence failure, but the subtext of this admission of guilt was that we couldn’t protect Syed Osama bin Laden.
And yet, Raja Dahir – a Hindu – is still our enemy.

The writer is Deputy City Editor, Pakistan Today, Karachi.