The rule of criminals

0
119

In my last piece on the subject, I had pleaded for the institution of a judicial enquiry to ascertain the veracity of the treasonous accusations that Zulfiqar Mirza has made, and continues to make against the MQM, its leader Altaf Hussain, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and, by extension, President Zardari and other functionaries of the government. I had also hoped that this would be the least that even the most corrupt government would do by way of legitimising its endless proclamations to safeguarding democracy.

Obviously, I was wrong. No such thing has happened so far. Much worse, there appears little likelihood that this may happen in the future either. The government is quiet. The judiciary exhibits little interest beyond going through the motions of hearing the suo motu notice of the security situation in Karachi that has claimed over 1,500 lives during the current year alone. The army stays mum. This time, it hasn’t even released the customary statement after the corps commanders’ meeting on Thursday. Are these pernicious portents for the impending storm?

Before getting to that, I would like to share my darkest fears with my readers: when it gets as bad as this, something is bound to come apart. Tragically, it can either be the system that has degenerated beyond a hope of recovery, piling miseries upon a hapless people, or it can be the state itself that is captive in the debilitating grip of a galaxy of criminal mafias.

What is most alarming is the attitude of the judiciary. It hovers between the extremes of bellicose verbosity on the miserable state of governance and the lack of legitimacy and integrity of those who are in charge and an indescribable and self-effacing nonchalance when it shies away from responsibility, hiding behind the edifice of the constitution. It sits endlessly on the NRO review petition, the Swiss accounts case, the president’s disqualification case and the loans default petitions against the Sharif brothers. It has repeatedly stepped back from holding the rulers in contempt of the court adjudications and, apparently, it has shown little interest in using its constitutional authority to have its decisions implemented. Can one, therefore, surmise that the judiciary has, for reasons untold, become an extension of the illegal and unconstitutional dispensation of the ruling mafias? That would be a sad commentary on an institution that had, only a couple of years ago, generated such indescribable optimism among the people who had stepped out in the hundreds of thousands to stamp its independence.

Should we, therefore, just sit back and watch the demeaning tidings with blood depleting in our veins and hope deserting us? Or, should we undertake, one last time, the onerous task to untangle this country from the tentacles of the hordes of dons who reside in every corridor of power and in every aisle of the rulers’ residential quarters? Going the way of the former, the country would either vanish all-together, or disintegrate into tiny fiefdoms ruled by the beneficiaries of the state largesse and the corruption of its rulers. The latter option carries the remote prospect of retrieval.

As act after act of this humiliating drama is heaped upon the country, the one who calls himself Khadim-e-Punjab has brought the curse of dengue upon his people. According to reliable reports which have been carried by various news channels and publications, a senior functionary of the Department of Health of the Punjab government had pleaded for the dengue spray in the city, but the Khadim-e-Punjab, in his absolute wisdom, not only adjudicated against it, but also reprimanded the concerned official, actually threatening his removal. Well, the concerned functionary should have known better. If only he had included the irresistible incentive of the unveiling of a plaque to initiate the anti-dengue spray campaign, he would have easily carried the day – and a mention of honour, too. Imagine somewhere in the city of Lahore, yet another plaque standing tall proclaiming that the anti-dengue spray campaign was inaugurated by the Khadim-e-Punjab. An absolute winner!

That takes me back in time to when it used to be Khadim-e-Aala. It took a while for the information wizards of Shahbaz Sharif to realize the patent contradiction of terms in the concoction. It was then changed to Khadim-e-Punjab. Of course, the province has persistently reeled under his misrule and suffered at the hands of policies that lack in relevance and sustainability. In a country where education development is slower than the population growth, can one imagine the gift of “Daanish” to a province, with a network of around 64,000 decrepit schools, that is in dire need of an intensive literacy drive at the grassroots level? Or, the “Park and Drive” superstructure in Liberty Market, Lahore where no one likes to park?

Whereas his policies are principally his own aberrations, they also are a tribute to the incompetent team of cheer-leaders that he has gathered around him whose principal undertaking it is to applaud every gesture he makes, be it on way to ruination! One thing that eludes me is that, if Khadim-e-Punjab believes that he is the only ‘competent’ person around, why does he suffer the presence of an arrogant and attitude-stuck bureaucracy and hordes of non-transparently inducted consultants and advisors?

As dengue continues to take its toll, and as Pakistan limps from one disaster to the next, one wonders where this farce is leading us and when, if at all, is it going to end? Imran Khan is right: “Pakistan is being ruled by criminals. There is a martial law of criminals in the country”.

The writer is a political analyst and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reached at [email protected]