An alternate version of the past four years
Alternate or alternative history is an established literary genre going back to antiquity. It is essentially imaginative and speculative, but not entirely fantastical. The alternate account follows the factual one before veering off at some stage, and its submissions might be the ones that presented a viable option in real time, but were not preferred due to misjudgment by the then leadership. For instance, if the Trojan ruler had not allowed the wooden Greek horse within his high city walls, despite stiff opposition from those who believed it was a trick, would Troy have suffered such an existential defeat and destruction? Those who maintained, ‘Do not trust the Greeks even if they come bearing gifts’ were silenced by various arguments.
Not that the ‘real history of real men and women’ is any more definitive because ‘history is indeed an argument without end’ and a maverick species known as the ‘revisionist’ historian also exists in nature to pile up confusion, spice and scandal on the widely accepted version of past events. Indeed, it has been well said even of ‘real’ history, ‘to historians is given a power that even the gods are denied: to alter that which has already happened.’
Here then is an alternate view of what should have happened in the last four years, although one readily confesses that it veers too much towards the Utopian and ideal, and even the absurdly naive.
The leaders of the two major parties, the self-exiled BB and the forcibly-exiled Mian, after starting off on a high note of unity with the signing of the Charter of Democracy, return home together on the same flight in an audacious show of solidarity and trust in the will of the people (and also in the power of the electronic and social media!). BB had earlier rejected an offer of secret talks for a deal by a desperate military dictator faced by deep internal unrest. The bitter enmity between BB and NS is now a thing of the past: the country has had to suffer too much pain in the interim and the problems and the questions have piled up, including the brutal ramifications of the war on terror.
Enthusiastic crowds turn up in the hundred of thousands to welcome the homecoming leaders, despite the brutal counter-measures, and this show of mass support prevents any drastic action such as deportation or imprisonment by the regime and its allies (the all-weather friends of dictators anywhere in the Universe, the US and the UK). The duo go around the country, mobilising the masses in support of their joint cause of a democratic revival.
After Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Asif Ali Zardari lives up to his promise of not being a candidate for the post of president of Pakistan. Ideally, he takes on the role of a mentor and guide to the party leadership from the outside, much like Sonia Gandhi. The presidency goes to an elderly Baloch leader of undoubted stature acceptable to the nationalists and the political parties. This proves to the rebellious Baloch that change is really in the air now that they have their own high-profile voice in the closed establishment.
Alternately, since it is a political obsession with him or more charitably, as he truly desires to be a catalyst of socio-economic change, Zardari is elected to parliament and as the prime minister of Pakistan, while Mian Nawaz Sharif becomes the deputy prime minister. But in this instance of final resort he first faces and clears his name of the money-laundering charges in the courts.
After his trial and acquittal (since he claims to be innocent) by an independent judiciary instead of the kangaroo courts of the past, the two leaders agree on a policy of ‘no intrigues, no party politics’ for five years, and form a national government composed of 20-25 ministers, including top financial managers to stabilise the country and enhance its economy.
It is a period of reducing and eventually reversing the evils and perverted legacy of the earlier dictatorial regimes, including terrorism, bigotry, the disequilibrium in the military-political relationship, and also applying the healing touch to the fissures that have opened up: Balochistan, Karachi, and the injustices to the minorities.
The dismissed Supreme Court judges are restored immediately and all Musharraf appointees sent home, or if their guilt in some matter is established beyond any doubt, detained as guests of the state after due process.
Asif Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif both realise that they have been granted that rarest of human wishes, a second chance in life and they work in unison and absolute harmony to get the shaken nation and its demoralized citizens back on their feet. This time round, they are resolved to do something for the country and not the other way round. They come to the house regularly, put in long working hours, travel together up and down the length and breadth of the country, down to the remotest hamlet, to meet people first hand and listen to their problems.
And indeed, thanks to the dedicated and intense efforts of the political leadership, which even stays for up to a week at a time in the Provincial metropolis, the days of dread for the Baloch are now over, and their genuine grievances addressed in an amicable and broad-minded manner. No more talk of Baloch independence, no more insurgency or blowing up of gas pipelines, no more target killing of Punjabi settlers, no more tortured and bullet-riddled bodies, no more fishing in troubled waters by hostile forces…
The parties unanimously pass foolproof legislation in the National Assembly making corruption a crime punishable by life imprisonment and confiscation of all assets; against sleaze or ‘line losses’ in the utilities sector which are likewise to be severely and swiftly dealt with; ending the practice of doling out plots and public lands; against the tendency of cronyism and nepotism in making appointments at any level; against the anomaly of future dynastic succession in a modern democracy and progressive society; against possession of personal assets abroad by public servants, carrying the penalty of immediate disqualification, if proved; and draconian laws for sectarian killings, which carry the death penalty, with the accused being tried in special anti-terrorist courts in daily hearings. The presence of all these laws on the statute book and their no-nonsense implementation result in a much-needed steadying of the ship of state.
The born-again and mature leadership also sets an example of public and personal austerity, almost Spartan in some ways as compared to the kingly extravagances of the past. No more darting to and fro from one trivial destination to another, putting up in the most expensive hotels, with vast retinues comprising family, friends and hangers-on. Due to simple living and dare one say it, high thinking, the VIP culture has been considerably diminished, if not completely stamped out.
As a result of the amity between the PPP and the PML(N) and the ANP, the MQM’s potential for mischief and mayhem is checked and its octopus-like grip on Karachi loosened. New electoral constituencies are carved out of the gerrymandered ones favouring the MQM, without reckoning up the burgeoning Pakhtun population of the city. The party which once held a near monopoly in the affairs of Karachi and Hyderabad is obviously not amused, but in parliament it is the ‘dictatorship’ of numbers that has the final say and not ‘sector commander’ power. However, the gangs of Lyari and the mushroomed mafias are a tougher nut to crack… Still, there is hope now.
Another positive aspect of the friendly cooperation between the country’s two biggest parties in and outside the National Assembly is that the ‘by-product’ politicians, those in politics only for ‘business’ purposes, given to changing their loyalties at a wink’s notice, and who naturally gravitated to Gen (Retd) Musharraf’s side, have also lost their dubious utility as power brokers and kingmakers. These ruthless manipulators will surely be wiped out in the next elections by the mainstream parties and move on to Spain or wherever business beckons.
And over the last four years, the strength of the cabinet or responsible form of government has been amply proven as the ministers who failed to deliver resigned of their own accord and their resignations were also promptly accepted. This was another benefit of the end of cronyism, in which bungling ‘mystery’ men apparently responsible to no one but themselves, could still retain their ministerial posts for years in past regimes.
But now its time to return to present reality and the first bit of (back) breaking news one hears is of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s conviction for contempt of Supreme Court orders and its myriad reactions, all of them disturbing. A harbinger of more verbal warfare, more mischief, more instability and more torment for the people. Bad, bad reality.
The writer is a freelance columnist.
