The promise of peace with the vultures flying overhead
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is reported to have said that “on completion of the operation Zarb-e-Azb, there will be peace in the country”. Nothing could be farther from reality.
In essence, Zarb-e-Azb is an operation that has been launched to cleanse a particular area, North Waziristan Agency (NWA) to be more specific, of the presence of militants. Even if it were to achieve its hundred per cent targets, that’s the best it can do: eliminate militants from the NWA, but only temporarily. Does that mean that the entire country has also been cleansed of the presence of militants? Or that the nurseries garbed as madrassas that are producing them by the dozens everyday have been regulated? Or that the sectarian and criminal organisations that are creating schisms in the society pitting one sect against the other in an endless orgy of bloodshed, most of whom also enjoy political patronage, have taken an oath of righteousness and have since left their errant ways? Or, for that matter, the endless barrage of the religiosity-laden bands that have set out to mould the society along regressive and degenerate lines have retired to their hujras? Or the role that the media is playing by according disproportionate space and time to the militants to put across their sick and distorted point of view, even painting some of them as heroes, has been taken care of? Or, the zealots within the ruling hierarchy that are working overtime to disparage national institutions have been lured into a deep slumber? Or, the prime minister has finally come to terms with the reality and has banished the worms of hatred that have dominated him in the policy-making and governance matters?
When everyone could see the spread of militancy in the country, the political leadership opted for elevating the status of the militants to that of strategic stakeholders on a par with the state of Pakistan and initiated farcical negotiations with them. This proved to be nothing but wastage of precious time. Given their inherent penchant for espousing the extreme-right narrative and their avowed weakness in the face of challenges, the political leadership would have gone on with conducting the farce, but the military command intervened by opting to launch the operation against the militant strongholds, nevertheless. Left with no alternative, the incumbent political mafias made a late bid to owning up the decision, looking red in the face.
It is tall order, indeed, to go by. Even expecting that some work may actually be initiated towards controlling the nurseries of hate and militancy would surprise many. But, making a brazen claim of peace returning to the country after the successful completion of operation Zarb-e-Azm would border on the hilarious. It appears to be a ploy to pre-empt the other efforts that the government will have to initiate to finally rid the country of the scourge of militancy including regulating the madrassas, making the sectarian and criminal organisations completely dysfunctional by not allowing these to operate under any garb, and launching an all-encompassing operation to cleanse the urban slums of the presence of the militant strongholds who have not only filtered there in large numbers, but are controlling sizeable swathes of territory from where they try to demonise the people by using terror tactics.
All this is rooted in the lack of legitimacy of the incumbent political leadership and the somersaults it has taken over the last few months with regard to serious policy matters. Be it the case of moving against the militants, or respecting and strengthening the state institutions, or working for national cohesion and unity, or evolving multi-partisan approach to tackling existential issues, the myopic and gravely-jaundiced political leadership has been found wanting to an abysmal degree.
When everyone could see the spread of militancy in the country, the political leadership opted for elevating the status of the militants to that of strategic stakeholders on a par with the state of Pakistan and initiated farcical negotiations with them. This proved to be nothing but wastage of precious time. Given their inherent penchant for espousing the extreme-right narrative and their avowed weakness in the face of challenges, the political leadership would have gone on with conducting the farce, but the military command intervened by opting to launch the operation against the militant strongholds, nevertheless. Left with no alternative, the incumbent political mafias made a late bid to owning up the decision, looking red in the face.
The onslaught against the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) by senior government ministers did not surprise many. What was surprising though was the timing of the vituperative attack. When the country was caught up in the grip of ceaseless terrorist incursions, the government opted to weaken its own military and its premier intelligence agency. The motives could be traced to another ongoing farce that is being conducted in a specially-constituted court trying General Musharraf under article-6 of the Constitution in an attempt to shaming the military and forcing it to submit completely and unconditionally before the demonic dictatorship of the Sharifs, thus allowing them to use the state and its resources for digging their corrupt tentacles deeper and exploiting their ill-gotten mandate to perpetuate their family stranglehold to last through their coming generations.
We have, in the constitution, such clauses which, if followed without exception, would throw out 99 percent of those who are currently sitting in the parliament. But, then, what use are these edicts when the purpose to have these included in the constitution is entirely symbolic? Why have these in the book of edicts at all when one can do better without? The excessive intrusiveness that has been patronised by the religiosity-laden bands operating from within and outside the parliament has been the most damaging single aspect of the so-called democratic tenure simply because some of the political mafias have been complicit with these religious forces, while others have been too weak to put up any resistance. Consequently, these decadent forces have become marauding brigades preaching cosmetic rituals to stamp their authority and their self-righteous mould on an entire society while they themselves happily suffer from all the trademarks of the so-called evil-doers.
Where is the problem which has damaged our national ethos to a point of being written off and replaced with personalised agendas which carry the stamp of the corrupt-to-the-core individuals? The same can be traced to a national character that we have assiduously nurtured over a period of time and which we identify with today without protest. This can be best illustrated by one Arsalan Iftikhar being let loose by the ruling family to damage Imran Khan’s credentials with regard to his person and, in retaliation, the PTI’s bid to move a petition against Nawaz Sharif under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan to declare him ineligible to be elected to the parliament. We are still struggling with doing politics of personalities rather than of principles and policies. We are still judging people by virtue of their personal deeds rather than their potential to do good for the country and the people. We have, in the constitution, such clauses which, if followed without exception, would throw out 99 per cent of those who are currently sitting in the parliament. But, then, what use are these edicts when the purpose to have these included in the constitution is entirely symbolic? Why have these in the book of edicts at all when one can do better without? The excessive intrusiveness that has been patronised by the religiosity-laden bands operating from within and outside the parliament has been the most damaging single aspect of the so-called democratic tenure simply because some of the political mafias have been complicit with these religious forces, while others have been too weak to put up any resistance. Consequently, these decadent forces have become marauding brigades preaching cosmetic rituals to stamp their authority and their self-righteous mould on an entire society while they themselves happily suffer from all the trademarks of the so-called evil-doers.
The government has resorted to using this trick because it is gravely scared of the consequences of the threatened August 14 movement which is now being dubbed as the “Azadi March” by the PTI. The reasons include its lack of electoral legitimacy, its failure to deliver at the grassroots level, its palpably non-democratic credentials, absence of sincerity in its ranks, its inability to tackle the existential challenges that the country faces and its duplicitous role in dealing with other state institutions. It has openly resolved to liquidate some of these by appointing corrupt people as their heads while it is dealing with the more powerful ones including the army and the ISI in a deceitful manner so as to bring them infamy and be rendered irrelevant. The recent attempts to launch attacks from multiple flanks on the army and the ISI in the matter of the media and the efforts to deal with the scourge of militancy are veritable indications of the government’s evil intentions.
Can this precipitous trend be arrested? Can the ruling family extricate itself from the deepening quagmire that is the exclusive outcome of its infatuation with an attempt to settle old scores with General Musharraf and, in a larger context, with the entire institution of the army? Can it somehow cultivate a modicum of good sense to see the dangerous course that it has chosen to traverse? Can its members realise that there is life beyond where they would like to see, and that this life may be more propitious, more rewarding and more sustainable? Or, would they forever remain immersed in the venomous juices that they have so assiduously produced and stored over years of palatial and corpulent ‘labour’ and continue consuming it in small doses to keep the hateful poison running in their veins?
The deep tentacles of corruption have left their marks on the entire national psyche which will not be easy to erase. The corrupt have worked overtime at rendering an entire nation dysfunctional. The inefficient have transformed this disadvantage into a national past time. The criminal mafias have turned crime into a money-making venture for themselves and their partners which come aplenty. The accountable are not questioned and the guilty not charged. The money-launderers have used the ill-gotten riches to disfigure an entire nation and destroy any prospects of a credible future for the teeming multitudes. The country is ruled by mafias which are in turn controlled by political dons who have cultivated their fiefdoms that they rule from near and afar. The religious zealots are out trying to disfigure the entire rationale of the creation of Pakistan with the political leadership following in toe with subservient nods of affirmation. The gruesomeness of it all stinks from a million miles, yet we live here, we survive here.
The chances of remedy are minimal. It appears that not only will they not make a serious effort to come out of the mess that they have created, they will get further embroiled in these dangerous pursuits and their disastrous consequences. They say it is all in the stars. For the Sharifs, it is all in their mindset that is always bent on seeing everything only and exclusively in their jaundiced way. Any adjustment thereof that they may agree to making would be a matter of compulsion to ensure their immediate survival. Beyond that, their mind does not work, and they do not want it to work either. It becomes too taxing for their comfort. After a while, it would be back to their old, devious tricks.
But a substantial challenge has been hurled at them and their initial reaction has also been adequately responded to. What more will they take out of their collection of tricks between now and August 14 when, understandably, a large, emotional, voluble and charged procession of protestors would be marching on Islamabad to dismantle their edifice that has been erected over a fraudulent and contrived verdict? Do they have it in them to face the charge given the trust-deficit that they have so consummately created with other institutions of the state? Would they resort to similar tactics that were so gruesomely unleashed in Lahore on Tahirul Qadri’s supporters? Will they invoke article 245 and hand over the onerous task to the army? This would be a clever tactic in its own right because, by taking over the responsibility of defending the capital, the army may have to extend its job, by default, to defending the corrupt rulers also. Would the institution, when it is engaged in a battle to salvage the country from the clutches of the militants, like to carry the indelible blemish on its shoulders?
The answers are not easy to come. The deep tentacles of corruption have left their marks on the entire national psyche which will not be easy to erase. The corrupt have worked overtime at rendering an entire nation dysfunctional. The inefficient have transformed this disadvantage into a national past time. The criminal mafias have turned crime into a money-making venture for themselves and their partners which come aplenty. The accountable are not questioned and the guilty not charged. The money-launderers have used the ill-gotten riches to disfigure an entire nation and destroy any prospects of a credible future for the teeming multitudes.
The country is ruled by mafias which are in turn controlled by political dons who have cultivated their fiefdoms that they rule from near and afar. The religious zealots are out trying to disfigure the entire rationale of the creation of Pakistan with the political leadership following in toe with subservient nods of affirmation. The gruesomeness of it all stinks from a million miles, yet we live here, we survive here.
The smiles have disappeared from the faces. The world goes on.
*T S Eliot, Four Quartets
