And the common denominator between the present Senate chairman and a former Chief Justice
What is it with our senior politicians of all hues, right, left, centre, middle class, barbaric (but innocent), victim, exploiter, feudal, industrialist, last-will-and-testament or religious? God and his voice on earth, the people, know fully well their many limitations and shortcomings, to put it mildly. But one particular trait, depressing and disturbing, lies in their public outbursts of rage, lurking behind smiles and affability and hence totally unexpected when it erupts in a verbal overkill accompanied by much sweeping gestures. The mental state of these unstable gentlemen, ‘like to a little kingdom, suffers then, the nature of an insurrection’. And not to forget, such righteous indignation is usually and unerringly exhibited at a particularly unfortunate time, place and occasion.
This little matter of regular eruptions brings to mind Old Faithful, the popular natural geyser located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (USA) that since its discovery in 1870 has earned a reliable reputation for spraying boiling hot water 145 to 185 feet in the air. It is recorded that ‘Old Faithful erupts every 91 minutes after an eruption lasting two and a half minutes and after 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than two and a half minutes’. While our political ‘Old Unfaithfuls’ may not possess such Teutonic-like precision, they have still left their mark in the letting-off-steam department at various times, mostly inopportune. Leaving aside the incorrigible Karachi king in exile, whose dazzling repertoire of weird depictions would undoubtedly qualify him for a top slot in a London vaudeville and floor show and his ill-tempered sub-leaders who appear daily on television channels with their ravings, the two PML-N Khawajas, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari have all filled the air with their strident and controversial cries. The younger Sharif can still descend to the Gawalmandi mode and style at times, but the bhaijaan now follows a policy of speaking softly and carrying a big stick (the Gullu Butts), to be deployed only in a desperate situation. The aged ANP chief also froths at the mouth (sometimes literally) when occasionally ordered to do so by his main political ally. And now no less than the chairman of the Senate, Raza Rabbani, an old timer of the PPP, has jumped into the fray with his own version of a clear anger-management problem.
Mr Raza Rabbani need not go out of his house (the residential, not the Upper House) to get an idea of the extent of the misgovernance and the massive corruption rampant in the country since the last seven-plus years
The time and place were hardly appropriate for the kind of remarks that were made by him: a debating competition at a local Karachi University, with the impressionable younger generation, Pakistan’s future hope, in attendance. What kind of seeds did the Senate chairman wish to sow in these young people’s minds? Or did he go overboard in his desire to impress them with his oratorical skills. Also, both the prime minister and the army chief were abroad at the time the unfortunate remarks were made, providing more ammunition to the enemies who are already carrying on a vicious and sustained propaganda campaign regarding the alleged political-military matrix. The need of the hour is unity and the closing of ranks, but our part-time loyalists of democracy dash this to bits with their inexplicable and ill-timed comments. What the Senate chairman said with such theatrics and histrionics could more effectively be aired within the Senate and the various parliamentary committees. Also, if he read up the purpose of the Upper House in a bicameral legislature, he would no doubt be astonished to discover that one of its attributes was, or ought to be, a sense of maturity and experience in its members, as is reflected in their higher age requirement compared to the Lower House.
So in completing the title of this piece, the Senate chairman’s remarks must be construed as ‘signifying nothing’. However, one is loath to mention the general intelligence of the person telling such a tale, as he is termed by Macbeth. Our politicians want to have the best of both worlds. They do absolutely nothing for the common man who voted them to power, in fact treat him as lower than vermin, indulge in universal corruption and enjoy princely perks and privileges at these selfsame vermin’s expense, but are quick to take offense whenever their or their cronies’ malfeasance and outright criminal activities are exposed. Then it is the tired old refrain of democracy being in danger and of politicians alone being targeted and driven into a corner. As for corners, when it is a matter of a corner plot, they are all for being driven to it!
Mr Raza Rabbani need not go out of his house (the residential, not the Upper House) to get an idea of the extent of the misgovernance and the massive corruption rampant in the country since the last seven-plus years. That is, if he pays his power bills! An ordinary electricity bill lights up the reality (if that is the correct expression) better than anything else. Under the ‘Taxes and Others’ head of the power bill are to be found these diverse legends, E-Duty, TV-fee, GST, NJS, FC-SUR and TR-SUR, whose combined total is about equal to or only slightly less than the actual cost of electricity. On the reverse of the bill is given a frightening list of more taxes that could potentially be levied at any time, if they aren’t secretly added already: Multiplying Factor, Variable Charges, Fixed Charges, Equalisation Surcharge, Retailer Sales Tax, Extra Tax, Further Tax, Income Tax, Universal Obligation Fund, Debt Servicing Surcharge, and Service Rent. Then there is the sub-division between Off Peak and Peak hours, with the peak evening hours when one is relaxing at home obviously carrying ‘peak’ (and pine) charges.
So the Senate chairman need not moan and whine and howl about the alleged discrimination against his ‘political class’ as it has run this poor land of immense promise into the ground, and richly deserves all the stinging barbs flung at it and the belated last-ditch actions being taken against it. And the ‘others’ cannot wait till eternity to see the pillage and ruin of their country at the hands of moronically incompetent, mostly illiterate and criminal-minded (if not actually so) petty men. This self-proclaimed ‘innocent’ class has itself created a dangerous vacuum by not delivering on its electoral promises, by its corruption, hypocrisy and indecisiveness, its petty self-serving games and political infighting.
As to who would make accountable those who are carrying out the accountability of politicians at this moment, the answer is quite simple: A vigorous parliament, led by a dynamic and bold political leadership, which brings prosperity to the country and has the street power behind it to ward off the threat of Bonapartism and foreign-funded destabilisation attempts. The late populist president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, was briefly ousted in a CIA–sponsored coup attempt on April 11, 2002, but was returned to office when loyal military officers and the masses, whose economic status he had vastly uplifted, swarmed into the streets and refused to accept the orders of the new renegade government.
Prime Minister Lloyd George said of his prolonged efforts to introduce a change of mindset in the hidebound British army of his day that ‘I found that I had to contend not with a profession but with a Deity, devoted to its chosen Idol’. And this was a leader of genius, one who had contributed greatly in transforming Britain into a truly welfare state. His French counterpart, Georges (Tiger) Clemenceau, similarly remarked of Field Marshal Joseph Joffre, ‘The only time he ever put up a fight in his life was when we had asked him for his resignation’.
So changing a mindset does not come by wishful thinking and fiery speeches alone, but by working overtime at the dull details of administration and producing visible positive results (and not only in Metros and Orange trains) in nation-building. And such desired changes would not come about when even upright persons, such as the Senate chairman, choose to remain silent while an unpopular (even in army circles) chief is given a three-year extension by the PPP co-chairman who also happens to be the unfortunate country’s president. Or watches unmoved the five-year mega-corruption and massacre of merit of the PPP era to remain in the good books of the party leader. Mere shedding of tears (whether or not of the crocodilian variety) will not serve the purpose at this eleventh hour. But it is also right that the ‘peace profiteers’ in the army, and there are a few at rarified heights, ought to be punished as severely as the notorious ‘war profiteers’ during wartime.
The recently retired Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Jawwad S Khawaja, had a reputation of being a bit of a Tartar in his courtroom, especially it was felt, towards members of his own fraternity
The recently retired Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Jawwad S Khawaja, had a reputation of being a bit of a Tartar in his courtroom, especially it was felt, towards members of his own fraternity. He was considered prickly and rude to lawyers, apart from his running skirmishes with the government and its domesticated bureaucratic pets. The former elite Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) has unfortunately been reduced to a Domestic Servants of Politicians (the DSP) by successive leaderships and now lies ruined and corrupted like every other institution. So bitter was the animosity against the ex-CJ that his Full Court Reference was boycotted by many of the leading Bar associations, including the Supreme Court Bar Association (Delphic Oracle, or famous female legal eagle Group). This despite the fact that he was the first High Court Judge to resign in March 2007 when then President General Pervez Musharraf attempted to get rid of the troublesome then Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
By a strange coincidence, there is one item in common between the barbed, dissenting Jawwad S Khawaja and the incorruptible politician with a conscience (although it is wisely kept in bounds most of the time), the new, fiery Raza Rabbani. No doubt it may sound irrelevant and frivolous, but both of these outspoken gentlemen sported an immaculately maintained quaint ponytail! Perhaps it was this lock-likeness that made both of them rebels with a cause, gave a fillip to their quite human vanity, highlighted the fact of being different from the herd in a strongly individualistic sense, of being more like the old English and French Squires of past centuries who exhibited a similar fashion in their hairdos. And while we are on the subject of locks and tresses one must not forget the saga of Samson, the Hebrew hero, the secret of whose gigantic strength lay in his hair. Once these were shorn off by Delilah, he was your average everyman again, blinded and a prisoner of the Philistines. Mr Jawwad S Khawaja is no longer a thorn in the flesh of the establishment but Mr Raza Rabbani is very much there in an exalted position where he could have made a real difference in rectifying the faults of the existing political system. That he has failed to do so, while indulging only in tear-jerkers and fire-breathing rhetoric, can only mean one thing: the devious party co-chairman knows of his weakness and has threatened to shorten him not by a head, but by a ponytail, in case he did not toe his line!