Faizabad fall

• Worse than Dhaka?

This was more ominous than Dhaka. At least in ‘71 there was the will of majority of the country to become a new state and the support army of a separate nation-state. In ’17 there were only a handful of thugs and the army of the same state giving its civilian leaders the finger in the capital.

The instrument of surrender signed in Faizabad was more damning than the one that the then Lieutenant-General Niazi and his counterpart JS Aurora penned in Dhaka.

For, this one shamelessly lauds the role of those that orchestrated the surrender of 207 million of their own people, for a couple of thousands of that they perhaps owned that little bit more.

And yet, there’s absolutely nothing shocking about these thugs enjoying the immunity or the support that they do.

It would be ridiculous to assume that they are a fringe group that only resonates with a minority – the ideology that they espouse exists in varying intensity within the large share of this country’s population.

It is the same ideology that has been used for political blackmail for over a century on this soil. It was powerful enough to create a separate state.

Of all the self-imaginary political behemoths that have enjoyed clout in our neck of the woods, no one has dared mess with these ideologues.

It’s not because they are invincible. They only talk about love, respect and reverence.

It’s because the powers that be, and have been, have either been led by those that wholeheartedly endorse this ideology and/or those that know its utility.

There are few entities more explosive than a respect-laden ideologue willing to die for love. The volatility of such a being, especially when mass produced, can be used to control inter and intra state matters.

Submitting to the enemy, no matter how humiliating, still leaves at least some inkling of vengeance. Some form of drive, no matter how illusionary, that one can bounce back with the aim to win next time – if not the next time, then the time after that

This in a nutshell has been the state’s security and foreign policies – centered around these love-mongers hankering after death.

How do you improve life where embracing death is given the highest esteem?

But if this has been the status quo since always, why then is this surrender so catastrophic? Why is this worse than Dhaka?

Because we’re celebrating this one.

We’re celebrating a group that contested two by-elections in the past two months flaunting the picture of a man who killed a governor almost seven years ago – a man who was declared a terrorist by the state – a man whose hanging by the elected government gave it the delusion that it can go after others like him – was declared peaceful by our custodians, despite having sent death sentences to elected ministers and to an entire people belonging to a certain sect.

It was going after others that has brought the situation to a point where the ‘hidden hands’ could just handpick resignations. Others who fittingly were set free just in time to coincide with this instrument of surrender. This juxtaposition makes the capitulation that bit more devastating.

After all, at the end of the day, just how shattering a surrender is, depends on who one is surrendering to.

Submitting to the enemy, no matter how humiliating, still leaves at least some inkling of vengeance. Some form of drive, no matter how illusionary, that one can bounce back with the aim to win next time – if not the next time, then the time after that.

But how do you lift yourself, when you’ve wholeheartedly surrendered to yourself, without an ounce of guilt, or an iota of worry that there might be some lifting that needs to be done?

Pakistan has surrendered to Mumtaz Qadri. Because Pakistan reveres Mumtaz Qadri. That is why this is Pakistan’s decisive surrender to itself. It’s Mumtaz Qadri-loving, Hafiz Saeed-revering self – completely demolishing everything that it could’ve aspired to be instead.