A
Sindhi protest march against Kalabagh Dam
The Himalayan
Hypocrisy and Pakistan's Future
By
Rasool Bux Palijo
HYDERABAD:
Shahbaz Sharif, no great idol and icon of democracy himself, to
be sure, dared to come back to his motherland at last and was
promptly thrown out in a real-life, ruthless commando, James Bond
operation.
It
exposed as never before, the Himalayan hypocrisy and the deep
sense of utter political isolation and insecurity of the current
set of Pakistan's self-appointed saviors, owners, mentors and
masters and their desperate need and vulgar determination to cling
to power, at all costs to the Quaid's country and its position
in the eyes of the people of the world.
This and all related goings-on, like the rat race between the
new lotas and the permanent political keeps of the establishment
for the General's favor, the plight of the imperialist master
and patron-saint of all the Third World mercenary rulers, in Afghanistan
and Iraq, the stunning results of the Indian elections, the utterly
uncontrollable lawlessness, the all pervading corruption from
top to bottom, the disillusionment and apathy of the people at
large vis-a-vis the lack of will and ability of the rulers to
bring about a change for the better, clearly indicate that the
elections will have to be held soon in Pakistan to cobble a government
which is a little less shaky and less dependent upon renegades
of other parties than in the current democratic façade.
General Musharraf and his military government, since assuming
reins of power, have had a serious problem of legitimacy and acceptance.
People of Pakistan have been made to travel this well worn path
many times in the chequered history of Pakistan when the military
has first captured power in Islamabad through coup d' etat and
then got it legitimized through the well tried and tested world
famous Law of Necessity.
Next,
solemn promises are made for the restoration of real democracy.
Simultaneously mainstream political parties are outlawed or sidelined.
Then drama of the mandatory bogus referendums are staged with
great fanfare and a General's party formed that, joined by ragtag
groups of non-entities and lotas, is made to sit on the
throne while the real authority and power stays concentrated in
GHQ.
For
good measure a fraudulent and highly selective process of accountability
and cleansing of body politic is initiated. This time around the
same charade has been repeated by the current military saviors
of the country. An outrageously bogus referendum was held which
was so pathetic that even its beneficiary was forced to admit
that it was a mistake.
Then
we saw the incumbent elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of PML-N
banished to Saudi Arabia along with his entire family. Then the
leader of PPP, the largest political party in Pakistan, Benazir
Bhutto, was hounded out of the country and her husband Asif Zardari
kept in prison. All this was done in the name of good governance
and justice while the benign and virtuous General sits at the
head of a government, most members of which are accused of crimes
of corruption and even terrorism.
There
are bigger national crimes than even the worst corruption. Pakistan
violently broke into two parts. Hundreds and thousands of Pakistani
citizens were butchered but despite the Hamood ur Rehman Commission
Report, not a single person was held responsible and none of the
arrogant and reckless Generals responsible for the holocaust saw
the inside of a jail.
Recently
Pakistan was put to great danger of nuclear war with India and
more than a thousand of its army jawans and officers were killed
on the mountains of Kargil as a result of a disastrous and totally
senseless adventure.
Pakistan
was further put to shame when its PM had to rush to Washington
to request the US President to intervene. If making millions at
the cost of poor Pakistani's is a crime, as it certainly should
be, putting the whole country in the danger of a nuclear holocaust
through a senseless adventure should be considered a thousand
times worse crime and its perpetrators treated accordingly. After
all the poor people of Pakistan spend 188 Billion Rupees every
year of their tax money on the Generals and jawans in order to
live in safety and security of their homeland.
Previous to that, the military government of Zia ul Haq undertook
a mercenary role in the imperialist Afghan adventure that on one
hand helped make US imperialism the unchallenged master of the
world and a terrible menace for the Muslim world while miring
forever the people of Pakistan in the curse of heroin and Kalashnikov,
and on the other hand deliberately encouraged religious extremism
as a State policy.
The disastrous results of this policy are being witnessed in Pakistan
today when places of worship are needed to be guarded against
suicide bombers and massacres. Pakistan has lost billions of Rupees
in missed investment due to religious intolerance and corresponding
bloodshed. It has cost the county further billions of Rupees in
maintenance of law and order, that continues to be precarious
till today.
More ominously, the policy of State sponsored religious extremism
brought Pakistan on the verge of being declared a terrorist state
many times, with the results that today Pakistan is compelled
to accept a humiliating role on a single telephone call from Washington.
These
crimes are much bigger and damaging than even the worst cases
of politicians' alleged corruption. The people of Pakistan have
a right to know as to why has nobody ever been held responsible
and punished properly for playing such havoc with the people of
Pakistan.
The
Awami Tehreek perceives that Musharraf government is about to
push Pakistan into an equal or even bigger disaster in the near
future. We believe that after sidelining the two major mainstream
political parties of Pakistan, Musharraf is planning to hold utterly
fake elections and, if the past experience of the present Election
Commission is any guide, a landslide victory is going to be engineered
in favor of the General's party.
After
that especially Sindh will be robbed and destroyed left, right
and center. Its remaining share of water will be taken away. Dams
will be built on Indus illegally and unconstitutionally for the
sake of astronomical commissions and for perpetration of power.
Since there is no water to fill the reservoirs Sindh's resources
will be misappropriated by the center. in the name of Islam and
Pakistan.
Sindh
government will be handed over to dummies and terrorists to a
much worse extent than now and everything, from transfer and postings
of peons to getting a simple job done will be only through money,
much like now, only on a scale unseen and unthinkable. A very
great havoc is about to be played with Sindh and Pakistan out
of which they will be unable to come out.
By whatever means employed General Musharraf has appointed himself
the President of whole of Pakistan. He is supposed to be the constitutional
head of the country. It should not be his business to take sides
with one political party against the other, or with one province
against the another, or favoring one project over another.
We demand that to save the country from further degeneration and
disaster, plans for faking elections should be stopped, leaders
of the mainstream political parties, the Sharif brothers and Benazir
and even MQM's Altaf Hussain, should be allowed to return, Asif
Zardari should be released, Kargil should be discussed and those
responsible for it should be punished. The full text of Hamood
ur Rehman Commission Report should be published and those responsible
for the East Pakistan debacle should be court martialed.
Elections
should then be held under an Election Commission that has the
trust of all parties.
The
writer is the chief of Awami Tehreek, a Sindhi Nationalist Political
Party in Pakistan
