Who Is To Be Blamed
For Abuse of Power
By
Dr Zafar Altaf
PAKISTAN
HAS been at the forefront of the terrorism fight and has given
total and complete support to the international fight against
this menace. There are some lessons that ought to go down as part
of history to determine and find out why this act of terrorism
has occurred.
US has been a past master at determining the numbers game. It
is inherent in their psyche [as the psyche of all nations is so
determined by historical legacies] and they have played that game
and lost and won.
Pakistan’s
existence was because of the legacy of such acts of repressions.
After the mutiny of 1857 the occupying colonial system kept the
previous Muslim rulers and the Muslim population out of power
and in fact from any kind of governance and education. It was
soon after this that resurgence began.
I
have been able to put bits and pieces together but the findings
and conclusions are not definitive. Why? The historians have not
been fair to the sub-continent. They have distorted the facts.
It is from such books as the Passage to India and other
pieces of fiction that one picks up the under currents of what
happened then.
Pakistan’s
own use of power against recalcitrant has been losing one. The
result is reflected in the body politic and in the sequence of
repressions that took place. One of the major concerns is whether
good governance can take care of the weaknesses of the past? Is
the use of force the way out? Can a country use force to bring
social harmony? The weakness of the argument is immediately visible.
Politically
Pakistan has been trying to force the country to weld into a nation.
Its euphoria of a Muslim state kept it going for a good many years.
Then the initial cracks started to show and these cracks in the
governance issues have widened. Pakistan does not have a social
culture to develop a harmonious social order.
The
blame, if blame has to accrue, is to be placed at doorsteps of
the educated masses. They have become so conscious and fond of
living a good life that they could be least bothered by what is
happening to the people that are the essentials of keeping the
state together. As one President put it. I have to thank my local
Gods for giving me this opportunity otherwise I was used to living
in a small house. We now know to what lengths he went to keep
the good life at the Presidency going?
The
argument about LFO is not about the constitution but the hate
that it has generated and will continue to emanate. This hate
will still be the basis of our undoing. If any one thinks that
the propaganda machines will win they are sadly mistaken for this
very act will force the consciousness of the people towards action.
It so happened in the breakaway of the country in 1971. Tanks
rolled out against the civilians? What did it do? It hastened
the demise of the country and the philosophy it was created for.
The
lessons were not learnt. Immediately after that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
was advised of the traitors in Balochistan. The Marris and the
Bugtis [two tribes for whom one can have a hefty respect, irrespective
of the government’s propaganda] were misbehaving and the
writ of the government was not working? He sent in an expeditionary
force and the IGP was personally handling the situation.
He
was advised by the Army, which had just lost half the country,
that the area needed to be softened through aerial bombardment.
That was done? The timing is essential for it was immediately
after we had used force in former East Pakistan and had still
not understood that the use of force was counterproductive. The
IGP had to be relieved from the hands of the insurgents by a special
expeditionary force put together for that purpose.
One
can keep on recounting at the macro level as well as the micro
level many such examples. In my 38 years and about 10 in the field
[as administrator] where one had absolute power, I seldom used
it. In fact reason always prevailed and most of the wisdom came
from the dialogue with the people of the area where one interacted
with them.
The
fallacy of the ‘Bara Sahib and Gora Sahib’ has to
end and this is where the cultural factots have to be handled
differently. The optimism that I hold flows from my experience
in former East Pakistan where the only advice I received from
my immediate boss was: 'Please do not promise anything that is
not possible but discuss and keep on discussing with the people
and a solution will emerge’. Sound advice I can vouchsafe.
Coming
to the current situation in the country, as well as the international
scenario, two aspects stand out. First that the war on terrorism
is not going well despite all that has been done and propagandized
by the US and the British press.
There
have been important voices of conscience that have spoken out
against this. That does not really matter for it only delays the
inevitable, which will emerge in time and not before. The danger
is that it will affect the life of many who are living in the
danger zone. The matter is particularly difficult for Pakistan
because we have Afghanistan next to us and Iraq only a few miles
away [at least aeronautically]. What happens there will have repercussions
for Pakistan?
We
have not seen through this. Money has come Pakistan’s way
as a result and yet poverty has come our way in many significant
ways. Bad intentions and bad money [in terms of money that accrues
as result of windfall gains] has no major impact on the economy.
Pakistan has been boasting [at least the Finance Minister] of
this hefty money that has come our way as a result of the fight
against terror. What good is it?
Pakistan’s
state bank has come up with wisdom that is unsurpassable. It has
blamed the governance factor and that poverty has occurred because
of the actions taken 15 years ago. No evidence has been adduced
to make this statement reliable. Even the report of the SBP is
not available. The executive summary is.
The
second factor is that money, in the present circumstances, is
not more important than faith. Prize money on Osama bin Laden,
on Eldori and on Saddam Hussain and you will not come out on top.
Money is not of concern to people who have been brutalized and
who are still being brutalized? They may be caught and their may
be an occasional turncoat but the fact is that there are good
reasons for opposing this and other meaningless conflicts.
Before
the war there was, amongst the few army friends that I have, a
fierce acceptance of the technological superiority of the US armed
forces. Iraq would be flattened. Iraq will be sorry. I did not
understand this rhetoric then and I still do not understand the
consequences now. Imagine a total victory and an absolute one
for the US.
Will
their be social harmony? Have all the people that have been killed
members of the Baath party and Saddam loyalists? What price for
the child that was young? What price for the brothers and sisters
and mothers and husbands who died because of this meaningless
war? Will the scars be removed after this is all over and if so
how? Were
all those killed warmongers and were the bullet and the bomb able
to be selective?
Every
time that there has been a killer bomb or a person destroyed in
Pakistan he is member of the Al-Qaeda or a terrorist and every
time some one is to be sent elsewhere he happens to be one of
the kind. Good luck to the culture of Guantanamo Bay? The legal
wisdom of centuries has been completely destroyed and the legal
minds have been in UK’s House of Lords have been critical
of what is going on?
On
the international scene the vulgarity due apartheid is now showing.
South Africa continues to be under curfew. The social conditions
were made to deteriorate so fast that Desmond Tutu’s truth
commission also had a minor affect. That is because perceptions
are so different from actions. The one thing that is so definitely
proved is that power abused comes back with redoubtable strength
almost as if the laws of Physics are invoked.
Is
it water on ducks back? What are the consequences-intended as
well as unintended? What affect on Pakistan? As the protestor
said when asked ‘Why are you protesting against Bush visit’?
His reply was simple and straight from the heart and the head
‘I have three daughters and those are three good reasons’.
The lady representing the electronic media backed off fast.
There are not many answers to these questions. The correlation
factor does not give any causality. The numbers do not give any
affect. Vietnam is a good example, Iraq is a current example,
and such wars as these that have no moral backing will have a
backlash on humanity.
US and all the nations involved in this major war against a weaker
opposition does not mean that superiority is evidence enough nor
is it an indication of winning a war. The money for reconstruction
is meaningless if you consider the loss due to the suicide bombers.
Why should any one be willing to die for what the suicide bomber
thinks is important?
In
any case when do you decide to barter your life for a cause? What
is the morality of the cause? Is it collective or individual concept?
US and the other countries will have difficulty in determining
an answer. No opinions please. The failure of the culturally educated
moron has already caused a lot of harm and nullified the UN system.
No more please.
The
writer is a former Federal Secretary, Government of Pakistan
