Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

1-6-18

 

Military, binding force of a nation?

“The summary of the advice of all prophets is this; Find yourself a mirror”. Shams Tabraizi

It has become a routine among Pakistani writers and opinion makers to call the army as the greatest binding force of the nation. In his recent controversial book Gen Durrani also thought that it’s the military holding Pakistan together. This way of thinking has reached abroad and we see senior American diplomats including John Kerry while admiring Pakistan army calling it a major binding force of the nation. It has nearly become an established fact which no one challenges but what does it construe? Unfortunately it means that Pakistan is not a nation but a group of people put together with the force of a gun; a very wrong and extremely insulting thought. With a slight twist of tongue a loved national army is made into an occupational force. As a nation we should reject this narration, it is humiliating.

We the 210 million Pakistanis live together because we want to. We are multicultural and multilingual but have more in common than different, as compared to many other nations. Important factors that create national cohesion are favorable like we have a common language, culture, dress, religion and continuity of land.

Travelling across the country I experienced only love and warmth whether I was in Punjab, KPK, Sind or Balochistan, which was probably the most welcoming. Siting with Baloch and Sindhi friends just could not imagine that these wonderful Pakistanis can even think of working against Pakistan or even a Punjabi like me. On my last trip to Balochistan I found young Khuzdari gentlemen more caring for the old Punjabi than even my real family. Then why this narrative?

There is no denying that we do have problems and foreign powers are exploiting them. It is our weaknesses that allow others to take advantage of.

We created Pakistan for the people but somehow that state couldn’t deliver. State functionaries took the positions of the colonial masters and behaved like them, and we got snobbery without their dignity. Herman Hesse says, "We kill at every step, not only in wars, riots, and executions. We kill when we close our eyes to poverty, suffering, and shame. In the same way all disrespect for life, all hard-heartedness, all indifference, all contempt is nothing else than killing. With just a little witty skepticism we can kill a good deal of the future in a young person."

And the state machinery we inherited from the colonial rulers did a lot of that, more so in the poorer and more vulnerable places like Balochistan and Sindh..

Ever since the creation of Pakistan we showed special interest in getting involved in others wars usually for some petty benefits of our rulers. We got involved in the cold war, Afghan wars and even wars in Central Asia and Bosnia. Naturally a nation fighting wars abroad expects others to respond too and we became the battle ground of different far off wars. Now starting from India, Afghanistan, US, Iran and many other countries are directly involved in our matters and many of them planting, encouraging and funding our local separatists. Had our national cohesion not been that strong the mess we created could have been worse.

In our checkered political history constitution wasn’t always respected and we had many illegitimate rulers who used, bred and nurtured separatists for their political benefits damaging the cohesion of the state with the help and resources of the state. Wali Khan and his party was convicted of sedition and antistate activities by the court of law but rehabilitated by Gen Zia and used for its anti PPP fervor. He also fully supported the Sindhi separatist GM Syed and planted Altaf Hussain with all his violence to counter the political power of the party he had ousted illegally. These few examples should make the case sufficiently although books can be written about how this separatism was planted by the state functionaries. Later during Musharraf’s time again the weak MQM was revived and allowed to run havoc with the province and its people.

When systems break mafias and corruption rules, and that is something we did. Corruption crept in all corners of society and the common man suffered, those living farther away suffered more becoming easy targets for many foreign powers who recruited them for their motives. It is known in our bureaucracy that postings in Balochistan particularly are lucrative because it is the most corrupt, at the expense of a common man naturally.

What we have done to many parts of our country that even a person like me is forced to think why aren’t these people demanding separation. The only answer is that it is the love for Pakistan that these people still endure hoping to improve things in future.

Pakistani army like any other army of the world is a product of the society and its values. Nation provides it manpower by giving its children and nurtures it with its resources. Its like a son, loved and cared with  high expectations. Its successes are successes of the nation and so are its failures. It isn’t correct or desirable to portray the military as something different from the nation whether in a positive sense or otherwise.

It is true that military plays a role in keeping Pakistan together but that role is marginal. We live and stay together because we want to. Staying together in our interest and the interest of our future generations. I haven’t met many Pathans who want to be part of Afghanistan or Punjabis who want to join Khalistan or Baloch or Sindhis having such ideas although a small number might have been recruited by some foreign elements. Such exceptions are found everywhere in the world.

Having said that there are things we should do to counter this negative impression. After addressing the genuine grievances of our people it might be useful for our national army to drop its connections with the colonial past like priding in killing Tipu for East India Company. It might be a part of history but certainly not the part worth remembering or bragging. It was a dark chapter as mercenaries are not respected anywhere. In addition while celebrating our military heroes like Maj Aziz Bhatti and Col Sher Khan lets vilify the villains like Zia and Yahya.

Then we must build and strengthen its institutions and make state machinery subservient to the people working for their welfare. Quoting Mark Twain, "The Government is merely a servant - merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them."

We are Pakistanis and proud of it. We are not put together by force like a herd of animals. We know we have problems but we are determined to solve them. Among the poor third world Pakistanis are the only immigrants who voluntarily return home from the west just for the sake of love of their country. The only place where force is used to keep people together is called a jail and Pakistan is certainly not that.

khanmomar@hotmail.com

One man demolition squad.

Dr. Umar Khan

khanmomar@hotmail.com

Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.

15-5-18

 

Nawaz Sharif; One man demolition squad

Elevation of one wrong man to the position of authority can cause more harm than loss of a hundred wise men. (Persian proverb)

A shy young Nawaz Sharif entered the political scene of Pakistan in 1981, as is the routine with the help of soldiers in power. He lacked charisma, public speaking ability and other social graces considered important for political scene so lacked confidence which was too obvious. No one could have predicted that this man will become the most successful and effective politician in the history of Pakistan, more than Bhutto or even Quaid i Azam. His phenomenal rise has practically changed the fabric of our society and nearly created a new society with his mark on most aspects, but unfortunately most of these changes have been harmful rather detrimental to the nation and society. Counting MNSs negative influence on Pakistani society needs a complete book and can hardly be summed up in a small article, however we proceed.

MNS started as a member of Gen Zia’s handpicked majlis i shura and then became a provincial minister able to solve his own and family’s financial problems. His first move was giving generous gifts and grafts to journalists and opinion makers ensuring regular exposure and favorable news. Then he became the CM of the biggest province a few years before becoming the PM. After some hiccups he got elected as the 2/3^rd majority PM before being dislodged and exiled. Still he came back to power for the third time with a thumping majority. He has been frequently in power for the last 37years which is much more than ZA Bhutto or the 1.1 years of the poor Quaid I Azam.

After becoming the CM of Punjab by bribing generals he changed his style of politics. Well aware of his limited abilities he snatched rights of people and made them privileges only he could oblige with. Government services, postings and even residential plots became the most sought after privileges. He obliged nearly everyone who approached him and promised personal loyalty and this way most of the police, bureaucracy and government servants became his beneficiaries and loyalists. CMs discretionary quotas were made limitless and even philanthropists like Imran Khan had to be obliged by him personally. Over time he gained control of the state machinery and most senior government servants were indebted to him.

After controlling the bureaucracy it was time for the politicians. Apart from jobs and postings he devised a strategy to bribe them and actually kept then under check by directly making payments in cash or plots. This gave us the shameful operation Changa Manga and Murree changing the political scene forever. Huntington says money becomes evil not when it is used to buy goods but when it is used to buy power...and Nawaz bought lots of power.

Now it was time for the general population which wasn’t easy to influence by personal bribery. Here MNS really showed some genius and announced a strange yellow cab scheme where he encouraged people to get imported new cars tax free financed by nationalized banks without sufficient guarantees. This created havoc with the economy and banks but imparted the impression he used in his favor that ”Nawaz khata hai par khilata bhi hai” a very strange argument that though he is corrupt he shares the spoils.

This generosity at the expense of national coffers was abetted with a large stick he carried for the incompliant. State machinery was frequently unleashed against those who resisted until they subdued and joined him. Rana Sana, Parvez Rasheed and many other examples can be seen. He was generous with new comers, with national coffers off course.

“Jo panah maang le us ki baksh de khata” Jaalib.

After winning a few rigged elections he maneuvered enough to become a popular political leader who knew the tricks to attain power and in 1997 he won fair and square. In 2008/2013 elections despite some unnecessary over doings he would have won anyway.

During this astonishing rise the following happened,

His unscrupulous tactics made politics an indecent dirty game. He started with absolutely indecent attacks on BB where he ridiculed her anatomy and indulged in photoshopping to malign her mother too. Religion was also used with fatwas against women’s rule. He even resuscitated the weak violent MQM of Altaf Hussain in 1997 to curtail the influence of PPP in Sind like his mentor Zia did earlier. As CM of Punjab he preached provincialism and confronted the federal government. He is the only politician who arrested the federal government employees and blatantly destroyed their development schemes. Politics became way too expensive for anyone with modest means to contemplate joining it. Ultimately politics became a way of making money for the mafia and the unscrupulous.

Violence in politics was taken to an extreme. Shooting 100 opponents in Model town at close range and getting away with it speaks volumes about his brutality and stranglehold on the system.

Our society became transactional. Whether anyone wanted a transfer, job, votes or whatever it had to be paid for.

Society got corrupted to the extent that the term corruption lost the menace and guilt associated with it. It became a fully acceptable, rather desirable to be corrupt. Our society where earlier the corrupt used to feel embarrassed hiding their ill-gotten wealth became thing of the past and vulgar display became the norm.

Waye Nakami! Mataa-e-Karwan Jata Raha
Karwan Ke Dil Se Ehsas-e-Ziyan Jata Raha

How disappointing! The caravan’s wealth is gone
The feeling of loss from caravan’s heart is gone

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”  Frederic Bastiat

MNS controlling the resources for so long made sure that others get corrupted and hence pliable. That was why he never trusted or supported a non-corrupt individual and we see many decent people getting in this trap. Corruption and nepotism is the hall mark of his politics and way of planting loyalty. Pakistan’s who is who went along; it is still supporting him for its own sake.

It got so bad that now even the PPP elected members of the ZAB times started appearing as dervishes.

Squandering of national resources and uncouth lavish consumption of state coffers became a status symbol. Mughal style Punjab houses, private jets and other wasteful expenditures for him became a norm. We still see MNS and his ilk travelling in motorcades of expensive cars bought from the taxes of the poor and no one questions.

Many state institutions and its functionaries became loyal to him instead of the state because loyalty to his person was a prerequisite for success in his tenure. He would humiliate bureaucrats and after their absolute submission to his person he would load them with favors. There are many examples that I won’t quote because he crushed many self-respecting people into his toadies begging for his favors. Spread over decades he overcame most resistance with his peculiar strategy.

Media went into his pocket through opinion makers and particular newspaper/TV owners although a few resisted initially. Ultimately prominent journalists shared the spoils of power and wealth while the ordinary fared even worse than before.

Courts and judiciary were his special targets and he enjoyed strange unheard of judgments in his favor. Starting with his manipulation in Justice Fazal Kareem commission to Naseem Hassan Shah restoring his government to the Quetta bench judgment against their own Chief, MNSs maneuvering has been unbelievably successful and effective. When judicial compliance couldn’t be managed he resorted to blatant attack on the highest judiciary, a bit like the Pakistani version of Escobar. Caught red-handed bullying judges by dictating judgments in Justice Qayyum’s case he again got away for some unknown reason when a respected judge couldn’t find any evidence against him. Somehow all technicalities and strange logics always appear to be favoring him in the court of law. Quite a few fortunes were made in the process which I am sure might have been a coincidence.

After pocketing the political scene and other institutions it was military’s turn. The COAS was called and ingeniously offered a bribe by MNSs father appearing as a dignified social gesture but it didn’t work. He kept on trying to buy generals so that no one is left in Pakistan with the ability to challenge his absolute power. He came very close to overpowering the military in Jehangir Karamats time but couldn’t establish his absolute personal authority. He has still not given up and is trying all sorts of techniques including the Ahmadi labels.

Some argue that Pakistan’s main problem is not economy or roads or anything but it’s the moral collapse we are experiencing prompting foreigners to taunt us. Economy needs rule of law, trained manpower and moral/social capital; all that he studiously destroyed along with the national self-esteem.

In the last 37 years all his efforts can be summed up as increasing his personal wealth and power at the expense of Pakistan and the self-esteem of the Pakistanis. Though not completely successful, he certainly gained substantial mileage.

The most interesting but painful part of this tragic story is that he routinely got away with all this, unbelievable. He had changed the society to his advantage using his hold on media ruthlessly. He had hushed up the opinion makers and the whistle blowers by doling favors.

It shouldn’t be unexpected to see Nawaz Sharif’s ascend coincide with descend of Pakistan, kind of inversely proportional. His mantra of development after destroying the education in Pakistan is like the British government in India where after 200 years of rule lot was done but at the end of the day Britain prospered while India languished. Here, Nawaz’s and his cronies got rich while the nation became near bankrupt.

We have to accept that Nawaz Sharif is not a person but a phenomenon, he has singlehandedly changed and corrupted the society despite his very limited abilities and intellect. Societies stand on their morality and institutions and MNS destroyed all. He has totally dominated rather crafted the system for his advantage and neutralizing him won’t be easy or painless. Miraculously he has been caught red-handed and is fighting hard to survive politically and protect his stolen wealth. His history suggests that he would resist unscrupulously and shamelessly jeopardizing everything, even his country. This is nothing unexpected as pygmy megalomaniacs honestly consider themselves the center of the universe, around whom the earth rotates. However it has to be done irrespective of the pain it causes because not removing his ill effects could be disastrous. If he survived this situation where he is caught red-handed by the international institutions there would be no stopping him and we might see a Pakistani version of Saddam Hussain with the powers he tried to get in the proposed 15^th amendment, more than a monarch’s.

He is the last of the three deadly legacies of Gen Zia along with jehadis and Altaf Hussain. For the sake of our country and future generation we just can’t afford to let MNS get away with his unexplained billions as Plutarch warned us a few millennia ago, “The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to the law courts. And then to the army, and finally the Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors"

Once we ensure that the law prevails and the crooks get punished we must identify and hold accountable the people who forced such a man through the throats of this nation, whether it is Gen Zia, Jillani, Beg……

khanmomar@hotmail.com