By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

Decemember 16 , 2011

Actors or Directors

 

Letting the small fish fry and letting the big shark escape the net has almost become a national habit. Three Pakistani cricketers were nailed but the management remained out of reach.

In maritime practice, the captain of a ship was held responsible for steering the ship and its passengers to safety. He was liable for the conduct of his crew and, in case the vessel was stricken, the captain’s duty was not to abandon the ship. When the Titanic went down in 1912, so did its captain. In Lord Jim, the novelist Joseph Conrad narrates the shame endured by the novel’s protagonist for abandoning, during a storm, a ship full of Hajj-bound pilgrims. Lord Jim was also made into a hit movie, starring Peter O’Toole.

Under military law, the misconduct of a subaltern during performance of his duties has often been imputed to his commanding officer.

At stake, too, are broader concepts of Agency law, which deal with the principal/agent relationship. It means that one person has the legal authority to act for another. The agent represents the principal and is under control of the principal. The principal, therefore, is liable for the actions and consequences of his agent.

Simply put, the Presidency is responsible for the acts of those it hand-picked to represent it.

Slogans, rallies, and schemes don’t bring change. Change comes when there is a change of Soch (mindset). Australia’s skipper, Michael Clarke, has a tattoo in Arabic inscribed on his arm: “The pain of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of disappointment.” The reluctance to pay the price of moral discipline has inflicted on society the pain of national disappointment. The forces of status quo remain on the lookout for greener pastures to graze and gobble. They are not into progress: they are into the process of pursuing power.

Meanwhile, the burning issues of governance stay neglected.

Dr. Parvez Hasan, a notable Ravian, who served with distinction as Chief Economist at the World Bank, makes a compelling argument through his illuminating new book, My Life, My Country: “The well to do and the governing elites have failed in their social responsibilities. Tax collection is pitiably low. Public education is a mess. Population control is seriously neglected.”

Decision-making choices are being dictated, not by the paramount interests of Pakistan, but rather what would perpetuate the occupancy of a temporary inhabitant of chair.

What then was to be expected when a polluted and planted setup was accepted and saluted in the first place? It is a humiliation of the nation.

Sometimes, cunning individuals – out of over-confidence and acting over-smart – fall into their own trap. Over-scheming cannot replace common sense and moral sense.

The memo melodrama is bad Pakistani cinema.

Behind bad cinema are not necessarily bad actors, but bad directors. A director gets to select the actors.

Pakistan was never envisioned to be a playground of plunderers, perverts and parasites. Given the horrid results so far, is there any harm, as a change of flavor, to give due recognition to honesty, hard work, and merit? Surely, the results can’t be any worse.

 

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Clash or Coexistence?

The Radical Behind Reconstruction

POWs & Victors’ Justice

Islam on Campus

Community of Civilizations

Rule of Law or Rule of Men?

Unpredictable Times

The Quiet One

Turkish Model & Principled Resignations

Live and Let Live

Leadership & de Gaulle

Dark Side of Power

2002: The Year of Escalation

Whither US?

Politics, God, Cricket & Sex

The Company of Friends

Missing in Action : The Kofi Case

Accountability & Anger

Casualties of War

A Simple Living

The Nexus & Muslim Nationhood

The Kith and Kin Culture

It Is Spreading

Road to Nowhere

Misrepresenting Muslims

The value of curiosity

Revenge & Riches

The Media on Iraq

The Perils of Sycophancy

Legends of Punjab

Mind & Muscle

Islam & the West: Conflict or Co-Existence?

The Challenge of Disinformation

Britain on the Backfoot

Paisa, Power and Privilege

The Path to Peace

On Intervention

Countering Pressures on Pakistan

A World at War?

Raising the Game

The Argument of Force

Affluence withtout Influence

The Shawdow of Vietnam

Heroes of '54

The Imperative of Human Decency

Hollywood and Hate

Living in Lahore

Fatal Decisions

Singer or the Song

Arrogance

The Power of Moral Legitimacy

The Trouble with Kerry

Green Curtain

A Nation Divided

Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

Condi & India

Xenophobia

Looking inward

Re-Thinking

A Tale of Two Presidents

Close to Home

Flashpoint Kashmir

The Spreading Rage

Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

Other Side of Extremism

Five Years after 9/11

The Educated Ignorant

The Decline of Humor

Icons

Six Years of Insanity

The War Not Being Fought

Munir Niazi

Compliance & Defiance

Counter-Message

Miscast

The Goddess of Wealth

The Meaning of Moderation

The Tora Bora of Fear

Clash of Civility

The Early Race

Challenge & Response

Will & Skill

Zealotry

Movie-Media and Pakistan

Hug with a Thug

Quest for Integrity

Unconquered

Vanity

Bringing Back the Past

Stuck in Iraq

Islam, Science and the West

Turmoil over Turkey

Leaders versus Leadership

Might Does Not Make Right

Kursi First

Vision & Will

Battle of the Billionaires

Assassination Alley

Extremism and Change

Rosy Expectations

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

Not Winning

Beyond Baghdad: Five Years after

The Hijab of Democracy

Hate, Fear & Hope

Weapon of Words

Hide N’ Seek

Yanking in the UN

Obama’s Breakthrough

Let Lahore Be Lahore

National Mood & Sports

Flirting with Fire

Trips Abroad

Georgia on the Mind

Duel for the White House

Zia to Zardari

Palestine: Avoiding the Unavoidable 

Not Working 

In the Ring 

Obama’s America

Smiles & Dreams

Quiet Deeds of Good

Crime and Indifference

Journey of Understanding

VIP-hunting

Terror via Counter-Terrorism

Umpires or Vampires?

The Long Road

Yesterday’s Reminder

Appeasement and the Real Threat

Israel’s Washington Agenda

New Challenges

Cairo and Beyond

Re-fighting Old Battles

America ’s Super Villains

Activism in America

Style without Substance

Overcoming Barriers

Ashes to Afghanistan

The Looming Change

Fear and Possibilities

What Is Not Debated 

Hired Guns

Rampage at Fort Hood

Manmohan in Washington

The Long Duel

Green Nukes

Vision and Division

Avoiding Why

Striving to Matter

Shame-proof

Anxiety and Opportunity

Putting Iraq in America

The Right Strategy

Looking Beyond

Rot at the Top

Strategic Folly

Daring & Caring

Over-Stepping on Turkey

Sudan : Perils of Provincialism

Old Fears, New Target

Europe ’s Stain

The US-Pakistan Enigma

The Status Quo Is Unacceptable

9 Years after 9/11

License to Steal

US Muslims at the Crossroads

Tumor of Terror

An Arab Voice

Disastrous Decisions

Double Game

Sticky Wiki

What Quaid Was Not

Money Conspiracy

Pharaohs & Pirates

Greed and Cricket

Change & Challenge  

Forty Years after 1971

Abandoning Our Own

Rewarding Failure

Osama and Obama

Tsunami of Tolerance

Representation and Presentation

Meek and Weak

Change or the Same?

No Easy Exit

Nation to Non-Nation

10 Years after 9/11

Shining India?

Big Power, Small Politics

Rule of the Gun

Proxy of the Powerful

Fight for Fairness

Republican Race


2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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