Opinion

Pakistan, Politics, Fog and the Culture of Confusion - 1
By Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA

“When we are ill we call for a trained physician, whose degree is a guarantee of specific preparation and technical competence… we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one; well then, when the whole state is ill should we not look for the service and guidance of the wisest and the best?”

Allama Iqbal prescribed five qualities of an eagle as a pre-requisite in a Marde-Momen, a True Muslim, a great leader. He loved the bird for its majestic posture, its swiftness in the pursuit of a target, its love of aloofness, its love for loftiness, and its sense of independence. The great Allama, however, missed one important feature of this royal bird: its strenuously earned sense of fitness, radical commitment and eligibility to remain worthy of the above mentioned attributes.

Joyce Meyer in her book, “Never Give UP”, mentions this merit of the bird. By the time an eagle is about four years old, he begins to feel that a change is taking place in him. He experiences bouts of discomfort, loneliness and of unease. Something tells him that he should have a companion. Once he narrows down on his prospective sweetheart, the period of his trial begins. The female eagle puts him to strange tests. First she soars high in the sky in a figure-eight pattern, and makes him chase her. For the first time he learns that he is not flying for himself. It is someone else who is directing his course.

After having tested him in this aerobatic, the female puts him to the next test. She dives to the ground, picks up a twig, and flies up to ten thousand feet, and drops the twig. The young eagle flies at about two hundred miles per hour to catch the twig in midair, and bring it back to her in the air. Instead of finding an encouraging response on passing the test, what he gets from her is cold neglect. He feels insulted. Now he must make a decision whether it is worth the labor to keep chasing her, or go for an easier option. What he does not know is that the female had already subjected him to the test of sincerity and commitment.

If he passes this test, and decides to continue, she next puts him to a yet another hard test. This time she picks up a larger twig, and flies to a lower altitude. Any pilot would confirm that the lower the altitude, the faster would be the speed of the falling object. The young eagle must catch the twig and bring it to his love. The game continues for days. The female finally picks up a twig that is heavier than the male eagle. Any lover under such test would grumble and say, “Now that is not fair! Come on, you know I can’t do that!” But the female eagle stays unmoved. He must qualify before he can think of having her. The test is made more difficult as the female eagle flies about five hundred feet above the ground and drops the branch. If he catches it, then she condescends to go with him.

If the leaders in Pakistan had ever been subjected to even 40% of the test the young eagle went through, they would have become the envy of the world. But that is a wishful thinking. Dynastic connections and ill-begotten wealth are the two qualifying features that determine the eligibility of a leader here. The people of Pakistan need to learn a lot from the female eagle before they chose their cohorts.

The current question is: who is responsible for turning Pakistan into a Dickensian “Bleak House”? What is most ruthless in a developing country like Pakistan? History, Politics or Weather, or all three! Perhaps, all. Add to this lethal trio a fourth one - Destiny. Fate, Destiny, Nature, Circumstances, Coincidences, Chances, flaws in Character, or simple errors of Judgment, all begin to put up an amazing show of teamwork, and collaboration when an option of wreaking havoc and confusion in countries like Pakistan comes in play. They all know, for sure, what to do. Recent developments provide ample credence that the country – Pakistan - remains their favorite gym.

Paul Sullivan in his article, “Why Leaders Fail Under Pressure?” published in the Forbes magazine of 10/1/2010, highlights three main reasons. Interestingly, all the three with their multiple derivatives are present in the leadership of Pakistan. First, they fail because they choke under pressure, and second, they refuse to accept responsibility for their actions.

The culture of denial is in full swing there, from an elementary school kid to the President and PM of the country. Not even when the stealing hand gets stuck in the cookie jar. The third reason is: leaders become over-confident, and begin to indulge in over-thinking about their own importance. They grow a culture in which no one dares to challenge them. Be it the dengue fever, or the prescription of a defective medicine to the heart patients, or the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, or the attack on the GHQ or an attack on the Naval base in Karachi, or the truth about the Memogate, the responsibility like always remains elusive, or being skirted to people who are vulnerable. The denial mode works on the pattern of an “alcoholic who keeps saying, ‘I don’t have a problem’;”. As a solution, these leaders conveniently sprinkle some holy water on the most stinking problems, expecting from people to believe that it is all fine now. Leadership in Pakistan has never remained focused on vital issues. Their egos have kept their thinking clouded and confused.

Adverse events do take place in the world. They come and go. But in Pakistan, they not only come themselves, but rather urge their likes to migrate there too. Like the tales of Thomas Hardy- Tess of the D’ Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Far from the Madding Crowd etc., or the short stories of Munshi Prem Chand, events in Pakistan hardly ever conclude in a happy way. The false standards of society, double standards of morality, and the over-all spread of confusion - from religion to socio-political-economical and institutional matters - all make even the good people feel like sinners, even the positive and simple matters look sinister. God’s recommended “Straight Path”, has deliberately been made most twisted, and each contending it still “straight”. It appears as if life in Pakistan is being constructed, not by logic, or by some deliberate effort, but by chance.

The other day, when a T V reporter interviewed the ailing heart patients in a Lahore hospital whose condition had worsened after the use of a tampered, fungus infected cardio-vascular medicine, almost all the patients were heard saying in chorus, “We are thankful to God that we are alive. God bless Mian Shahbaz Sharif for visiting us, for inquiring about the health of poor people like us, and for giving to us a check of thirty thousand rupees. We are helpless people and we do not have a penny to even buy a loaf of bread.” Feelings of utter helplessness, it appears, have totally robbed people of their ability to think clearly, and have taken away from them their innate dignity as human beings.

The man who should have been held accountable at least on two accounts, stood totally absolved of any charges: one that he has been the Chief Minister, ruling over 120 million people in the 21 st century like a Byzantine autocrat - a manner which is outdated as well as defective. No one man can be a jack of all trades unless he is a handyman or a superman. Second that he himself had been the health minister of the province. In an interview with Javed Chaudhry of the Express TV he was heard praying for the salvation of the 119 departed souls. As expected he was also heard holding the federal government responsible for the tragic occurrence, declaring loud and clear that a conspiracy was at work behind this tragedy. He did not miss to repeat that ‘he did not recognize President Zardari as the President of Pakistan.”

It was an awkward conclusion of a matter which was so tragic. The matter under discussion was of accepting, and fixing the responsibility; it hardly related to a discussion on the performance of the federal government. In the matters of justice and accountability, Hazrat Umer (r) did not make any compromises, whatever the consequences. His standing orders for those who were to be assigned duties of important public office were:

You shall not ride a Turkish horse. (A symbol of elitism…bullet proof BMW’s)
You shall not attire yourself in fine silken clothes. (Signs of extravagance… French collar shirts)
You shall not eat flour bread free of brawn. (Excessive worldliness…sumptuous State dinners)
You shall not post a guard at your door. (Inaccessibility…gated communities, palatial houses)
You shall remain available to the complainant all the time. (Bureaucratic bottlenecks)

Hazrat Ayaz bin Ghanam was appointed as governor of Egypt and was explained all the above instructions. A complaint about his lifestyle was received. On verification he was found guilty. He was called back, was forced to robe himself in a coarse woolen outfit in place of his silken clothes, and was assigned to the tending of a herd of sheep. On this humiliation, Ayaz bin Ghanam was heard saying, ‘I wish I were dead.” Hazrat Umer, on hearing this, reminded him by saying, “Why do you feel small in shepherding a herd of sheep. After all your father had earned the title of ‘Ghanam’ for being a shepherd”. Al Kharaj page 66. When sued by Hazrat Abi ibn Kaab over a dispute, Caliph Umer (r) appeared in the court of Zaid bin Saabit.

The Qazi stood up in respect on seeing him. Caliph Umer ( r) instantly reprimanded him for the violation. He had already explained to all that in the court of law, equality for all was to be a matter of utmost importance. Later, when the appellant tried to put the Caliph under oath as was the custom, the Qazi again intervene by saying that it was unnecessary as the accused was none else but the Caliph himself. Hazrat Umer (r) suspended the Qazi on this second violation by saying, “As long as you keep discriminating between a common man and the Caliph, you shall remain disqualified for holding the office of a Qazi”. How should the people rank the current brand of rulers and the judges in their esteem is a matter of great reflection for all.

The other parable is equally enlightening and thought-provoking. A donkey once fell into a deep well. The farmer who owned the donkey had no idea how to get the animal out. After much thought, he concluded that the best solution was to call some of his friends to help him bury the donkey in the well. The donkey had served him well for years, but was old and slow now, and to get him out was not worth the effort. The neighboring farmers came with their shovels and they all began to pitch dirt into the well on top of the donkey. Initially the donkey did make some horrible noises, but then he became silent.

The men after the completion of the job, peered down into the well. They were wonder-struck to find the donkey standing there hale and hearty. Each time they threw a shovel full of dirt on the donkey, he shook it off. The dirt ended up under his feet instead of on top of him. They had tried to bury a helpless donkey alive, but the donkey with effort and ingenuity had succeeded in turning the burying dirt into his stepping stone.

The people of Pakistan can be easily likened to the donkey in the parable, and the leaders to the farmer who had owned him. Surely, the people are not more dumb than the donkey. No situation can be an impossible situation. With a little bit of creativity and determination, they can turn any adversity in their favor like the donkey did. If they keep on depending exclusively on the leaders who are all out to use them, and bury them alive, why would even God come to their rescue? “God does not change the condition of a people until they change it themselves”. 13:11; 8:53

Given the depth of human self-deception, it is utterly important now for the people of Pakistan to wake up to their real nature. As people of Faith, it is incumbent on all that they hold themselves and their leaders as answerable before God. The process of accountability, even if ruthless, must trigger in now. All our deeds are consequential, and on this depends the whole dignity of man. Allah makes it very clear to us that the layers of “heedlessness are indeed thick and manifold and it is all important that man makes his sight keener”, before it is too late. 50:22. (Continued next week)