Wall of Illusion
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
I once asked the offspring of a Pakistani Prime Minister – one dismissed by the President – whether the family had seen it coming.
“No,” was the reply, which then elaborated that a wall slowly encloses and insulates the powerful from outside happenings.
This is the wall built by courtiers and a coterie of sycophants. It is further buttressed and fortified by delusions and denials.
The return of Musharraf can be seen in this connection, based as it was on massive miscalculation and over-estimation of popularity. Whom one chooses to associate with day-in-and-day-out has a profound bearing on the direction one’s life takes.
It is instructive today to re-evaluate the responses of those currently baying for the blood of Musharraf with when he staged his putsch of October 12, 1999. The paragons of democracy now, along with the current champions of change, lost no time then in unleashing their exuberance and exultations.
The wall insulates power-wielders from public sentiment as well as from folk wisdom. From the sameness of company one gets the same perspective. It fosters illusions and lays the foundations of an unrealistic worldview out of step with the rocks of reality. Inside the wall, there is a loss of a considered perspective. There is more clarity from a distance.
That was the case in ancient India where Prince Siddharta was ensconced in royal luxury. Only when he ventured outside the walls of his palatial surroundings did he discover that everyone ages, everyone falls sick, and everyone dies. The rules of human existence apply to all. And that was the commencement of the journey of self-discovery and self-awakening that culminated in the emergence of the Buddha.
The 65-year history of Pakistan is cluttered with blind blunders emanating from being walled off from public sentiment. When Ayub completed his 10-year tenure in 1968, his sycophants convinced him to mark it with Decade of Development celebrations. The ensuing backlash toppled Ayub in a matter of months. An over-confident Bhutto called for early elections in March 1977 after having hand- picked a seemingly docile COAS. In effect, Bhutto chose his hangman. The fate of the Shah, Marcos, Saddam, Gaddafi, and Mubarak are self-explanatory.
In post World War-II America, none has damaged the US more than its 43 rd President, George W. Bush. Yet this is not preventing the ex-President to now push his brother, Jeb Bush, to make a run for the Presidency in 2016. No lessons have been learned.
Now, under the hijab of greater provincial autonomy and civilian rule, plans are underway to crack-up Punjab and demean the Armed Forces – both with disastrous impact on the cementing of national cohesion. There are eerie parallels here to what has befallen Sudan.
Thus far, the current system has only bequeathed a legacy of mein (me), mayoosi (despair), and munafqat (hypocrisy).
In this over-hyped ambience of finger-pointing and self-righteous posturing, a sharp dose of self-scrutiny would do all some good.
The result of being constantly walled off from the outside world is darkness. The only remedy to darkness is light. The barriers are broken by those who have the guts to listen and to self-analyze.
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