Loyal to Their Loot
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
Shakespeare has many memorable plays, which have made their mark across the globe. His words have provided comfort and inspiration to many, including dissident Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim, who read all the works in prison.
Among Shakespeare’s plays is Timon of Athens – perhaps his most obscure and yet a profound one. Washington just witnessed a single performance at the Shakespeare Theatre. It’s the saga of a generous man who constantly feeds and fetes his rich and powerful friends and ends up outspending his resources. When he finds his coffers empty, and calls upon his elite associates for assistance, they instead abandon and desert him. In disgust, Timon gives up on society and seeks solace in the wilderness.
When the train of good fortune is running full throttle, everyone wants to jump on to enjoy the ride; when the train grinds to a halt and needs help to get it back on track, then they all jump out.
The theme of beneficiaries constantly stabbing their benefactors in the back is a constant in Pakistani polity.
A thousand years before the advent of Shakespeare, Hazrat Ali had highlighted this fickle trait embedded in the human condition. Ingratitude continues to flourish. Just watch how many of the so-called sophisticates, who live the life of Riley, berate the Quaid for existing ills without striving to be better themselves and, in doing so, they put a lid on others’ just expectations. The lack of passion for statecraft is more than over-compensated by the passion for pelf.
The treasure, time, and energy of the state are again being expended for elections. But to what end? Past precedence provides ample evidence that elections are a tool to access power and to perpetuate power under the hijab of democracy. It serves the monopoly of the family franchise. It is this tiny oligarchy that turns out to be winners. A minority thus stultifying and holding the majority hostage.
While the dark shadows of Fifth Column terror, rampant inflation, and despair are lengthening across the breadth of the land, impostor leaders sit on the board and pretend to govern. When the hierarchy itself is dissipated, the protectors become predators.
Learn from Afghanistan, whose rotten oligarchy is responsible for its ruination. Left unsaid and unclear now is the end-game of its post-2014 position.
How does one explain when the leaders of an impoverished nation are far more rich than the rulers of the wealthy West? They are loyal to their loot because, without it, they have no independent stature.
It is a matter of common concern that the common person’s capacity to dream big is limited by what is in his pocket. Low self-worth is a consequence of weak community camaraderie. It is that which makes the young feel old. One may not be able to erase a demoralizing record but then one is never too old to feel young again.
If, against all odds, the Palestinians and Kashmiris can forcibly resist foreign military occupation, surely it does not take that much to try to resist the occupying power of big money. It is one way to re-energize the nation.
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