By Syed Arif Hussaini

  February 11, 2005

The Common Man

In Pakistan the so-called ‘common man’ is a very uncommon being. He has become virtually irrelevant in the elitist scheme of things. In a society dominated and governed by the elite, solely for the elite, he has continued to be constantly devalued, and has already reached a stage where he is nothing but a cipher, a non-entity, a sub-human species. Yet, all major decisions are taken ostensibly for the benefit of the common man. For instance, take the current turmoil in Balochistan. The potentates of the province -the sardars - claim that it has surfaced because the authorities are ignoring the interests of the common people.

It is contended that the natural resources of the province, particularly gas, are being exploited for the benefit of Punjab, an already rich province. Fact of the matter is that the common man even in Punjab is totally in the grip of the establishment, the landlords in particular. The difference is that the Balochi common man is deprived of the filter down effect of the royalties and subvention paid to the sardars. For instance, over Rs. 120 million ($2m) a year are said to be paid to Nawab Akbar Bugti, sardar of the 12,000-strong Bugti tribe. Is he accountable for that? He can turn around and ask whether the enormous defense budget is even discussed in the elected parliament.

There is a tacit understanding against such questioning among all the segments of the ruling triumvirate, known as the establishment - that is the army, the bureaucracy and the feudal lords. Seventy per cent of the common people of that province live below the poverty line as against half of that elsewhere. The extent of their deprivation maybe gauged from the fact that, for want of fuel in a gas-rich province, many would still be seen cooking their breads on stones heated up by the blistering sun! The callousness of the elite towards the lot of the common man is simply deplorable. When the likely reaction of the common man to his taxation proposals was pointed out to him, a gruff military ruler of the country had retorted angrily: “I know my people, they are to be kept under the heel”.

The common man has remained under the heel for so long that he has probably forgotten that he is even a human being. Years back I saw a six-foot-plus, hefty Pathan being beaten up by a five-foot-nil shurta (warden) at the Jedda airport soon after landing there with a work permit. For some reason beyond me, the shurta was shouting in Arabic in his grating voice and hitting the poor Pathan with his baton. The Pathan astounded by this unpleasant welcome on the land of his dream and devotion was cowering under the baton blows thinking perhaps that his sins were thus being cleansed right from the start in the holy land. Our man under the heel, deliberately kept illiterate, ignorant and superstitious, dare not likewise question the elitist shurta about the treatment being meted out to him.

He too accepts it as an atonement of his and his forefathers’ sins. He does not even know that the poor and common people pay bulk of the taxes, the middle class pays some and the elite pays almost nothing. Only a negligible percentage of the people pay income tax. The common people, being the largest segment of consumers, carry the biggest burden of the indirect taxes. Their life is a constant struggle to keep body and soul together. The elite, meanwhile, continue with their game of musical chairs. The winner is some times the feudal lord who sports politics for power and pelf, at others it may be a nouveau riche businessman with an insatiable lust for wealth, or a general in uniform with similar motives but with altruistic pretensions.

The constant loser, in whose name power is often usurped, is the ‘common man’ who like Alexander Pope keeps muttering in despair: “How long, but how long, O’ Lord”. He saw a beacon of hope and dignity in Z.A.Bhutto’s slogan “Common men constitute the fountainhead of all power” and that when elected to power he would ensure for them “bread, housing and clothing”. The common people overwhelmingly voted him to power. He could ease out a military ruler and retain power for over six years. History will credit him for giving his people the nuclear weapon, the Karakoram Highway and close relations with China with their attendant benefits. Yet, he could hardly deliver upon his commitment to the people. So, when Gen. Zia hanged him in a debatable case, there was no countrywide uprising as he had expected.

As for our Pathan in Jedda mentioned above, it did not take him too long to comprehend the behavior of the bully. Next time when another uniformed shorty with the baton started throwing his authoritative weight around, the Pathan picked him up and deposited him in the nearest trash bin fastening tightly the cover over it. Pakistan’s ill-treated and trapped common people cannot follow the Pathan as the jackboots are ever ready to put them under the heels. Nor, can they like the Mexicans and other South Americans migrate to hospitable neighboring countries. Many adventurous young men do, nevertheless, try to risk even their lives to reach Europe. Not a day passes without some being caught and even shot down while crossing the border of Turkey into Greece.

The children of the elite have the facility of attending expensive private schools, while allocations from tax payer’s money to public schools are misappropriated by the minions of the elite turning many such institutions into ghost schools. Children of the poor being thus deprived of modern, secular and affordable education go to the religious seminaries to emerge from them as religious bigots. Leaders of all hues and shades have been telling the poor all the time that there is light at the end of the tunnel. If they haven’t seen a ray of it over the past several decades, it is their own fault. If it is not their fault, whose fault it is then? Go and ask the feudal lord or the acquisitive businessmen. He will send you to the man in uniform quoting figures of expenditure in support of his accusing finger.

The man in uniform will direct you to the bureaucrat or the greedy politician, and he will in turn point to …. Stop the game of going in circles. Only you will become dizzy. You might even be packed off to a foreign center for asking too many questions. London appears to be the favorite of the dropouts these days. If you had the foresight, you could purchase a luxury apartment or even a palace utilizing the ill-gotten wealth accumulated there in fictitious accounts. Those in power at home will assist you in this for likely reciprocity in future. The man at the helm of affairs these days, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has also held out some expectations for the common man, particularly of Balochistan. Let us hope that his efforts are not sabotaged by some combination of the elitist triumvirate. President Ayub was ousted by such a machination. (arifhussaini@hotmail.com February 3, 2005)

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