Vassal Mindsets
By Dr Shireen M. Mazari
What happened
to our independence we got in 1947? Watching the
US officials and diplomats holding forth over the
last few weeks on their grand political design for
Pakistan gives one a terrible sense of déjà
vu -- a harking back to the colonial days of the
Viceroy going from one political leader to another
discussing a smooth transition to independence.
Clearly, the US has now decided to carry the White
Man's burden and tell the Pakistani ruling elites
what is expected of them. Seeing a junior diplomat
from the US Consulate in Lahore telling reporters
what the US expects from the Pakistani leadership
and Ms Bhutto, if ever there was a case for declaring
someone persona non grata this was it. But our 'moderate'
elites seem to have lost even the façade
of a sovereign independent stance. So Hunt continues
to attract the political glitterati of Lahore and
the US ambassadress sits next to Ms Bhutto and declares
that the US is trying to bring together the disparate
(read 'moderate') political forces together with
the present leadership to resolve Pakistan's ongoing
political crisis.
Meanwhile Negroponte, a middle rank US official,
is given viceregal treatment and unfettered access
to all those who matter -- before he also holds
a press conference to inform the Pakistani nation
what he expects from its leadership. Have we retreated
into a vassal-like mindset after 60 years of being
a sovereign state of no mean standing?
The extent to which the US is treating us like a
vassal state is the new demand by some extremist
American political leaders that the US should prepare
to send in their military to intervene in Pakistan
-- no doubt seeking a takeover of our nuclear assets.
Much is being made about the US working with Pakistan
on nuclear safety -- as if this is something unique.
The fact is that nuclear safety issues are also
discussed between the US and India and undoubtedly
between the US and its NATO allies and Israel. After
all, technological sharing on nuclear safety is
a global societal interest but frankly it is the
US that seems to be having problems in this regard.
After all, it was a US Air Force plane that took
off with active nuclear warheads recently, without
authorization! So there is much the US can learn
from other countries' more secure command and control
systems. It is not simply a matter of technological
sophistication, but of cohesion and centralization
of command and control. It is at the level of strategic
cohesion that the US seems to be failing, so let
them look to their own problems with nuclear safety
for the time being.
Coming back to Pakistan, the real tragedy is that
while civil society, lawyers, journalists and students
are fighting for their rights against all odds and
many are suffering beatings and incarceration, the
main political leaders are looking to the US instead
of giving succor and strength to this spirited and
freedom-loving nation and its struggle. First it
was Ms Bhutto riding on the coattails of the US,
but now even Mr. Sharif has pleaded with the US
that the Pakistani nation is looking to the Americans!
As part of this nation and its civil society, we
are certainly not looking to the US to come to our
salvation. No indeed! We are looking to our own
people to rise up and be counted and they are.
This is not to say that external support for a people's
struggle for fundamental rights and justice is not
welcome. But there is a difference between support
and interventionist diktat and the US is guilty
of the latter. That is why it would be an insult
to the nation if such diktat found success. Clearly
the main political leadership has not found confidence
in the strength of its own people. But there are
some who are still looking inwards to the people
and they are suffering far greater punishment in
terms of their mode of incarceration and in terms
of the charges they are being threatened with. Clearly,
the darlings of the West are incarcerated temporarily
in the comfort of 'house arrest' while national
heroes are cast away in the worst prisons possible.
Double standards prevail even in modes of incarceration
with nationalists bearing the brunt of the punishment.
One may not agree with Imran Khan's politics, but
his stature as a sporting hero and a leading philanthropist
cannot be denied. That such a man should have faced
the wrath of hooligans on a university campus and
been abused, manhandled and then handed over to
the police like a criminal is a national shame.
Similarly, the lawyers still being incarcerated
in physically debilitating conditions, hardly enhances
our image as a civilized and moderate polity.
The distance between civil society at large and
those who are still looking to the US to alter the
situation in Pakistan and bring about substantive
democracy seems to be growing by the day as the
former's protests against the emergency gain momentum
drawing in a cross section of the population, including
segments of the elite who were regarded as largely
apolitical. Equally exciting is the new political
awareness amongst the younger generation still in
high school. Discussions abound, there is an inquiring
curiosity about various political scenarios and
Internet sites are filled with young people voicing
their concerns for the country and fully prepared
to demonstrate this commitment. The media curbs
and political repression have ignited a new vibrancy
in civil society and there are doctors, retired
bureaucrats, housewives, bankers and all manner
of people expressing their support for the media
and lawyers. The apathy amongst the university students
has also been replaced by a new activism. It was
heartening to note the large-scale protests, which
brought in women students in large numbers also,
in the Punjab University against the Jamiat students'
mistreatment of Imran Khan. Clearly, the terror
of these hooligans and the mafia-like hold they
have on that campus will not have the same relevancy
anymore.
The dynamics of the political discourse are altering
and at many levels the traditional political leaders
have been left far behind and wanting. They seem
to have little to offer beyond the old rhetoric
and seeking external godfathers. They still seem
to lack faith in their own people's ability to fight
for democracy, freedom and justice. The irony is
that while these leaders still do not realize that
it is the internal struggle that will bring about
the change, civil society is fast realizing it.
That is why instead of waiting for the US to intervene
with their political engineering, they are fighting
back for their lost rights. This is a defining moment
for the Pakistani nation and it must not be allowed
to be hijacked by those who are seeking external
interventions.
We are Pakistani; our struggle for our basic freedoms,
for strong and independent institutions; for a free
and robust media; and a sensitized and responsive
state is a Pakistani struggle which we must wage
and win on our terms, not on diktat from the US.
The leaders need to rise to the national aspirations
and the revitalized civil society, not remain stuck
in a servile groove of looking to external advice
and leads. Let us maintain an ability to distinguish
between moral support and political meddling. After
sixty years of nationhood, the nation has a sovereign
mindset; it is the leaders who need to rid themselves
of their vassal mindsets and rejoice in their Pakistani-ness.
The writer is director general of the Institute
of Strategic Studies, Islamabad. Courtesy The News)
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