Kalabagh:
The Best Diversion
By Ahmad Faruqui
Dansville, CA
Far out in the future, an architectural
marvel may rise at Kalabagh, creating a big diversion
of the Indus waters. But today, the dam provides
a convenient diversion from more immediate issues.
Faced with a lack of national consensus, the cabinet
has unanimously approved the multi-billion project,
evoking the words of T. S. Eliot:
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw.
So why is the general-turned-president (GP) planning
to build this dam, provincial consensus be damned?
Water experts have long predicted a water shortage
in Pakistan, but maybe their reports just made
their way to GP’s desk. One has to feel
sorry for the hapless Shaukat Aziz, who was forced
to invoke global warming to justify the dam. One
has to wonder what the Bush administration feels
about him, since its position is that global warming
is a word found in the dictionary of fools.
More interesting than GP’s decision to go
ahead with Kalabagh was the process through which
it reached the decision. As usual, GP had already
made up his mind. But for the first time he let
the public vent their frustrations so could show
off his debating skills. To those who said that
provincial consensus was lacking, GP said, “Pakistan
comes first.” One Unit is back with a vengeance.
To those who said that public opinion matters,
he said, “This is your government. It always
acts in the national interest.” He has been
bestowed the gift of infallibility, like the Pope.
For a man who routinely finishes his sentences
by saying that he is “200% (or 400%) certain,”
GP is no stranger to hyperbole. Thus, in his view,
anyone opposing the dam is advocating national
suicide. GP has promised Sindh that he will amend
the Constitution to ensure that its interest will
be protected, never mind that the military has
found the Constitution to be pliable like putty
in the past. He has also said that being a Sindhi,
how could he act against Sindh’s interest?
But only a magician can uphold both Sindh’s
interest and the nation’s interest when
they conflict.
With his glib repartee, you would think GP was
the president of a sophomoric debating society.
So why is he applying the proverbial “full
court press” on Kalabagh? Maybe the economy
is not doing as well as the official figures suggest.
Or the war on terror is doing poorly, since all
he has done is to fetch in a bunch of Number 3’s.
There is no sign of Numbers 1 and 2. Speaking
of which, how many Number 3’s are there?
The whole affair is beginning to read like a script
from Monty Python or The Prisoner.
No diversion is needed since ties with the Islamic
world are strong. The OIC gave him center stage
at their summit and the Saudi Royals threw open
the doors of the Holy Ka’aba to him. And
nor is it needed in the case of the earthquake
relief effort, now that billions are pouring in
from abroad. The guns are silent in Kashmir, thanks
to the two-year old “composite dialogue”
and so no diversion is needed there either.
So why is Kalabagh suddenly on the front burner?
Perhaps it is the conflict in Balochistan in which
GP now finds a foreign hand (guess which one?).
Now he will finally have the chance to hit the
“irritants” in such a way that “they
won’t know what hit them” and “restore
the writ of the state.”
Maybe it is the issue of holding dual offices,
which is no longer justified by the “special
circumstances” in which the country finds
itself in the wake of 09/11/01 (or should that
be 10/12/99?). He now contends that it allowed
him to commit the army rapidly to the earthquake
relief effort: “I ordered immediate action,
otherwise the prime minister would have called
the army chief to pass him directions which would
have taken a long time to act upon.”
GP has a point. While the militaries in the world’s
democracies have no problem responding to natural
disasters, in Pakistan the khakis loath taking
direction from those damned “civies.”
The moment GP doffs his uniform, he loses his
ability to control the khakis. Thus, as this year
unfolds, more justifications will no doubt be
found for wearing the uniform. This will continue
till the end of time.
GP has restated his commitment many times to “introducing
real and lasting democracy in Pakistan”
through the creation of a National Security Council
(NSC). And should someone try to breakup the NSC,
“I predict that …he will invite martial
law.” Only in Pakistan can a GP say with
a straight face, “To keep the military out,
you have to let the military in.” With that
logic, GP has established his credentials to update
George Orwell’s “1984.” But
if it’s going to sell well, GP will have
to introduce someone who can solve a double-barreled
riddle: If the NSC is any good, how come the army
is still calling all the shots? And if the army
is already in, what is the need for a NSC?
The most obvious explanation is that by portraying
himself as the champion of Kalabagh, GP is seeking
to curry favor with Punjab, which he knows has
been the bastion of power in Pakistani politics
since 1947. But does this bit of political skullduggery
not come at the risk of alienating voters in three
of the nation’s four provinces and possibly
even in Punjab? Yes, but here we are dealing with
someone who prides himself on being a risk taker
and who believes (quoting Napoleon) that every
major decision is ultimately a leap in the dark
(remember Waterloo, err Kargil?).
Of course, there is no guarantee that the dam
will be ever built. To return to T. S. Eliot once
again:
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
The national cohesion that had developed in the
wake of the October 8th earthquake has been shattered
by the controversy over Kalabagh. But some good
may yet come from this, if Pakistanis realize
that behind a democratic façade, Musharraf
continues to act in the military’s corporate
interest, as did Ayub, Yahya and Zia.
It is time to amend Nehru’s statement that
while nations have armies, in Pakistan the army
has a nation. As GP celebrates his seventh New
Year, he might as well sing a tune to himself,
“While armies have generals, in Pakistan
I have an army, which in turn has a nation.”
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