A New Freedom Movement
By Dr Ismat Kamal
CA
At the first Round Table Conference in London (November 1930 – January 1931) the ailing Maulana Muhammad Ali, undivided India’s valiant freedom fighter, had declared to the British rulers: “The Mission on which I am here today is that, when I return to my motherland, the document of freedom should be in my hands. I will not go back to an enslaved country. I am prepared to face my death as an exile in an alien land which enjoys the privileges of freedom. If you do not grant freedom to my country, you will have to grant me the place for a grave in your land.”
The imperial power did not grant freedom to India at the Round Table Conference. Maulana Muhammad Ali died during his trip, on 21st February 1931, and was buried in the holy city of Jerusalem.
The sub-continent gained independence in 1947, but the freedom for which Maulana Muhammad Ali and other patriots gave their lives, never came. The white sahibs were replaced by the brown sahibs, and it was business as usual. The sardars, jagirdars, makhdooms (literal translation: master, employer, one who is served) and waderas, who had been allowed to treat their tenants like dirt as long as they remained loyal to the King Emperor, were left untouched. The lot of the haris (peasants) remains as dismal as before. In the words of an Urdu poet of the forties, “Numberdaar chaRhey chhati par gaali dey nit patwaari” (the numberdaars and patwaaris - village state officials – overpower us and abuse us day and night). Child labor continues unabated, not only in the factories of Sargodha and Multan, but also in the houses of the rich in Islamabad and Karachi. Education remains the privilege of the few, corruption and nepotism rule the land, and law and order has been thrown to the winds. Economic progress has remained minimal except, ironically enough, during the times of Ayub Khan and Parvez Musharraf.
It is in context that the foray of Imran Khan into active politics comes like a breath of fresh air. When Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar referred to the “privileges of freedom” enjoyed by the citizens of the foreign land, he was talking about the freedom of the man on the street to go about in peace and security, protection of his right to speedy justice, and freedom for him to advance in life on the basis of merit and merit alone. On IndependenceDay, 1947, the poet Israrul Haq Majaz had said “Yeh aaftaab ka parto hai, aaftaab nahin, yeh inqilaab ka muzhda hai inqilaab nahin” (This is the image of the sun, it is not the sun itself; these are the tidings of change, this is not change itself.) More than half a century has gone by and, as far as the lot of the common man is concerned, we still have to say, “What change?”
If there was a change, it was a change for the worse, as a Punjabi poet has said, “Aazaadiaan hathon barbaad yaaro huey, tusi vi huey, asi vi aan; lutan waaliaan sahnu bara lutya, soey tusi vi, soey asi vi aan; laali akhaan di pai dasdi ay, roey tusi aur roey asi vi aan” (In the name of freedom we were destroyed, friends – you were destroyed and we were destroyed; the looters looted us to the hilt – you were sleeping, and we were sleeping; the redness of our eyes tells us that you have been crying, and we have been crying.
Imran Khan will have his job cut out for him. The people are tired of the "plunder and loot by turn" perpetuated by the two major political parties of the country, which has repeatedly brought it to the brink of economic ruin and/or civil commotion, necessitating military intervention or presidential action. The problems of the country are manifold. In his recent speech at Chakwal, Imran Khan had talked about the need for smaller, more governable entities of the federation. The best means of doing this would be to restore the twelve former divisions of West Pakistan as provinces. This would eventually remove the problem of ethnicity and help in the forging of a national identity. No democracy is a true democracy unless it is felt at the grassroots. In this respect, Parvez Musharraf's introduction of the Nazim system was a brilliant and effective means of bringing democracy to the grassroots - a system which would provide a training ground for holders of public office, so that they could rise through the ranks, as they do in Western democracies through county councils, board of supervisors, etc. Eventually this would have put an end to the politics of patronage and protégés, now current. Hopefully, Imran Khan would restore power to the people, bring back the looted wealth to Pakistan, and introduce judicial reforms so that the plunderers and looters could be speedily punished. He must not be soft on past corruption, otherwise the snakes which he spares will come back to bite him, as they did to Parvez Musharraf. Imran’s biggest challenge will be to ensure free and fair elections. As he knows from personal experience, these will be well nigh impossible under the present system. The fairest elections in Pakistan’s history were those which brought Z.A. Bhutto and Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman, who were both “outsiders”, to power in West and East Pakistan respectively. These were conducted under the surveillance of the Army. Unless the next elections in Pakistan are held under the supervision of the army, the dadas (henchmen) will continue to rule, and politics will remain ‘a business of staking and making money’ as aptly described by Imran some time back.
Godspeed and all strength to Imran Khan in his mission. As a cricket captain, he knows that unless a team is selected on pure merit, it will remain a third rate team, and the country it represents will become a third rate country. He is playing on a sticky wicket, and needs the support of all those who love Pakistan. “Ek aik museebat zaadi ko jab tak na bana dein shahzadi, ai dost abhi aaraam na kar hai Khaam sha’oor-e-aazaadi” (until we turn every victim of oppression into a princess, don’t rest, dear friend - the mission of freedom is still unfulfilled).
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