Actors or Directors
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
Letting the small fish fry and letting the big shark escape the net has almost become a national habit. Three Pakistani cricketers were nailed but the management remained out of reach.
In maritime practice, the captain of a ship was held responsible for steering the ship and its passengers to safety. He was liable for the conduct of his crew and, in case the vessel was stricken, the captain’s duty was not to abandon the ship. When the Titanic went down in 1912, so did its captain. In Lord Jim, the novelist Joseph Conrad narrates the shame endured by the novel’s protagonist for abandoning, during a storm, a ship full of Hajj-bound pilgrims. Lord Jim was also made into a hit movie, starring Peter O’Toole.
Under military law, the misconduct of a subaltern during performance of his duties has often been imputed to his commanding officer.
At stake, too, are broader concepts of Agency law, which deal with the principal/agent relationship. It means that one person has the legal authority to act for another. The agent represents the principal and is under control of the principal. The principal, therefore, is liable for the actions and consequences of his agent.
Simply put, the Presidency is responsible for the acts of those it hand-picked to represent it.
Slogans, rallies, and schemes don’t bring change. Change comes when there is a change of Soch (mindset). Australia’s skipper, Michael Clarke, has a tattoo in Arabic inscribed on his arm: “The pain of discipline is nothing compared to the pain of disappointment.” The reluctance to pay the price of moral discipline has inflicted on society the pain of national disappointment. The forces of status quo remain on the lookout for greener pastures to graze and gobble. They are not into progress: they are into the process of pursuing power.
Meanwhile, the burning issues of governance stay neglected.
Dr. Parvez Hasan, a notable Ravian, who served with distinction as Chief Economist at the World Bank, makes a compelling argument through his illuminating new book, My Life, My Country: “The well to do and the governing elites have failed in their social responsibilities. Tax collection is pitiably low. Public education is a mess. Population control is seriously neglected.”
Decision-making choices are being dictated, not by the paramount interests of Pakistan, but rather what would perpetuate the occupancy of a temporary inhabitant of chair.
What then was to be expected when a polluted and planted setup was accepted and saluted in the first place? It is a humiliation of the nation.
Sometimes, cunning individuals – out of over-confidence and acting over-smart – fall into their own trap. Over-scheming cannot replace common sense and moral sense.
The memo melodrama is bad Pakistani cinema.
Behind bad cinema are not necessarily bad actors, but bad directors. A director gets to select the actors.
Pakistan was never envisioned to be a playground of plunderers, perverts and parasites. Given the horrid results so far, is there any harm, as a change of flavor, to give due recognition to honesty, hard work, and merit? Surely, the results can’t be any worse.
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