Opinion

America and Pakistan in Odd Relationship - 3
By Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry
Pittsburg, CA

“There are three things extremely hard, steel, a diamond, and to know one’s own self”.

- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Like a baby tied to a mother through the umbilical chord, so is Pakistan tied to America. American policies directly impact the country and its people. America patronized dictators—civilian or military-- as a matter of convenience at the cost of the people. The result is obvious.

Notwithstanding all the American aid in billions that came to Pakistan, the people remained terribly deprived of liberty, of democracy, of basic human rights, of education, and of health care while their corrupt usurpers thrived. The people of Pakistan looked towards America with hope for the realization of ideals and ideas that America stands for and espouses most, for a better future, but America kept patronizing and protecting the most fanatical, the most corrupt, and the most inefficient leadership that survived and that managed to assume power in Pakistan solely on the tacit or avid approval and help of America. America must share the blame for what is happening in Pakistan now.

America after the fall of Musharraf in 2007, talked of investing in people, but never lived up to this claim. There had always been a disconnect between what the people of Pakistan actually think about America, and what they are, and what their leadership paints about them to America. What Hillary Clinton said in the press conference in Islamabad in October, 2011 that corruption needs to be stopped, and the people of Pakistan must ask their leadership to deliver, is exactly what the people of Pakistan had been asking the American leadership to stop feeding the corrupt and clueless leadership in Pakistan.

In order to understand a true Pakistan character, this small anecdote of Ashfaq Ahmed narrated in “Zavia-two” would not be out of place. He writes, “The place where now stands the Wapda House building in Lahore, there once existed a traffic intersection where a police sergeant would stand in order to direct the traffic. Along with the sergeant there often would stand a few smartly dressed scouts from Aitcheson College, performing voluntary duty. One day he noticed a boy scout coming to the sergeant, saluting him and stating, ‘Sir, that person in the car has violated the traffic law?’. The sergeant took no action and said, ‘It is OK, my boy, let him go’. Another boy scout came, saluted the sergeant and repeated, ‘Sir, that motor-cyclist has broken the traffic law’. The sergeant again didn’t take any action and said, ‘It is all right. I did not take action against the one in a car, how can I take action against this motor-cyclist’. The third scout came, saluted and said, ‘Sir, this cyclist also has broken the traffic rule.’ The sergeant again did do anything and said, ‘My friend, I did not book a motor car driver, nor did I take any action against a motor-cyclist, how can I take any action against a mere cyclist. It is unfair. Let him go too.’ ”

Ashfaq Ahmed says that this was too much for him to digest. He approached the sergeant and said, “What kind of care-free police sergeant are you? You are letting every violator off the hook, and yet these boy scouts keep saluting you every time.” The sergeant replied, ‘These Aitcheson college boys were dropped here by their parents who came here in their cars. They have been here like a curse to me. It is the third day that I have not extracted a penny from anyone”. “Are you suggesting that it is because of these boys that you could not accept any illegal money from the people?’ asked Ashfaq Ahmed. “No, not at all. It is because of their damn addressing me as, ‘Sir’. I have begun feeling that I am also a respectable person, an important member of the society, and not dirt. My wife is mad at me at home, but I do not care. I will not accept a penny so long as these boys keep addressing me as Sir”. This is a true Pakistani character, simple, rustic, poor, inherently honest, caring and compassionate, but starved of self-respect, human dignity, wanting recognition of his existence, of his importance. America like the boys of Aitchison College can register a deep healthy and positive impact by just making them feel that they matter; that they are enterprising people, but this will happen once America stops by-passing the people.

Chris Matthews had counted some ten traits of the American people. The above story highlights some traits of a Pakistan character. About twelve features in the perception of this scribe characterize a true Pakistani.

Starved of Self-Respect. Humiliation and insult are a part of culture over there. From childhood to college life; from adult-hood to married life; from market to office, the most missing element is according respect to others. This has heavily impacted the attitudes of people. Most remain either self-annoyed, or annoyed at every thing.
Starved of Justice: Muslims believe that God is Just and justice is what they aspire to see in life. They are willing to undergo any hardships if it is ensured that justice will be served at the end. What has deliberately eluded them is even-headed justice that could maximize their utility and that could ensure their welfare and well-being. Now a sense of injustice has seeped into every segment of society, even in human relations.
Authority-loving: Pakistanis believe in a just and benign authority, be it of a father, of a husband, of a leader. They are willing to act in a disciplined manner if they see it manifested. The presence of inner discipline is too abstract an idea for them. One main reason of a decline in the morals and values of a Pakistani as an individual has been the absence of an honest and just authority - a real role-model.
Wanting-to-Happen-Something. A good number of people in Pakistan are fatalists, and they believe in a pre-fated destiny. Religious people provide the rationale, by putting everything on God, eliminating individual responsibility. So most people remain in a state of paralysis, waiting for others to hold their finger. Even when sick, going to the doctor must be at somebody’s urge or suggestion. They never discover themselves as they never give themselves a shot.
Non-Critical. Self-analysis, acceptance of a mistake made, self-correction are considered signs of individual weakness because confessions entail humiliating cultural connotations. And hence most people often remain in a denial-mode. It has its roots in culture. Asking questions and splitting hair is deemed as a defect, and not a virtue. From parents to the teacher to the boss to the leader to the religious Sheikh, nobody likes when disagreed upon, or when questioned. From the choice of subjects in college, to the choice of a life partner, even a job, people accept what has been detailed for them by others. Being critical is a sign of rudeness. Hasan Nisar is right when he says, “One day these politicians of Pakistan are going to accuse Thomas Edison, for having invented electricity, and for supplying the people a cause to protest over load-shedding, and creating problems for them”.
Credulous. Even a dictator can rule over them for as long as he wishes. The only condition is that he should avoid hitting himself on his own feet. Interpret, twist, use and apply religion, politics and knowledge, the way you like, a good number of people will believe in it.
Moderately Religious, but not fanatics. All good people are religious, because religion teaches good things. Faith in God and in the Requital Day put a binding on the faithful to be good or he or she would be held accountable. Understanding, however, of religion is a perquisite for good results. People are taught there to follow Faith blindly. A true Pakistani wants to see religion in every walk of life because he believes that Islam is a religion of action, and not a mechanical collection of rituals. The presence of dishonesty, injustice, corruption, apathy, cruelty, intolerance, mayhem, and ill-treatment of women and children are in direct conflict with the teachings of Islam. He may be a part of them, but he fully understands that they are elements of evil, and is always willing to shun them. Only he lacks the individual initiative in this direction.
Optimistic. No people on earth could be more optimistic and more life-loving and more hopeful than the people of Pakistan. Disasters, diseases, poverty, corruption, and insecurity, name a problem that has not visited them, yet they know how to smile; how to take care of their children, how to keep the body and soul together. Their cynicism is due to the absence of justice and good governance that keeps them deprived of their due.
In-Love-with-Death. They may not live the life they should, but they know how to mourn. The whole culture and literature of Pakistan is centered on mourning and lamentations. They are not suicidal. This is a new phenomenon imported into Pakistan by the religious zealots for the fulfillment of their own political agendas. They sanctify death, and take life as a preparation towards that end. Death is a rendezvous with God. This understanding always has had a hampering effect on their God-gifted potential.
Un-Commonly Common: The common man in Pakistan is a non-grumbling, docile, credulous, authority-loving, religious, and past-loving individual, willing to vote even for the most corrupt leader, if addressed with a tinge of respect. He would not wash the hand he once might have shaken with a rich, feudal lord. He is a king maker without even knowing it. He loves his poverty because his leaders and his religious mentors, both keep telling him that it is from God, and on the Day of Judgment, it is the poor who will rise with the Prophet.
Un-willing-to-Change: A Pakistani character is not stubborn, but he is by nature static and nostalgic. Past is always glorious to him and present unpleasant. He is scared of any changes and avoids them with effort. Most people would not change a house, a bed, even their sleeping posture, or job all their life. I have seen talented people stuck in menial jobs in youth, in the hope to retire with pension after twenty-five years. In a fast changing world, adjustment or change is not something optional. It is the need of the day. Politicians fully exploit this weakness of the people.
Of-the-Underdog-Party. Like Americans, Pakistanis also love to be on the side of the victim. Chaudhri Waris, Maula Jat, Jeera Balaid, Sharif Badmash, and Minto’s Eishwer Singh- the rapist, all become instantly respectable in their eyes when they find them displaying even an iota of goodness, or when they see them locking horns with the bigger bulls. The Robin Hood mentality works best in Pakistan. Plunder the country, and then feed some widows, and institute some scholarships for the poor. This advertisement works best. People would talk about their generosity more than about their wholesale loot.

It is true the feelings of anti-Americanism are rampant in Pakistan. It is a good lightning rod for the leaders in opposition, and for the religious zealots to draw away from them the real causes of the popular discontent and to hide their own nefarious designs. One quick way for America to fix this problem is to instantly start distancing itself from the most inept, corrupt, clueless and insensitive governing leadership of Pakistan, and begin openly and boldly caring, cajoling and investing in the real people of Pakistan. If Bangladesh can force out their Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Muhammad Yunus, the pioneer of the Grameen Bank, contending that his micro-credit policy was “sucking the blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation”, if Japan can change its prime minister six times in five years; and Britain its Secretary five times in five years, then why can’t Pakistan change its leadership that is so whimsical that it shuts down the whole country because a leader’s mother-in-law living in exile had died, causing the country a loss of 25 billion rupees per day, while a person from his own province in broad daylight could be seen committing suicide in front of the parliament house just for a loaf of bread, and the retired railway workers protesting and remaining deprived of their hard-earned pension for lack of funds. To be even seen having a cup of coffee with such leadership is akin to losing fifty percent of credibility and respectability in a Pakistani culture. Wake up America! Invest in people and you will see the real Pakistan - the only real country in the Muslim world.