Our Lowest Point?
By Dr I. Kamal
Dublin, CA
Kyun gardish-e-madaam sey ghabra na jaayey dil
Insaan hooN, peyaala o saaGhar naheeN hooN main
-- Mirza Ghalib
(Why shouldn’t the heart get perturbed by constant swings and jolts?
I am a human being; I am not a circulating jug and bowl of wine!)
From a humanitarian point view, January 1 st, 2014 marked a low point in the history of Pakistan when some upstart politicians and prejudiced journalists saw it fit to mock and make fun of a man who fell ill on his way to the court, and was taken instead to hospital by the law enforcement agencies escorting him.
Pakistan’s public is accustomed to its political leaders faking illness for leaving the country and refusing to come back in response to court orders. On January 2, ARY News broadcast a list of names and excuses given by leaders of both major political parties in the past for leaving the country and not facing charges in court. These excuses ranged from heart ailments, psychiatric problems, dementia, son’s illness, pain in the ear, etc., etc.
Musharraf’s detractors were quick to apply the same motives to him, disregarding the big difference that he had voluntarily come back to Pakistan to face the courts, leaving a life of honor, ease and comfort. Some journalists also used the opportunity to knock the armed forces once again, which seems to have become a favorite pastime of some politicians and journalists (Asif Ali Zardari’s reference to tomcats coming again and again to drink milk and running away is a case in point, although statistics show that Pakistan has seen far more economic growth, poverty reduction, stability and public well-being under the military “tomcats” than under the corruption-ridden, pseudo-democratic dictators who have ruled Pakistan).
Terence J. Sigomony, reporter for the Nation, Pakistan, alleged that Musharraf “ is the third army general who has apparently taken refuge in the AFIC in the recent past to avoid appearance in the court”. The Indian lobby is having a ball. In the comments section of Yahoo and newspapers in Pakistan you can always find a Vishnu or a Mohan or a Baingan knocking Musharraf, and even mentioning the Lal Masjid incident as one of their reasons therefor. They are working on Hitler’s assertion that the best way to destroy a country is by driving a wedge between a people and their armed forces. It is a shame that some Pakistanis seem to be working on the same agenda. I remember how in the same vein the late Z. A. Bhutto’s government had shown TV footage of Pakistani soldiers being clobbered by Indians with kit bags, after their humiliation in East Pakistan due to political folly, without consideration of the feelings of mothers, fathers, wives and children of the soldiers watching at home.
Musharraf’s medical reports have put the lie to the mischievous rumors. His condition relates to stress which was so intense that no ordinary mortal could have withstood it. The sheer ridiculousness of some of the cases - Benazir’s murder (which was at the hands of a group of terrorists who had made at least 3 steps on the life of Musharraf himself, recently re-confirmed by Rahman Malik), Bugti’s killing (by the armed forces of Pakistan when he was conducting an armed rebellion against the state), the Lal Masjid incident (the putting down of a rebellion by armed insurgents, watched 24-7 on live TV in Pakistan and internationally, who refused mediation by Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi, other social and religious leaders and even the Imam of Ka’aba) - would have been enough to unbalance a normal human being. The launching of these cases one after the other shows mala fide intent, to nab Musharraf on one pretext or the other, before having to open cases in which the former Chief Justice and other dignitaries would be culpable.
On top of this had come the injustices at the hands of the judicial system upon which Musharraf had thrown himself. In a TV interview taken by Mubashir Luqman, the interviewer had brought in Musharraf’s aged mother, who had said words to the effect that yes, Musharraf should go and get his name cleared by the courts. What courts? His attempts to participate in the national elections were thwarted by a biased judiciary on the basis of objections from men on the street, negating the fundamental principle of a man being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. In a land full of corrupt politicians, most of them tax-evaders and loan-defaulters, Parvez Musharraf was the only individual singled out for disqualification.
Musharraf’s failure to appear in court due to explosive devices discovered near his house was ridiculed and scoffed at in a land where, very recently, former president Asif Ali Zardari, wanted in five NAB references, had refused to appear in court citing security fears; former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, also wanted by NAB, unilaterally declared that he has immunity with words to the effect that no ‘mai ka laal’ could arrest him. No questions asked, no hue and cry. It looks like there is one system of justice for the landed feudal lords and another for the common man in Pakistan.
The use of the word “traitor” is a disgrace upon those using it for Musharraf, a brave soldier who always led from the front, whose courage in flying in to a spot 11 km inside Indian territory in order to be with his men was praised even by the opposing Indian general. Chaudhry Shuja’at has rightly pointed out that a traitor is one who colludes with the enemy to betray his country. One can only imagine how Musharraf must be feeling about these verbal slings and arrows being thrown at him by people who would run away (to say the least) if confronted by an enemy soldier on the battle front.
Still there is no outpouring of support, no protests in the streets, except for a few brave girls and some adults carrying flowers to the hospital. Unfortunately, the colonial feudal system is so ingrained upon the masses in Pakistan that they are willing to adore, adulate and even shed blood only for their glamorous, billionaire feudal lords and their good-looking off springs. Recently, during a dharna by PTI at Bilawal House, where a public thoroughfare had been blocked, the local leader of the PPP had the temerity to declare to the press that he had told “his” people: “Die. But don’t leave this place” – as if the lives of the ghareeb awaam (poor people) are faaltoo (dispensable) for the whims of their feudal lords. And when they die, their graves are left derelict and their survivors are left impoverished and without reward or recognition. And the “democratically” nominated prince-in-waiting, while inaugurating a scheme to provide 120 square-yard housing for some poor people chosen by lottery, blatantly announced, “We had promised rotee, kapra, aur makaan (bread, clothing and housing). Here you are. You have makaan” ------- palaces in Karachi, Lahore, Dubai, England, France and where-have-you notwithstanding. This reminded me of the time when the late Z.A. Bhutto’s government had announced the establishment of some bread factories in Karachi in the early 1970s, and he had proudly announced that by providing these factories “we have fulfilled one more promise made to the awaam (public)”.
To paraphrase a verse by Sheikh Sa’adi, the great Persian poet and scholar, “the thoroughbred horse is hurt and wounded; while the donkey has a golden crown on his head.”
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