March & Match
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
Independence 2014 has been soiled and roiled by agitation.
While the March was unfolding in Islamabad, the Pakistan cricket team – the only sport left in which Pakistan has retained an international presence – was unraveling in a Test match in Sri Lanka. Neither the March nor the match went satisfactorily.
The March slogans were plagiarized and recycled. “Freedom March” comes from the 1960’s US civil rights era; “Million Man March” is from the original Million Man March of October 16, 1995, spearheaded in Washington, DC, by Reverend Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam; “Naya Pakistan” was gleefully celebrated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto upon the bifurcation of the nation in 1971.
So what else is new? It is the same sorry spectacle of musical chairs.
The incumbents are no models of rectitude. Vendetta-driven posture toward Musharraf and repulsive family dominance have brought this humiliation on themselves.
But are the protesters any better? It is self-evident. This impasse has diminished all the principals. They may have already overreached, with their self-absorbed immersion in the “I” (mein), non-stop profanity, hate speech, uncouth behavior, and neo-fascist intolerance – not a good trailer for “New Pakistan.”
Federal government is fortunate: its foes have made it look good. It is a blight when the good lack conviction and the bad carry the passion.
Left to its own devices, is the general behavior of the public exemplified by self-restraint? Hovering above is the self-destructive dominance of hate in existing Pakistan society.
The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, also served in the Subcontinent as a Colonel from 1797 to 1805. His takeaway impression was of demeaning cruelty. With even greater insight, Babur had alluded to prevailing deficiencies of character nearly 300 years before. Fortunately, the soil was blessed with the self-corrective and cleansing presence of the Dervish, whose humility stood against greed and perfidy.
How many of the young know today that Pakistan is half of what it was, and what led to the bifurcation remains unexamined. It was sickening to see that that one of the negotiating planks in this current impasse has been “6 Points”. In 1971, “6 Points” left behind a truncated Pakistan.
The media is no nation-builder either, with its non-stop highlighting of abuse and agitation to the exclusion of far more pressing issues of governance and national cohesion. Intrigue and incitement create their own poisonous pressures and passions.
Coming back to cricket, the failed skipper has been assured that his job is secure through the World Cup of 2015. It is tantamount to rewarding failure by putting an individual above the objective of winning the World Cup.
While the public is being kept busy in the gutter politicking of non-issues, a giant has quietly departed from the mortal scene after hitting 100. Squash great Hashim Khan brought laurels to a toddler nation in 1951, when he became world champion. He did more to build national self-esteem than all the politicians and generals combined.
All the players seem to be fixated on their own interests. Missing from the scene is critical self-reflection.
