Up there, in Heavens, the Quaid must be a very unhappy soul witnessing how those who had no part in the creation of his Pakistan have ruined his legacy - Photo Anadolu Ajansi

 

This Is Not the Pakistan the Quaid Wanted
By Karamatullah K. Ghori
Toronto, Canada

 

On the eve of the 76 th death anniversary of the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid–i–Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, there couldn’t be a more relevant and pertinent question than this: is this the Pakistan he dreamed of and worked his whole life to achieve?

On the basis of current evidence, in particular, the answer to this prickly question—damning to those holding the Quaid’s Pakistan in their thrall—the answer is an obvious no.

Quaid’s abiding legacy is one of unreserved commitment to the rule of law. His entire political career was anchored in unwavering observance and abidance by the law of the land. His detractors and critics often parroted that, unlike his Congress compatriots, he didn’t have the courage to challenge the British Raj in open defiance and agitation. But the Quaid had the courage of his conviction that he could fight the case of Muslims of India and win the case on entirely legal turf.

The achievement of Pakistan—entirely on the basis of Jinnah, the ‘Pleader’ of Muslims of India and not their ‘leader,’ brilliantly arguing his case—was the indisputable proof of his conviction being right.

However, what we see in Pakistan, today, is the grossest negation of Quaid’s legacy.

Pakistan, of today, has been reduced to a democratic polity in name only. Otherwise, those presiding over the country’s destiny have mutated it into a fascist, regimented, regime in the fullest sense of the word.

Pakistan, in the clutches of the generals’ mafia—which was in the vanguard of an imperialist-inspired conspiracy to topple the democratic government of PM Imran Khan (IK)—has become a carbon copy—in fact, worse—of Germany under the Nazis.

There’s absolutely no trace left of the rule of law that the Quaid held closest to his heart, even in the face of a combined opposition front of the British and Indian National Congress. Abiding by the law of the land is most conspicuous by its total absence in the Pakistan ‘conquered,’ once again, by its power-hungry generals—who dress themselves as ‘defenders’ of Pakistan’s land and ideological frontiers.

These are the people who had zero contribution in the establishment of Pakistan. Until the morning of August 14, 1947, they remained tethered to absolute loyalty to the British Raj. But they were the first to conspire against the state the Quaid had achieved, single-handedly, with the conviction of his courage and resilience.

The infamous ‘Rawalpindi Conspiracy’ was hatched by Pakistan’s first potential Bonaparte, General Akbar Khan, within weeks of the Quaid’s demise. Although that conspiracy was busted by the Quaid’s able lieutenant, PM Liaquat Ali Khan, that only whetted the appetite for aggrandizement of power-seeking generals. In fact, they never looked back after removing Liaquat—the main obstacle in their march to seize total control of Pakistan.

In their blind pursuit of political power, the generals were also the first to flout the Quaid’s categorical conviction that the men-in-uniform must never have any part in the running of the state, or formulation of its policies.

In his maiden, and only, address to senior military officers at Quetta’s Staff College, in June 1948—barely three months before his demise—he was unequivocal and forthwith that policy-making was going to be the sole preserve of the civilians. Their obligation, he reminded them cogently and categorically, was to carry out the civilian orders and implement their policy.

But by brazenly interfering in how the newborn state was to be run, they, the generals, not only flouted the Quaid’s command but also betrayed his legacy of rule of law and equal rights for every citizen of Pakistan, irrespective of his or her station in life.

The incumbent military junta has taken the abuse of fundamental rights of citizens of Pakistan, and unabashed denigration of their political freedom, to unprecedented heights of repression.

In their insane hatred of IK, the mafia has been going berserk and breaking laws with impunity. They have tilted at any and all windmills to render IK politically dead, if not physically—which seems to be their ultimate desperate conviction. But IK, instead, has been growing in stature and popularity, not only at home but also abroad. His candidacy for Chancellorship of iconic Oxford University should cause sleepless nights to the mafia, ensconced in Rawalpindi’s GHQ. They must have thought that they had reduced IK to a non-entity. Instead, he has grown, internationally, to become a world celebrity.

But the bizarre drama of brazen abuse of power enacted in Islamabad on September 10—the eve of the Founder of Pakistan’s death anniversary—unmasked the mafia’s desperation to the fullest extent. It also underlined what scant regard, if not outright contempt, the generals’ out-of-synch mafia has for the Quaid’s cherished rule of law.

The puny puppets, ostensibly presiding over Pakistan’s destiny on behalf of their power-hungry masters-in-uniform, had reluctantly granted permission to IK’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hold a public rally at a desolate place, Sang-e-Jani, 30 km outside Islamabad. But, at the same time, Islamabad and its twin city, Rawalpindi, were cordoned off with hundreds of containers to inhibit PTI’s followers from going to the venue of the rally. But PTI and IK’s aficionados, valiantly surmounting all the obstacles still flocked to the rally in tens of thousands.

Unnerved by the spectacle of unqualified popular commitment to IK’s mission, the mafia got cold feet. Like wounded tigers, they unleashed their fury over the people in a sickening police crackdown on the peaceful followers of PTI.

However, the principal recipients of the peeved mafia’s brazen disregard of democratic norms—close to the Quaid’s heart—were the leaders of PTI, all of whom happened to be MNAs—members of the iconic Parliament of Pakistan.

Within the premises of the National Assembly, in Islamabad, ten of them were arrested, including the Chairman of PTI, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan.

So brazen, so outrageous, was the assault on the rampart of democracy that even Ayaz Sadiq, Speaker of the NA and a tout of the Junta, was forced to decry it. So did several of PPP MNAs

Understandably, there’s no expression of contrition or regret from the military Junta. Knowing their history of holding democracy and the rule of law in utter contempt—not only today but over the past seven decades—one shouldn’t expect those who think of themselves as being above any rule or law to be apologetic for their flouting the Quaid’s legacy.

Similar shenanigans of Bonapartes in East Pakistan, back in 1971, had led to the truncation of Quaid’s Pakistan. The pharaohs-in-uniform not only remain unrepentant, to date, over their crime of halving the Quaid’s Pakistan but are re-enacting the same sordid drama in Baluchistan.

The people of the largest, in area, and potentially the richest province of Pakistan, seem fed up with incessant denial of their fundamental democratic rights. The resignation, only last week, by Sardar Akhtar Mengal—leader of Baluchistan National Party (BNP)—from his seat in NA highlights his people’s discontent over the brazen disregard of their political rights.

The tragic drama of East Pakistan, which led to the truncation of Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh (BD), is being played out in all of its traumatic dimensions in Baluchistan, to the dismay of those loyal to the shining legacy of the Quaid. But, there’s no evidence of any regret in the attitude of the mafia holding Pakistan to ransom to their insatiable appetite for power. One shudders to think of the logical denouement of the mafia’s unbridled arrogance of power.

Up there, in Heavens, the Quaid must be a very unhappy soul witnessing how those who had no part in the creation of his Pakistan have ruined his legacy. The Bonapartes’ lust for power has turned the dream of the Quaid into a nightmare. - K_K_ghori@hotmail.com

(The author is a former ambassador and career diplomat)