The Common Man
In
Pakistan the so-called ‘common man’ is a very uncommon
being. He has become virtually irrelevant in the
elitist scheme of things. In a society dominated
and governed by the elite, solely for the elite,
he has continued to be constantly devalued, and
has already reached a stage where he is nothing
but a cipher, a non-entity, a sub-human species.
Yet, all major decisions are taken ostensibly for
the benefit of the common man. For instance, take
the current turmoil in Balochistan. The potentates
of the province -the sardars - claim that it has
surfaced because the authorities are ignoring the
interests of the common people.
It is contended that the natural resources of the
province, particularly gas, are being exploited
for the benefit of Punjab, an already rich province.
Fact of the matter is that the common man even in
Punjab is totally in the grip of the establishment,
the landlords in particular. The difference is that
the Balochi common man is deprived of the filter
down effect of the royalties and subvention paid
to the sardars. For instance, over Rs. 120 million
($2m) a year are said to be paid to Nawab Akbar
Bugti, sardar of the 12,000-strong Bugti tribe.
Is he accountable for that? He can turn around and
ask whether the enormous defense budget is even
discussed in the elected parliament.
There is a tacit understanding against such questioning
among all the segments of the ruling triumvirate,
known as the establishment - that is the army, the
bureaucracy and the feudal lords. Seventy per cent
of the common people of that province live below
the poverty line as against half of that elsewhere.
The extent of their deprivation maybe gauged from
the fact that, for want of fuel in a gas-rich province,
many would still be seen cooking their breads on
stones heated up by the blistering sun! The callousness
of the elite towards the lot of the common man is
simply deplorable. When the likely reaction of the
common man to his taxation proposals was pointed
out to him, a gruff military ruler of the country
had retorted angrily: “I know my people, they are
to be kept under the heel”.
The common man has remained under the heel for so
long that he has probably forgotten that he is even
a human being. Years back I saw a six-foot-plus,
hefty Pathan being beaten up by a five-foot-nil
shurta (warden) at the Jedda airport soon after
landing there with a work permit. For some reason
beyond me, the shurta was shouting in Arabic in
his grating voice and hitting the poor Pathan with
his baton. The Pathan astounded by this unpleasant
welcome on the land of his dream and devotion was
cowering under the baton blows thinking perhaps
that his sins were thus being cleansed right from
the start in the holy land. Our man under the heel,
deliberately kept illiterate, ignorant and superstitious,
dare not likewise question the elitist shurta about
the treatment being meted out to him.
He too accepts it as an atonement of his and his
forefathers’ sins. He does not even know that the
poor and common people pay bulk of the taxes, the
middle class pays some and the elite pays almost
nothing. Only a negligible percentage of the people
pay income tax. The common people, being the largest
segment of consumers, carry the biggest burden of
the indirect taxes. Their life is a constant struggle
to keep body and soul together. The elite, meanwhile,
continue with their game of musical chairs. The
winner is some times the feudal lord who sports
politics for power and pelf, at others it may be
a nouveau riche businessman with an insatiable lust
for wealth, or a general in uniform with similar
motives but with altruistic pretensions.
The constant loser, in whose name power is often
usurped, is the ‘common man’ who like Alexander
Pope keeps muttering in despair: “How long, but
how long, O’ Lord”. He saw a beacon of hope and
dignity in Z.A.Bhutto’s slogan “Common men constitute
the fountainhead of all power” and that when elected
to power he would ensure for them “bread, housing
and clothing”. The common people overwhelmingly
voted him to power. He could ease out a military
ruler and retain power for over six years. History
will credit him for giving his people the nuclear
weapon, the Karakoram Highway and close relations
with China with their attendant benefits. Yet, he
could hardly deliver upon his commitment to the
people. So, when Gen. Zia hanged him in a debatable
case, there was no countrywide uprising as he had
expected.
As for our Pathan in Jedda mentioned above, it did
not take him too long to comprehend the behavior
of the bully. Next time when another uniformed shorty
with the baton started throwing his authoritative
weight around, the Pathan picked him up and deposited
him in the nearest trash bin fastening tightly the
cover over it. Pakistan’s ill-treated and trapped
common people cannot follow the Pathan as the jackboots
are ever ready to put them under the heels. Nor,
can they like the Mexicans and other South Americans
migrate to hospitable neighboring countries. Many
adventurous young men do, nevertheless, try to risk
even their lives to reach Europe. Not a day passes
without some being caught and even shot down while
crossing the border of Turkey into Greece.
The children of the elite have the facility of attending
expensive private schools, while allocations from
tax payer’s money to public schools are misappropriated
by the minions of the elite turning many such institutions
into ghost schools. Children of the poor being thus
deprived of modern, secular and affordable education
go to the religious seminaries to emerge from them
as religious bigots. Leaders of all hues and shades
have been telling the poor all the time that there
is light at the end of the tunnel. If they haven’t
seen a ray of it over the past several decades,
it is their own fault. If it is not their fault,
whose fault it is then? Go and ask the feudal lord
or the acquisitive businessmen. He will send you
to the man in uniform quoting figures of expenditure
in support of his accusing finger.
The man in uniform will direct you to the bureaucrat
or the greedy politician, and he will in turn point
to …. Stop the game of going in circles. Only you
will become dizzy. You might even be packed off
to a foreign center for asking too many questions.
London appears to be the favorite of the dropouts
these days. If you had the foresight, you could
purchase a luxury apartment or even a palace utilizing
the ill-gotten wealth accumulated there in fictitious
accounts. Those in power at home will assist you
in this for likely reciprocity in future. The man
at the helm of affairs these days, Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
has also held out some expectations for the common
man, particularly of Balochistan. Let us hope that
his efforts are not sabotaged by some combination
of the elitist triumvirate. President Ayub was ousted
by such a machination. (arifhussaini@hotmail.com
February 3, 2005)
