August 20 , 2010
Alexander the Great, Zardari the …
Though centuries and continents apart in all other respects, Alexander the great (356-323 B.C) and our own Great Zardari(1955- ) will go down in history as having shared one thing in common: a wry neck. According to an account of his life, Alexander’s “neck was in some way twisted, so that he appeared to be gazing upward at an angle.” His biographers agree that his wry-neck was probably the result of a familial neck and spinal deformity, which might have even contributed to his death at age 32.
Out of sheer respect and regard for the great conqueror, all his courtiers used to twist their own necks while entering into his presence. One lackey twisted his neck to such an extent that Alexander thought he was mocking his weakness. He went to the knucklehead and slapped him so hard that all other necks became straight and remained so thereafter.
Fortunately, our man at the top of the current ruling oligarchy suffers from no such physical deformity. Zardari holds his neck at a discrete angle, not because of some fashionable affectation, but probably owing to the nudging of his own hubris and the swagger that pelf and power have rendered to him. After all, no other insignificant landlord has emerged from eight years in jail and several years in the shadow of his wife’s august position in society, to amass some two billion dollars in assets at home and abroad. His derogators point to the innumerable corruption scandals behind the wealth. The US Senate report on his corruptions may be seen at http://hsgac.senate.gov/110999_report.htm The chapter ‘Asif Ali Zardari Case History’ appears half way through the bulky report.
In the scale of values of the ruling elites of Pakistan today, the feudal potentates in particular, what really counts is the end result and not the means at all. They uphold this on the authority of no less a person than Niccolo Machiavelli, the eminent but much-maligned political scientist.
One cannot but marvel at the way Zardari kept grabbing all opportunities, including the intense wave of sympathy over the assassination of his wife, to accumulate levers of power till he catapulted himself into the top position of the influential political party (PPP) and then to the country’s Presidency itself.
He may not have read ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli – almost all politicians, the demagogues in particulars, read it avidly while publicly distancing themselves from its concepts - but his attainments betray an uncanny similarity in perceptions with that 16th century Italian mastermind.
Even without Machiavelli’s advice about ends justifying the means, he had his priorities well demarcated. Making money is a pleasant pastime, he had himself said years back. Acquisition of knowledge through formal education or self-study appears to be quite at the fringe of his interest. The first thing he did on assumption of power was to arrange the cancellation of the requirement that all parliamentarians need must be college graduates. He claims to be a graduate of the London School of Economics and Business. But, media reports pointed out that no such institution exists in London.
In a speech in Larkana, he said that Pakistan’s population was over 200 million, while official statistics put it at 170 million. Addressing his party workers in Birmingham, he claimed that Pakistan’s exports totaled $35 billion, while the actual figure is $18 billion only. He also claimed that the country was recording a three-digit growth rate! Actual rate has fallen during his watch from 7% to 2%.
Such facts and figures have little significance in his scheme of things. But, he would know each and every feather he had put in his own nest, which is now worth almost two billion dollars. Press reports have alleged that his visit to Paris was to inspect his palace in Normandy. His visit to London (also at tax payers’ expense) had on his personal agenda the supervision of his properties and investments, apart from the launching of his son, Bilawal, into active politics since the young man had completed his graduation from Oxford.
Unfortunately, the timing of his tour of Europe turned out to be inopportune as the country was hit by unprecedented monsoon rains and floods claiming over 1600 lives and plowing a swathe of destruction more than 1000 km long from northern Pakistan to southern Sindh – almost a third of the entire country. The massive floods, according to a UN report, have affected over 13 million people, that is more than the combined total of 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan’s Northern Areas, and 2010 Haiti tremor.
Zardari could have easily cancelled the tour, visited the affected areas, expedited relief operations, and addressed the people to keep their morale high. His egoistic proclivity, his feudalistic mindset and, above all, the boot-licker aides and cronies egged him on to keep pursuing his own agenda. That caused a groundswell of resentment at home and abroad and to the shoe-throwing incident at his Party’s Birmingham rally.
Alexander was tutored by the eminent intellectual, Aristotle. Zardari is nurtured, one suspects, on the advices served to him by his aides and close compatriots, comprising toadies and cronies of doubtful intellectual caliber and integrity. They created a complete mess of the shoe-throwing incident. His over-enthusiastic minions in government and PPP arranged the banning of the broadcasts of Geo TV and ARY as both had carried stories about the unsavory incident and Geo had telecast an interview with Shamim Khan, a London-based PPP activist who admitted to having thrown the shoes.
In an interview to an international news agency, Shamim Khan remarked: “There was no need for him (Zardari) to be here in London. The whole of Pakistan was telling him not to go. This thing got me enraged, fomented my emotions, and this (shoe-hurling) was the only means of protest available to me at that time”. What an argument! Shamim Khan in his skull-cap and gray beard did not, however, strike as a senile person. But, there was perhaps not much beneath his cap to flaunt, as he was easily carried away by a surge of emotion and indulged in an act unbecoming of a normal human being.
He was taken into police custody but was released after some questioning. Why? Is it not an offense in UK to throw shoes at a visiting foreign head of state? In all probability, he was set free on the recommendation of some VIP in the President’s entourage who thought that the incident would be obliterated by denial and the absence of any accused! Whatever the case, it does not reflect well on the image of the country and its people, more so on its leadership. The 21-year old Bilawal might have conducted himself more farsightedly.
Bilawal will inherit vast properties and large bank accounts in his father’s legacy but, one vainly hopes, not his feudal mindset, eccentricities, and his overwhelming avarice.
What about Alexander’s legacy? He fell ill while on his way home after conquering many kingdoms. He called his Generals and expressed his three wishes. He said, “I would like the world to know the three lessons I have learnt.
“First, I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really save anyone from the clutches of death.
“Secondly, I want the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold and silver to tell people that not even a fraction of all my gold and silver can be taken by me.
“Thirdly, I want my hands dangling out of coffin, so that people know that I came empty-handed in this world and empty-hand I got out of this world.”
An Urdu poet has put it in the following couplet:
Kya laya tha Sikander, kya lay gaya jahan say
Thay donoN hath khali baher kaffan key niklay
Alexander’s wry-neck was indeed an inherited affliction and not because of any arrogance. He had but a crooked neck, but our man heading the heap of the country’s corrupt is such in both body and soul.
Writing this piece on Independence Day, I beseech the Almighty to spare the much-tortured nation from natural calamities and miseries caused by self-centered crooks.
arifhussaini@hotmail.com
