Military, Musharraf and Magic

Political experts can opine all they want. They can criticize Musharraf, the Military and the short-term nature of US support. Long-winded arguments about how Musharraf has not adhered to his reformist agenda and what should, must or ought to be done grace the pages of all the English language papers in Pakistan. Then the other tragedy—the shout of ‘Press freedom is being curtailed’—the press is always sensitive to the loss of its perceived power. After that the latest doings of Nawaz and Benazir and the neutered nature of the upcoming elections are the topics of most thoughtful commentaries on Pakistani politics.

Pakistani society and politics is not so complicated or difficult to understand. If we pour the teapot of Pakistani politics, the catastrophe counters and complainers shift aside—a whole pile of rubbish; the actions that emerge are as follows:

1. Once in power, no-one in the history of Pakistan has gone peacefully. Many articles can just investigate the facts around these.
2. There is a graphical region of intense change at regular intervals. Two to five years is all that democratic elections has been able to handle. Military power has earned upto a decade or more of rule by one man. Again articles can investigate this interesting fact.
3. Everybody talks big and does little. Now this is a huge playing field for writers.
4. Islam and its interpretations form the bulk of political reason. Anything that is construed as non-Islamic is the enemy of Pakistan. Arguments to and fro can delightfully waste everybody’s time.

Obviously, all those who critique politics in Pakistan will find large amounts of fodder. It is easy to complain and criticize, since there is so little that goes well at the best of times. What is usually missing is optimism and a balanced view. Either it is ALL Bad or Always Bad, or It Must be Bad, since heck we are talking about Pakistan and how can anyone do anything right in that country.

Much like Garcia’s village in the book ‘100 Years of Solitude’, Pakistan occupies a magical, mythical space and time, where oppresssion of every kind is the order of the day. All leaders are mad and all ideas are Neanderthal. This excitingly wrong society provides the likes of Rushdie, Hamid and countless others with grist for criticism and obscure literary insights.

If only for that—Pakistan sure is an interesting place in space, way more interesting than the still orderliness that Pakistani migrants have chosen in their search for greener pastures.


Articles on the Web that inspired this piece:

Editorial TFT: Najam Sethi ‘Don’t Do It General Sahib”

Editorials and Columns from The Daily Dawn of 08 October 2002