A Rhyme For Fools -- 1

Reform - Kill 4 Politicians in public..and hang their bodies in public..and u have got an institution..born..

simple..

give 1 week..for all the looted money to be back in the coffers..of State Bank..
1 week gone..
no action..?
kill the bloody pest..

and the rest n-1 politicians..would have emptied half of swiss banks..

now u have institution and money was well.. A+B=C..
institution plus money = police reform..
police reform.= new uniform..
Law and order in place..

and investor..in our country..

simple..

start from the top..

don`t ask for votes..

Re: # 31 salim

True.... and tragic pakis have NOT been able accept each other even after such a long period of nationhood...

Re: # 26
>>>>because for the past 60 years they have lied so well to themselves, that now they honestly believe their own lies<<<<<

Ferozk,
I am surprised by ur overall pessimism. True things are bad, but the solution lies in your statement above. Examining the history and seeking truths.

Terrorism, violent anti-India ``strategic`` stance of Pak rulers, etc evoke strong anti-Pak feelings among Indians. We wish you well.......otherwise....

If your people focus on democracy and economic development of people living in the territory that u currently possess things can be turned around. It is true that such change of mind set hasn`t happened.

#29 mohar11 {``True... 60 years down the drain - paki still cry about ``hinuds haven`t accepted us``... ``}

Mohar Bhai,
Abey yaar, the Pakis haven`t accepted each other for the last 60 years. As soon as we do that, you guys should accept us, too. :)

#24 by dost-mittar

...but they do not recognize the inherent internal strength of the Pakistani society; the factors that led to the creation of Pakistan will also help it to sustain itself...

Thanks. Your well informed views are a breath of fresh air. You, quite incredibly have a finger on the Pakistani pulse more so than Pakistanis themselves.

An elaboration though. It is not 5 groups. It is only five people in each.

Remember the 20:80 principle? It only takes 1/5th to make or break an enterprise. The balance 4/5th are bystanders. Those 1/5th need to be replaced. That`s all.

I have no doubt at all that Pakistan will do well even though a majority of Pakistanis have little faith in it. But the most widely held opinions are often wrong.

Re: # 19
[...Pakistani are very good and very skilled at playing the victim...]

True... 60 years down the drain - paki still cry about ``hinuds haven`t accepted us``...

Re: rozaiba# 10

I think, you have enumberated the institutions which are need in Pakistan quite aptly and I agree with you on this point.

My disagreement with the above point, as a caveat, is that the real problem in Pakistan is the lack of acceptance of these institutions by the people of Pakistan. Once, we make these institutions acceptable to the Pakistanis in the sense that they have to abide by them, the rest will follow suit. The revivial of the institutions will not automatically lend itself to an evolutionary process in Pakistani politics.

Ciao

Re: majumdar # 21

The abandonment of democracy is not an issue in Pakistan. The real issue that there is no scope for democracy in Pakistan in real terms. The problem in Pakistan is not necessarily democracy, but it is accountibility and no one in Pakistan wants to be held accountable for their actions.

Hence, you can have all the ``democracy`` you wish for in Pakistan, but there will always be a group of people who will make certain that democracy does not make them accountable for their actions.

Pakistan want their cakes only for themselves and any idea, which talks about sharing the cake, will be attacked and dismantled by the Pakistanis themselves. In this, if there is a democracy in Pakistan, one can only wish that is only in name not in practice and it is desire of the average to live above the law, which will make sure that democracy takes roots in Pakistan.

India might have its bad applies, but at least they are willing to live within the law and though they may push and twist the law; they do not willingly break it. This is the difference between India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, the law is willingly broken because we as a nation give respect to those who break the law and those who obey the law, we hate them. To flunt the law in Pakistan is a mark of respect and any one who gets away with breaking the law, we idolize them.

This is perhaps the only nation in the world, where the criminals walk the streets scot free and the innocent is jailed and tortuered on false charges.

The best solution for Pakistan is allow it to exist as it presently existing, because this how Pakistan will exist; if it manges to exist at all in the future. The future of Pakistan is its` present state.

As to the abandonment of democracy in Pakistan, how can one abandon something, which never existed in the first place in Pakistan? LOL

Ciao

re: Dost-Mitta # 24

Thanks for penning a thoughtful and a cogent reply. Your identification of the 5 power groups in Pakistan was quite accurate and quite interesting to read.

Dost, there is no hope for this nation because there is no wish to change in Pakistan. Pakistan is a status quo society and the problem rests on the level of the people of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan will accept any rule over them that allows them to maintain their specialized niche of economic and political interests. In the last 60 years nothing has happened and there is not much to expect from this nation in the future either.

There is no civil society in Pakistan! Pakistan is a state in acute anarchy and the civil society has collapsed in Pakistan. In fact, given the nature of things in Pakistan, it would not be too surprising to discover one day that ``the bubble has burst``. Pakistan, in its present state of affairs, is living on borrowed time and the people of Pakistan will never admit just how awful the situation is, because for the past 60 years they have lied so well to themselves, that now they honestly believe their own lies.

Pakistan is a political example of the Picture of Dorian Gray; the country is rotten from the inside and is continuing to get worse, with each passing day.

I admire your sense of hope, but I do not share in it.

Today, near the press club in Lahore; a place near the hotel where you stayed during your visit to Lahore, there was a protest. People were protesting the ever increasing price of bread and they were holding dried out ``rotis`` as a symbol of their protest. The police lathi charged them and a few people were hurt.

There are cities in Pakistan, where there is not a drop of water.

There is a different reality for the rulers in Pakistan and for the ruled and two realities are poles apart from one another.

People are straving to death and the poverty levels are increasing and to make the ends meet, Pakistanis are selling their organs and according to WHO, Pakistan has a booming trade surplus in ``organ tourism``; this means that people come to Pakistan from the outside world to buy organs from Pakistanis.

The price of petrol is nearly 60 rupees per litre. Inflation is over 10 percent and if you listen to the government - it is over 8 percent, which means in reality it must be the double of this figure!

There is no middle class left in Pakistan and there are now only two economic classes in Pakistan - the very rich and those dying or already dead.

I am looking at Pakistan from a totally unvarnished persective and there is no future in the direction, were we are headed as a nation.

Ciao

correction to #24:

``This is why that despite the Mullah parties not winning more than a small percentage of votes, the secular parties passed the objectives resolution, named Pakistan an Islamic Republic, declared Ahmedis to be non-muslim, passed blasphemy laws and almost succeeded in declaring in passing the Hadood ordinance when Zia intervened.``

should read:

This is why that despite the Mullah parties not winning more than a small percentage of votes, the secular parties passed the objectives resolution, named Pakistan an Islamic Republic, declared Ahmedis to be non-muslim, passed blasphemy laws and almost succeeded in in passing the Hadood ordinance when Muharraf intervened.

Dear Feroz:

I am an observer, not an expert, on Pakistan, but I have a somewhat different take on the situation in your country. Here are some random thoughts:

I do not blame the politicians for the situation in which your country finds itself now. Your politicians are no worse than India`s; Nawaz Sharief, Shahbaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and others are no worse than Indian politicians in terms of sophistication, selfishness and short-sightedness - at least I haven`t seen elected Pakistani politicians auctioning themselves to the highest bidders or being kidnapped and held as captors to avoid them from switching sides as do Indian politicians; most Indian politicians are thoroughly corrupt and keep splitting parties as soon as they find themselves in a minority; many are facing criminal charges relating to murder and robbery.

In my opinion, the civil society should share a large part of the blame for its impatience. They claim to want democracy but are unwilling to put up with the chaos, corruption and infighting that goes with democracy; as soon as a white knight in shining armour appears on the scene, they welcome him with open arms.

It seems to me that there are five centers of power in Pakistan: the army, the bureaucracy, the feudals, the politicians and the mullahs. Of these, the army as an institution, if not its generals, is the one which is universally admired, and for good reasons. It is the most disciplined, professional and efficient instituion in Pakistan and represents a cross section of the society in it. And while my Indian friends will say that this army has lost all wars, this is not the perception among Pakistanis, who believe that in 1947 and 1965, their victorious armies were stopped while winning and in 1971, they were defeated because of the stupidity of their politicians. But for the deterrence provided by the army, Indians would have done to jehadi-sending Pakistan what Israelis have done to Palestinians, i.e., bomb the areas from where they come.

The bureaucrats are the second wrung of power in Pakistan and they are perhaps the real governors of Pakistan. They may be corrupt but are competent and loyal to whoever comes to power and provide a degree of stability and continuity which has prevented the state of Pakistan from failing.

The feudals command a high degree of loyalty in the rural society and dominate the political parties, except for the MQM and JI. They seem to be pretty good at making alliances with whoever is in power, ML, PPP or the army.

The politicians are also feudals, except for the new industrial class represented by the Sharifs or the professional class represented by the likes of Imran Khan who wield little influence. They may be corrupt but they never have been given long enough innings to wade through the chaos and mess of democracy.

Although the mullahs have started to wield direct political power only recently, their influence has been felt all through the existence of Pakistan. This is because Islam is so popular with the masses that it is the one force that no one can oppose in Pakistan, not even the army generals. The Pakistani press has never been as free as it is now, but even at its current level of freedom one never reads anything that may be deemed to be critical of Islam, which must be protected and defended as an answer to all problems facing not only Pakistan but the humanity as well (I think that this is self-imposed as Irfan Hussain of Dawn does cross limits sometimes). Even those who are against the imposition of sharia do so by claiming that Islam does not mandate it. There is no one who will say that Pakistan should do whatever is good for Pakistan, regardless of what the quran or sharia says. This is why that despite the Mullah parties not winning more than a small percentage of votes, the secular parties passed the objectives resolution, named Pakistan an Islamic Republic, declared Ahmedis to be non-muslim, passed blasphemy laws and almost succeeded in declaring in passing the Hadood ordinance when Zia intervened.

I have a feeling that Pakistan will muddle through just as it has in the last sixty years. There would be those, like the U.S. Foreign Policy Institute that has today declared Pakistan to be one of the ten states most likely to fail, but they do not recognize the inherent internal strength of the Pakistani society; the factors that led to the creation of Pakistan will also help it to sustain itself.

The source of current situation is most directly traced to Jinnah and promise of the state that was sold. A promise of a land of milk and honey was sold, and some Jinhaites (i would not classify them muslims, since some were actually not) indeed achieved it in getting fast-track personal (family) gowth in army, civil service and newly defined markets for industrial and feudal families. There is however no model of sharing (and we all know that is a difficult concept, it needs to be hammered starting at age 4). Has ke liya pakistan.

Now there is still the lingering nostalgic taste of that fast-track growth which is attracive and that is why there is desparate changes from benazir to sharif and musharaff, with altaf bhai and baloch sardars and MMA/jihadis getting what they can in the frenzy.

I wonder how the pakistani establishment (feroz, manto, izaz-gul, zeemax etc) view the recent turmoil in Nepal. It was an impressive standoff.

Re #19, Democracy does not require elevating of ``the love of country or nationalism or duty or honor`` above selfish personal interest. Democracy is the most practical way of satisfying competing self-interests. What hinders democracy is local or national monopolies of power. With urbanization and economic development such monoplies become untenable. Democracy becomes the only way to share power among interest groups.

Feroze sahib,

All in all a very pessimistic post. If the people of Pakistan are convinced that democracy is no good and is unwanted, Pakistan will never have democracy, if people are convinced that democracy is the way to go, there is a good chance that Pakistan may actually become a democracy.

(No supporter of democracy in Pakistan will ever subordinate his/her personal self-interests for the ``good of the nation`` because they all want a democracy, which is only beneficial to them)

The politicians and parties in India are no good either but I have yet to hear a suggestion that democracy be disbanded. Further your prescription that democracy should not be allowed in Pak as it will be no good would have held water if the alternative system ie army rule had done Pakistan a lot of good. But that does not seem to be true.

Regards

#19 FEROZK


Aap tau gamgeen ho gaye...

We did not want to say that or we did not want to condemn Pakistan and Pakistanis as such. I consider Pakistanis to be quite intelligent and as good as anybody in the world. The only is thing they lack a single clear-cut direction. There are too many horses pulling the country in different directions. And when such conditions prevail and people are not sure about their future, they tend to become selfish, self-centred and inward looking. They start thinking and living for their own and forget the society and country. The prevailing conditions are the cause and not the people per-se. The disease is to be blamed and not the patient.

Though democracy is not the best form of governance, but it atleast helps in preventing such conditions to arise in a society. Democracy leads to openness and through openness, everybody can see what is what.

Regarding democracy in Pakistan is concerned, I think part of the blame lies with you also. You people should not have accepted General Musharaff. At that time, NS had a good rapport with US Prez. Bill Clinton as well as Indian PM Vajpayee. If and if people of Pakistan had objected to General Musharaff, these two could have intervened and saved NS and in turn democracy in Pakistan. But due to absence of any kind of popular unrest in Pakistan, they did not do anything because that would be tentamount to meddling in internal affairs of Pakistan.

Regarding 2007, Gen.Musharaff has tactically made so much good relations with anybody whom he thought could cause trouble for him after 2007, that the world leaders will simply turn a blind eye towards what he does in 2007.

So democracy is still far far away from Pakistan. But dont lose hope atleast.

koi aisey raat nahi hai jiska hota nahi savera...

Thanks and good luck.

re: sanjay # 16

I am not celebrating anything.

I do not think there will ever be any democracy in Pakistan as long as this country remains in existence.

The end of this article is not the conclusion; that will appear with the second part.

Speaking parenthetically from the article, based on the experience of the last 60 years, Pakistani people are not interested in democracy or any other form of accountibility. Pakistan is a lawless society and in a lawless society, it is anti-thetical to have any form, shape, manner of an accountibility and beside, the vast majority of the people in Pakistan are interested in creating special zones of exclusion, which allows them the right to be considered as``above the law`` and as a result, are not interested in obeying or supporting any criteria, which can hold them accountable for their deeds.

The calls for democracy in Pakistan are limited to its urban centers and in the rural areas of Pakistan, there is no democracy and neither do the poor wish for it. They have other concerns, which ``democracy`` has never answered or fulfilled in Pakistan. Democracy is the wet dream of a few urban educated people, who are interested in it for their own selfish reasons and not in ``bettering the lives of the less fortunate``. As to the poor, please do not think of them in any terms of romanticism, because they are also quite animalistic in their egocentric and selfish driven interests. The poor have created a myth of suffering, but they are as opportunistic as the rest of us and given the chance, would gladly sacrifice you for own goals and interests.

Pakistani are very good and very skilled at playing the victim, but in fact and reaility as measured by their deeds, are the protagonists of exploitation, oppression and suppression. Pakistanis will cry crocodile tears claiming to be the victims, but would never take actions to end their oppression and would always side with oppressor if given the chance. This is because, a Pakistani does not hold himself/herself accountable to anyone but to their own person and it is the selfish individual interests, which determines their actions; not the love of country or nationalism or duty or honor, which is why we as nation do not know or understand what these terms mean and neither do we care for them!

The reality of 2007/2008 elections is that Pakistan and its people want the pretense of democracy but not democracy itself. No supporter of democracy in Pakistan will ever subordinate his/her personal self-interests for the ``good of the nation`` because they all want a democracy, which is only beneficial to them and not necessarily for everyone in the nation. Hence, this is the reason why all ``democracies`` in Pakistan have been been selfish democracies.

Ciao

P.S.: As to the rather long nature of this article, I might as well inform you, and the Chowk readership, that it was a ``rough first draft`` on a book about US foreign policy, which I am co-authoring.