Militarily Troubled Pakistan and Terribly Administered Tribals

This following is the third force that I am talking about. The people of Pakistan have overwhelmingly shown that their choice is rule of law, social justice, and sovereignty and not the state terrorism of libral fascists nor the militancy of oppressed:

Depart gently into the night


By Ayaz Amir

AT our first lesson in live grenade-throwing in the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, we were asked a simple question. What if, inadvertently, a live grenade, its pin pulled out and therefore about to explode in a few seconds, fell from somebody’s hand by mistake?

We gave different answers but the correct one was that, sacrificing yourself, you fell on the grenade, covering it with your body, to save the lives of your comrades.

That was more important than trying to save your own life. Capt (later Brigadier) Shahid Aziz, our platoon commander, could have said “…more important than trying to save your miserable little skin.” He did not but his meaning was obvious. Why do soldiers sacrifice their lives in battle? For something called honour, for the sake of country, etc. Whatever name you put on it, it is always for something larger than one’s self.

Consider then a commander-in-chief, a chief of men (with apologies to Cromwell who was called by this title), if his heart and mind are bent only on his self-preservation, the larger good, the collective good, not figuring in his calculation at all. Wouldn’t be considered much of a chief of men, would he?

What does this nation want? A predictable system of government based on the Constitution and the rule of law; a measure of self-respect so that the Pakistani people could take some pride in being Pakistanis; and an end to foreign — for which read American — dictation.

The people of Pakistan have no exaggerated idea of their country’s importance. National megalomania was perhaps once their failing, not any more. Even so, to the extent possible, they want to be their own masters. They want to settle the problems of Waziristan, etc, their own way, not according to how the United States tells them. Indeed, by now they are heartily sick of a government which gyrates to foreign music.

But what does our chief of men want? He wants to be Pakistan’s Hosni Mobarak, or like a ruler of one of the Gulf states, going on and on forever, no matter what the cost to the nation.

Parallel tracks, incompatible aims: the nation’s interest at variance with personal ambition, indeed at war with it. Army House is looking out only for itself. No danger in those hallowed precincts of anyone falling on a primed grenade.

Will this approach work? Consider the nation’s mood which is a long way off from it what it was eight years ago. Across the country (try this out in any bazaar conversation) people no longer evince much patience for the sham called military democracy. They have had enough of it and want to move on, especially now that My Lord the Chief Justice and the lawyers of Pakistan, more power and glory to them, have showed them a different road.

The 13-member Supreme Court bench headed by Lord Justice Ramday (whose name posterity will remember) has served the nation well. At last, after so long, the people of Pakistan have something to be proud of. The promised land is still far away but dictatorship has been dealt a blow, such a blow as it has not received before, and the people of Pakistan are full of hope (without which nothing is possible).

In the process a new iconography has been born. Pakistan’s new heroes are Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas (to whom we owe a lot), Justice Ramday and his fellow judges, their lordships of the Sindh, Peshawar and Lahore High Courts who rallied to the CJ’s defence, judges who resigned in protest, the CJ’s lawyers, Munir Malik, Kurd et al, and Aitzaz. This is the new aristocracy ennobled in the eyes of the Pakistani nation.

Aitzaz, always well known, has risen so much in stature because of his advocacy in this case that his party leader, Benazir Bhutto, is finding it difficult to pronounce his name. Newspaper rumour has it that she is even in two minds about awarding him a party ticket for the forthcoming elections. Oh dear. Apart from women scorned, hell, it seems, also hath no fury like a Mohtarma caught in the coils of envy.

But I digress. As I was saying, the nation is in no mood to put up any longer with Army House-controlled democracy. Speaking for the bar, Munir Malik has already announced that after examining the detailed judgment when it comes, the Supreme Court Bar Association will challenge the general’s ‘re-election’ (when was he elected?) by the present soon-to-expire assemblies.

So the lines are being drawn. What then is to be done?

The judiciary has redeemed its honour, washing away the sins of the last 50 years. What about other institutions? One of the tasks of Hercules was to wash the Augean stables. The army’s stables can also do with some high-powered washing.

Time was when ordinary people respected the army. I say this with a heavy heart: respect has given way to harsher feelings. All because of one man rule which has harmed Pakistan and damaged the army.

How is lost respect to be recovered? By closing the gulf which has opened up between the army and the people. This is possible only if the army learns to respect the Constitution instead of seeing itself put at the service of personal ambition.

In the PMA we were also taught another thing. Honest mistakes, however serious, could always be forgiven (especially if someone owned up to them) but no forgiveness, none whatsoever, could there be for two things: lying and cheating. Before becoming an officer, a cadet had to be a gentleman and a gentleman, we were told, did not lie or cheat.

Officers don’t take an oath to serve one-man rule. Their oath is to defend the country and the Constitution. Lost respect won’t be recovered if this is not kept in mind.

As for the political parties, in the maze of which forest are they lost? Maulana Fazlur Rahman (Maulana Diesel to his fans) while living up to his reputation of being a juggler, is throwing too many balls into the air. At the All Parties Conference in London I don’t know what seized him when he criticised the Chief Justice, saying that he could cut a deal with Musharraf and leave everyone stranded. What a thing to say!

The Maulana was probably looking at his own face in the mirror and judging the Chief Justice by that. And this was the man who kissed the Chief Justice’s hand when he first appeared before the Supreme Judicial Council.

And Benazir Bhutto? The one overriding passion ruling her seems to be to somehow get rid of the money-laundering cases hanging over her head, to achieve which aim she seems ready for anything, even a bargain with the devil, which is what a deal with the powers-that-be in these circumstances amounts to. Does she want this perception to grow? The legacy of Bhutto reduced to this. What a pity.

As for the Sharifs, what’s still keeping them in London is a puzzle waiting to be solved. If they want to seize the moment, they will have to make up their minds soon about returning to Pakistan – whether by plane to Peshawar or by motor launch to Gwadar. Only when their plans are firmed up and they are actually returning to the country should they approach the Supreme Court for protection, not before. Politicians must fight their own battles, as the lawyers fought theirs.

Dictators, even of the tinpot kind, don’t quit just like that. They cling to power until the bitter end hoping for some miracle to save them. How do they change their minds? How do they start thinking of ‘exit strategies’? When the national mood turns ugly and people are roused to action, as lawyers were roused to action by the deposition of the Chief Justice.

By any objective standard, Gen Musharraf has not been much of a leader in war (remember Kargil) or peace (look at the last eight years). But as his time comes to an end, he can do the nation a favour by realising that the play is up and the curtains have come down. Let him not go raging into the night. For once Pakistan can do with a gentle transition.

#7 Posted by Urstruly

"The militancy is the reaction to the acute oppression that this nation has faced"

What a ridiculous assertion. I have read it at many places it is like saying we fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.

It appears to me that only the tribal pathans in Pakistan are so oppressed that they are fighting the establishment to alleviate the poverty and oppression.
In fact most of the pathans in the tribal areas are better off than many baloch and Sindhi and even punjabi.
Since when a whole community of smugglers and car thieves becomes oppressed?

Balochi are fighting the Pakistani establishment but they don't invoke Islam to fight their battles. All this tribal Pathans and their sponsors want is the freedom to grow hash, steal cars and other luxury items from all over the country and sell smuggled goods in open market. These lawless people now wanna establish an order.What a joke!

There is nothing anti establishment in these goons. They are criminals and should be treated the same way.

HP

I view all the anti-establishment militants as the necessary catalyst that will help emerge a third force which will ultimately eliminate the westernized corrupt ruling class and custodians of the status quo of corruption lawlessness, and incompetence. It will establish Pakistan as a law abiding, soveriegn, Islamic republic as its founding fathers envisioned it. The militancy is the reaction to the acute oppression that this nation has faced from foeign agents and corrupt class of kalay angraiz. These are the birth pangs of new Pakistan.

#4 Posted by Urstruly

Liberal Fascist and you think it is political terminology? People throw around incoherent and ridiculous political terminologies when their purpose is to abuse their political opponents.

I have watched Hamid Mir shows several times, I personally don't think that he even wrote this whole thing.

There is someone else in this purdeh zingarri main.

#3 Posted by Urstruly

Having some wetdreams Urstruly?

Nothing of the sort is going to happen. Yes, the Jihadi will make life difficult in Pakistan and we may see a limited civil war in some parts of the country but the suicide bombers cannot and will not take over the country.

What makes you assume that these ragtag Afghan/tribal Pathan can conquer Sindhi Balochis and Punjabis? They may not even capture the Pathans in the NWFP.

Islamists are not looking for Pakistan independence, they are moving forward to destroy Pakistan and subjugated it to the evil forces.

HP:

Every word that Hamid Mir has written is irrefutable and an established truth. Even after the masacre of well over 1000 school children in Islamabad, if you think that the unholy matrimony between Bushrraf & Bezamir (B& B)is not the convergence of LIberla Fascism , then what is??

The recommendations at the end of the article reminded me of a joke, which goes like this:

Drugee (afyooni)#1: Hey what is the easiest way to kill a mosquito.

Drugee #2: The easiest way to kill a mosquito is to get hold of it first; then lift one of its arm and tickle it in the armpit and when it opens it mouth to laugh shove a spoonfull of DDT down its throat.

Bhai Sahib it is little late for the recommendations that you are proposing. The fact of the matter is that the real war of independence that we should have fought in 1947 has only begun now. This was a debt upon generation after generation of Pakistan which this generation is paying with interest now. That war of independence would have been against those kaalay angraiz who aided their white masters to oppress the whole nation for so long. That class should have been eliminated right on the night of 14 August 1947. It has been long due. Now there is only one outcome of this war - soveriegn and independent Pakistan - free of Western oppression and free of corrupt westernized ruling class.

Echo,

I am ashamed that you posted that piece of sh-t article by Hamid Mir. This article truly shows where he stands and which groups he represents. It is a disgusting article and I am not sure what made his paymasters so uncomfortable that they asked him to write the non sense that you posted without actually following what he is saying.

I know exactly where Hamid Mir is coming from and believe me he is not on your side.

About this article.
I am surprised that Chowk has allowed this article under a pseudonym. It was chowk’s stated policy to make its NEW contributors use their real name. Why was it necessary to make an exception for this poorly written article?

Anyone using a Pakhtoon name should at least have some understanding and knowledge of the afghan crisis. Throwing some clichés does not make any one authentic.

The Cantonment Kutta called Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto a fascist...
Bhutto, a fascist?..the Prime Minister who could not stop an FIR against himself?...Simply because ZAB worked with the Maulanas , this kanjarr calls him a fascist and now the Kanjarr shamelessly & for the whole world to see is wagging his tail & whimpering to save his skin..& begging to get him in good books of anybody..benazir or Nawaz Sharif.

Soon the bay-Zamir KanjarrEe will know that the maulanaas will have both the KanjarrS for breakfast..the KanjarRs have no clue that without their masters backing the Kanjarroon will be decimated & Pakistan will no longer be Napaaked by the westoxicated scum.

Hamid Mir expresses similar sentiments..Brilliant scion of the most respected journalist Pakistan ever produced.