• Home
• Video
• Books by Ikram Sehgal
• About

Thinking the Unthinkable

Almost 250 years to the day a lady named Mughlani Begum was installed as the Governor of the Province of Lahore, succeeding her deceased husband, the Viceroy of Lahore, Moinul Mulk, popularly known as “Meer Mannoo”. A compromise between several opposing factions who did not want anyone strong and powerful from any of the other sides in that seat of power, she ruled Lahore between 1754 and 1756 with such authority that the factions who had agreed to a woman in the first place out of a misplaced conception that she was the weaker of the sexes, united out of convenience to depose her (and the favourite Eunuch she had subsequently married), installing in her place another puppet. Mughlani Begum emulated many Lahorites (before and after her) who sought refuge in Kashmir whenever Ahmed Shah Abdali ventured from Afghanistan. With the Kashmir valley inaccessible to Pakistanis, the place of political exile presently is Model Town, today’s Mughlani Begum being succeeded as Chief Minister (CM) by another nobody (at least on a sliding scale basis) named Sardar Arif Nakai, giving company in the political cold to his former mentor, Mian Nawaz Sharif. Like the retired US general given the assignment by US President Lyndon Baines Johnson to assess the war situation in Vietnam, who advised “just declare victory and go home”, Ms Benazir Bhutto and the State-controlled media has declared victory in dislodging Wattoo from his CM’s perch and gone off to Islamabad, conveniently forgetting that the whole exercise was meant to install a PPP person as CM according to the burning desire of the PPP rank and file in the Punjab who struggled mightily to be rid of Wattoo but are still left out in the cold. The exercise of constitutional farce continues, whereby a minuscule minority, in the form of Chattha and party, have emerged much stronger while Ms Benazir, a brave front notwithstanding, has been severely wounded politically, using up many of her rumoured nine lives — and her near and dear ones that much poorer for having doled out millions to the greedy and undeserving in a no-win game of horse trading.

Pakistan today is in a deep crisis because of the farce that is practiced in this country in the name of democracy, having no relation to constitutional logic or morality. The wonder is that educated men prefer to ignore this reality. In Sindh there is an urban-rural divide that is gradually fostering an economic crisis. While one or two-day strikes hurts petty businesses, the frequency of strikes has started to paralyse commercial activity on a wider scale, particularly those dependent on daily cash flow, such as various services, vending, etc. Children stayed away from schools, shops remained closed, office attendance was thin, Karachi Stock Exchange was closed, port activity was minimal, but most important since the cash counters of the banks and the Central Clearing House of State Bank of Pakistan did not function, money movement which is the oil of the economic engine was shutoff. The result is that the engine that revs up the economy in the form of livelihood of the middle class and the poor, is grinding to a halt, no matter that certain areas of Karachi had transport plying on a reduced basis. The gradual wearing down of Karachi’s commercial life is having a domino-like effect on the rest of the country, we are not many miles from economic midnight. Sharing of the ever-decreasing economic pie by competing ethnic groups, makes Karachi’s problem very political. While Gen Babar has had success in his single-minded campaign against the terrorists, the Administration is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the people, only possible through a dual track socio-economic package meant to alleviate the miseries of the common Karachi citizen. Without such an initiative, the schism is going to get deeper, instead of trying to re-induct the alienated Mohajir Community back into the mainstream of Pakistani life, we are making them more estranged from our national ethnic melting pot. Everybody agrees something has to be done to stop this polarisation, why doesn’t somebody do it then before the country goes to pieces? While the awaited revolt in the NWFP against Aftab Sherpao has not taken place, it is lurking dangerously near the surface. In Balochistan, the government of Zulfikar Ali Magsi is only surviving by pragmatic exercise of the art of compromise but this delicate balancing act can be undone by the re-settling of the rebel Bugti clan of Kalpars in Sui, what it will do to the supply of gas if a conflagration between the warring clans breaks out is left to one’s imagination! As it is the Taliban movement in Afghanistan may well spill over into the areas bordering Pakistan in both NWFP and Balochistan, with disastrous consequences for our more liberal society.

With respect to foreign policy we are in shambles. We have annoyed, on one count or the other, our core circle of friends in Iran, China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, we are not coherent in either Afghanistan or South Asia. Ms Bhutto’s strong suit is US support, this convinced the likes of late Gen Asif Nawaz and (after his death) the three uniformed Musketeers who orchestrated her return to power, each one secretly hoping for the coveted COAS post as a reward. After Ms Bhutto ascended the PM’s throne, she was supposed to say “Open Sesame” and in the twinkling of an eye the F-16s parked in the Mojave Desert would be roaring off  Sargodha’s runways. Today that elusive flying carrot is still being dangled in front of us but our aspirations have been drastically reduced over the months from a high expectation of getting the F-16s already paid for to getting our money back maybe (duly adjusted for storage charges) to the low threshold of simply hoping for the return of the military stuff (no obsolete) that we sent to the States for repairs. The US President cannot make a certification about our nuclear expertise without being indicated for making a false statement, since one doesn’t expect him to commit political “hara-kiri” on behalf of Pakistan that will certainly not be forthcoming. In the meantime we are kept on line by the well-known ploy of filibusters like the amending of the Pressler Amendment, the Hank Brown Amendment, etc, etc ensuring that the hierarchy of the Pakistan Armed Forces will keep believing in the mirage that Ms Bhutto will deliver one day. This scam will likely be played out till the Army hierarchy is neutralised (like the exercise carried out in the Air Force and the Navy) by bringing in a “suitable person” as COAS. The premise is that the preferred gentleman can deliver by keeping the Army quiet so that the man who matters (Ardeshir Cowasjee’s “Decision Maker”) is free to keep on making billions. Rumours they may be but contrast this man’s fabulous acquisition of wealth with the plight of millions of our pensioners. Having risked life and limb for the country they are literally forced to eat humble pie. Our Shaheeds are better off than the living dead who make up our pensioners, receiving a pittance that is not enough to maintain a dignified and honourable living to afford one square meal a day, what to talk about children’s school and college fees, electric, gas, telephone and petrol bills as well as the odd medical expense, maybe the marriage of a sibling, etc. The principle of indexation that is inherent in Islam is lost of pensions are not adjusted to inflation in present day values. Given that a Lieutenant Colonel (for example) retiring in 1995 does not have enough, what does one expect of the person who retired 35 years ago in the same rank and served his country as well but to roll over and play dead? It is not for the pensioners alone (both civil and military) to only speak out against this great injustice but for those serving to remember that they will also retire one day and visualize their own plight 35 years hence, will they be able to live on the same pittance given the drastic reduction of purchasing power in the value of the Rupee due to rabid inflation? Surprisingly nobody in uniform has the temerity to question this outrage, where is this famous courage and devotion to country and morality that most of us speak about? Nobody asks for martial law (or any form of it) but what is required is definite nudge (or shove) towards a national government with a short agenda, to reform the system on a logical basis in conformity with the essence of democracy as it should be practiced, not as it is in fashion today. A national government should be focussed on continuity and reform, leaving the luxury of accountability to a successor elected government. The national government should have an “Executive section” who should run day-to-day government in the interim period and the “Reform section” who should (independently of the Executive) decide on the changes in our democratic system. The first administrative change would be to make “Self-governing Administrative Units” (SAUs) within the Provinces, those SAUs being autonomous on the pattern of (and by grouping a number of) Local Bodies with the added responsibility of tax-collection and spending thereof, second to make the judiciary independent of the administration and thirdly to ensure that the local government remains in the hands of those so elected. Three vitally necessary electoral reforms called “the unity factor” must also be carried out, i.e (1) if a candidate fails to get 50% in the first round then a run-off election between the first two candidates to ensure a majority vote, (2) proportional representation (PR) so that there are at least 50% more seats in each Assembly on the basis of party slates in order of priority with 80% of such seats going to women and 20% to minorities, similarly Senate seats either on direct election or else on PR basis (3) no indirect elections for any major post such as President, etc because that is an open invitation for corruption.

Obviously the present feudal class that rules Pakistan in turn is going to resist change because (as we have seen in Punjab) the prevalent system allows manipulation. Because of the farce being perpetrated that we are a democracy, we are disintegrating as a nation. Obviously someone has to stem this rot, unfortunately the only institution capable has become gun-shy because of previous bad experiences and fears that the world environment is against authoritarian rule. This is a fallacy because even among Muslim countries many absolute monarchies and dictatorial regimes exist without any cynosure as we fear would be applied to Pakistan. “The only thing we must fear is fear itself”, to quote US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt but in an environment where every red-tabbed rank carries with it a retirement price tag of Rs 3.5 to Rs 5 million with every step of promotion, discretion becomes the better part of valour so that we do not even question daylight robbery or protest the system’s inadequacies that allows this in the name of the constitution. In the absence of the exercise of conscience one can only conclude that this country’s future has been sold out for plots and promotions.

Change is necessary if we are to save this country, change effected by men and women of honesty, vision and courage. Unfortunately we have been blessed with pathological liars who are so glib about their falsehood that they are beginning to believe their own lies. We must stand and be counted now in the present struggle or one day in the near future swept aside by a revolutionary flood whose ravages will be felt by guilty and innocent alike. It is time now for those who matter to think the unthinkable or to go down in history labelled with the good-old American description as “wimps”.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.