No Martial Law, Just Give Us The $$$: Says El Presidente

A couple of days back, I wrote at PTH that apparently some ground work was being done by our "independent" media to prepare the people for perhaps another, "Martial Law." Subsequent to that Altaf Bhai made his passionate plea to the Khakis to step in and clean up the mess, so to speak.

Everyone knows that Altaf Bhai was a creation of the "establishment" and will continue being their valuable asset. So may be after getting the nod, he threw the card on the table, for the PPP. As unpredictable our political scene is at all times, you never know what is being cooked in Islamabad, London, Dubai, Riyadh and Washington.
All of these places are extremely critical for the Pakistani government and its day to day politics.

I glanced at the on line edition of www.thenews.com.pk and found the headline, which apparently became the headline of this article, I just added give us the $$$'s to it. In that interview, I guess AAZ the El Presididente, is sending a message to London that no Altaf Bhai, no such thing. Then I read something from the CJP, stating that all pillars of government have to function together within a political setup, (read no martial law). I am sure that Ameer Kiyani will come up with a similar statement soon (If he has not already).

So the tussle that we see is PPP and MQM. Both have this history of love-hate relationship. In terms of some other political pundits, may be a mid term elections are in the offing. The sheer devastation caused by the floods may hamper the ability of the candidates to canvass. Did any of our great pundits think of this one? What face are these dim wit politicians planning to show to the already down and depressed electorate.

This brings me to El Presidente's request to US to give us the $$$'s or the affectees will be picked up by the extremists for their sinister plans. This fear factor has turned out to be the cash cow for our rulers. Mush did it and now AAZ is repeating the age old Mush formula. It often makes you wonder, how low can we go. His comment brought back the famous line of a Tom Cruise starrer, "Jerry Mcguire", which was, "Show me the money, Jerry just show me the money."

Where all of this is going to land, will become clear in a few weeks. Perhaps Post Eid we will see some developments which will tell us, as an age old Urdu saying says, "Yeh Oont kiss kurwat baithey ga. (Hard to predict where the camel will finally get to sit) " Your guess is as good as mine.

Another Martial Law In Making

After reading the article on Media in Pakistan by Bilal Qureshi, many thoughts crossed my mind. Although I am a complete anti conspiracy theory person, but it is quite evident, looking at the media circus of Pakistan, that there is in fact a conspiracy and bias reflected by the media. The conspiracy is actually, keeping the people and masses in the dark by constantly flashing a “grand conspiracy theory”, in front of them.    The “grand conspiracy” being perpetrated by the “West” and all Non Muslim states, especially India and Israel. All of this because, after all Pakistan is the citadel of Islam and all anti Islamic forces want it to be annihilated. This is the sole reason for the Anti Islamic forces to band together and destabilize the otherwise tolerant and reasonable Pakistan. If you dig deeper into all of these assertions, you can easily deduce a conclusion, the. TV anchors and the news paper columnists intend to keep the fear factor alive. The fear factor, is that the country faces extreme external threats, and the defense of the country from such threats is extremely paramount. Now, if you put two and two together, it is so obvious that the mouth pieces are actually promoting the agenda of the so called “guardians of the nation.” Bottom line is that so long as the people are going to buy into this, the people are going to look into the military as their sole defenders and perhaps their sole source of “good governance.” The Pak Military’s involvement in politics dates back to early 50′s. This was hardly after a few years of its ill fated independence. From there on it is directly and or indirectly involved in the governance of this nation. There is no denying of the fact that, we have incompetent political leaders. But another painful reality is, that the political arena has always been set to fail by the Khakhis. In other words, even if the most learned and competent leaders miraculously emerge, they are not going to last, as the real rulers at GHQ will not let them succeed. So in the end, we must admit that we are a Military state. The utopian dreams of democracy can only flourish if the Khakis can be limited to the barracks and a true political system can be established. The system which cannot be meddled by the soldiers. Considering that it is quite a monumental task, the nation should be considering to chart its course to the right path. Until to unless this is accomplished, we will see many real or pseudo martial laws thrusted on the nation. Each time a dictator gives the address, he promises that he will wipe the slate clean and there will be a new beginning. If you pay close attention to the anchors nowadays, it appears that our ill fated nation is being prepared for such address each day.

The Identity Crisis of Pakistan

Ever since the great country of Pakistan was formed, it has been going through its ideological and identity crisis. Agreed that the vision of the forefathers was to create a separate land for the Muslims of the Sub Continent. The Quaid was unequivocally clear about his vision. He saw a land which was for the Muslims, yet a land which followed the great tradition of Muslims living in harmony with their Non Muslim brethren. A common thread binding them, called the nation of Pakistan.

Regretfully, it is just a dream now. The people of Pakistan are still unclear about who they are and what their destiny should be. Are they the secular and democratic country that Mr M. A. Jinnah envisioned or a Pan Islamic citadel. Many critics argue, that the creation of Pakistan was a conspiracy in itself. To further their argument, they implicate the British and according to their interpretation the British stooge, M. A. Jinnah.

No matter which side of the debate, you are on, you cannot deny that what M. A. Jinnah accomplished, was nothing short of a miracle. Sadly, his philosophy is merely repeated as talking points on certain occasions, such as Pakistan Day, Independence Day or his birth or death anniversaries. We are in complete denial, of his vision. No wonder why we are in such a disastrous situation.

We have divided and subdivided ourselves into so many class and categories ranging from religious, economic, geographic and linguistic lines that it will require a complete overhaul to bring us remotely close to the ideals of Quaid. A lot has been said about the reasons behind our failure. No nation on the face of this earth can survive without a unity of purpose. The diversity in any nation is actually considered its strength. Unfortunately, in our case it has been to our detriment.

All political parties based on religion, ethnic, regional and geographic agendas should be abolished. We need political parties, representing the entire nation. Having their representation, from Karachi to Khyber Pukhtunkhaw, appealing to the masses uniformly on one basis. This should be the way forward. If you look deeper, you can see that any political government that we have had, lacks proper representation in all four provinces. Due to this, the inconvenient alliances are formed with regional and ethnic parties. What transpires because of those unholy alliances is common knowledge. The weak governments tend to make a mockery of their existence and we repeat the same old cycle. Our dreams and hopes die with every single attempt of this nature. In the end, we are "rescued" by our Military as it becomes a "doctrine of necessity", according to their "necessity."

The time to chart our course as a nation is now or never. United we stand or divided we get buried, as we have fallen already. The question is how low are we going to go.