SPECULATIONS about who would be the prime minister, whatever the job would be worth, may have settled by now. The more vital question, if there is anyone around with spine, seems to have been answered in the negative.
This is not ridiculing politicians. They have their limitations, their hungers and they can see, or they think they can see, carrots in gardens of the future government. A majority of them has consequently decided to look only in one direction, though the impression of being aware of everything around them is carefully nurtured. More disturbing is the administration’s lack of spine.
This should not be surprising. Weak knees have been inherited by present rulers to an extent, both from uniformed predecessors and politicians managing the affairs of the state under indirectly wielded authority. However, while previous administrations nervously buckled under pressure, the regime-in-command appears to relish the job, and does so with a lot of enthusiasm, even with a measure of pride.
Political administrations handed over a few individuals demanded by Washington. The present one has no hesitation spreading a dragnet and offering whosoever falls under it, on a plate to friends that are widely seen as masters. We should be revising our views, policies and conclusions.
Most individuals sent on a trip to Guantanamo Bay, lucky ones who can travel without personal documents or visa for the US, and airfare paid for, are nameless and faceless. They are statistics like 46 Al Qaeda members given in the custody of crusaders against terrorism. However, once in a while comes up a reputed name, a person who is socially known and respected, professionally rated high and esteemed for compassion and commitment. That becomes an unsettling development.
Some citizens then wake up. Their number is albeit not sufficient to pose a problem, let alone turn the tide. But even their weak voice makes an impact because the sheer immorality of an act that can only be interpreted as betrayal to surrendering sovereignty, cannot withstand opposition.
There have been some protests over the arrest of orthopaedic surgeon Dr Amir Aziz, who was picked up from the Lahore hospital where he practised. That has forced the government to come up with explanations and assurances. Whatever happens, at least one fact has been established: the authorities are indulging in brazen, arrogant totalitarianism. They have resorted to high-handed tactics that have no place in a civil society.
Are we back to what used to be the dreaded midnight-knock? There has been a change though: the visits are not secret or stealthy. Oppressors can descend on their target any time of the day with utter contempt for rights of the citizens, on vague suspicions and allegations based on a role in some imaginary activity or misconstrued interpretation of a professional act. Dr Aziz was arrested, taken to an undisclosed place and was there till the writing of these lines. He was initially allowed contact with family members, but the facility was later withdrawn.
Dr Aziz is, however, not the first distinguished citizen thus treated for alleged contacts with Al Qaeda. There have been the cases of Dr Bashir-ud-Din, formerly of the Atomic Energy Commission of Pakistan and of Dr Abdul Raoof of PCSIR. They were both picked up in similar circumstances and grilled for alleged connections with the battered Afghans who are paying the price for participating in the United States’ campaign against the now dismantled Soviet Union.
Dr Bashir and Dr Raoof have slithered into private shells after release. The experience of incarceration and interrogation has reportedly sapped the energies of the two men who were accused of assisting Al Qaeda in producing destructive weapons. They could not have been set at liberty if there was even an iota of truth to the charges. Dr Bashir’s arrest caused a controversy and elicited criticism from the Press, besides protest from some segments of population; Dr Raoof, an individual of lesser standing as a professional as well as socially, had to suffer all by himself.
The US agency, FBI, was said to have been involved in both cases; it has been identified in dispatches in the arrest of Dr Aziz, too. There have been official denials. One presumes the government would not be lying to the people. However, its credibility has sunk so low that no one trusts the word of a minister, even if he is certain to be elected to the senate and, in all likelihood, retain his portfolio.
The foreign office spokesman’s explanation is that Dr Aziz’s arrest was an internal matter, and the commitment that he would not be handed over to the US sounds more trustworthy, though not without a spoonful of salt. The government has apparently realized that handling of Pakistani people by a foreign agency was widely resented by the populace. Public support, particularly from the members of the medical profession and from the Press has put the authorities on the defensive in the case of Dr Aziz, not that they have relented.
There are two regrettable facts in all these cases. The Afghanistan crisis has neither developed overnight, nor is it indigenous. It is easy to blame the Russians and the Americans but our own men of vision, the generals who aided the Americans to build and sustain religious extremism in Afghanistan, have not been questioned on their role in the tragedy befalling Pakistan’s North-eastern neighbour.
They are the main architects of Afghanistan’s misery that inspired compassionate individuals in Pakistan to step forward and atone for the sins of makers and implementers of a policy that has brought untold sufferings to Afghanistan. These good men are made to suffer, while those responsible for the disaster continue raising the dust of their warped vision and misleading the trusting public with unrealistic ideas and unachievable dreams.
Then there are the devout who contested elections on a religious plank and were returned on the tide of a backlash of sentimental support for the battered and beleaguered Afghans. They were vociferous in backing the Taliban, but went into their holes when the going turned into a massacre and Afghanistan was devastated for acts of omission and commission. They owe their electoral success to the plight of the Afghans; they made a contribution to their despair.
Some people suspect that their electoral triumph may be the outcome of some conspiracy to harm Pakistan, but let us stay on the visible course. These elements have unfortunately not uttered one positive word after winning the elections. Their preoccupation has been with hollow glory. That MMA should not have come to the defence of Dr Aziz is pathetic behaviour.
An administration that refuses to respect the rights of citizens and treats them as disloyal to the national interest because of pressure from outside has to stand in the dock. It must put evidence before the people instead of acting as arrogant policeman, worse still, as proxy policeman serving dubious designs.
Measures that are palpably illegal and an affront to the self-respect of citizens of Pakistan are viewed as surrender of sovereignty. It is difficult to imagine any act that is more shortsighted and less defendable. One hopes that the politicians would demonstrate more courage and stand up to be counted as citizens of the country, and not as prime-ministerial candidates.
SPECULATIONS about who would be the prime minister, whatever the job would be worth, may have settled by now. The more vital question, if there is anyone around with spine, seems to have been answered in the negative.
