‘Whenever a president came to Karachi, I was invariably posted at the place of his residence,’ Chacha Tawakkul said. ‘But I am not the lone custodian of their untold stories’
“ONE of our Presidents was fond of women and wine,” Chacha Tawakkul said. “His weakness was fully exploited by high-ranking bureaucrats, his immediate subordinates and businessmen. Every night, I saw them arrive with women for the pleasure of the President.”
Chacha Tawakkul did not divulge the name of the President in his untold story, for the slave of his own earthly desires is no more in this world. However, most of us conversant with the Hamudur Rehman report could make out who the voluptuous President was.
“Whenever a President came to Karachi, I was invariably posted at the place of his residence,” Chacha Tawakkul said. “I am not the lone custodian of their untold stories. Other Police officers posted there are also witness to the secret tales.”
What he narrated next was shockingly awful. He said, “One night, a shrieking woman without attire came running out on the lawns. Our staggering President gleefully chased her. He, too, was without a straw around him.”
We gazed at Chacha in disbelief. Gagu, a friend whispered in my ear and said, “Chacha is in his late 80s. He seems to have gone nuts.”
Chacha Tawakkul is an octogenarian. Once, he had shown us an old photograph of the Quaid-i-Azam along with his sister, Mohtarama Fatima Jinnah. It was snapped at Mauripur Airport. He pinpointed a stout person in khaki uniform in the snap standing like a nonentity at a distance from the Head of the State.
“Exactly 10 years after the death of the Quaid-i-Azam, this gentleman in khaki became the President of Pakistan in 1958.” Chacha Tawakkul said, “His name was Field Marshal Ayub Khan.” What we heard was amazing.
“Surprised?” Chacha Tawakkul looked at us and said, “Strange things have been going on in this country since its birth in 1947.”
Chacha Tawakkul then told us how Ghulam Mohammed, a bureaucrat, had earlier conspired with the establishment and became Governor-General of Pakistan.
“Governor-General Ghulam Mohammed suffered a massive stroke and became paralyzed. He was totally incapacitated and lived a vegetative life for one year before passing away.”
“Who ran the affairs of the country during that one year?” we asked.
“Bureaucrats, who else!” Chacha Tawakkul said, “They reaped the harvest from the few-years-old country. They weaved a treacherous cobweb of corruption that has, over the years, successively trapped the entire establishment.”
It was one of the memorable evenings we have spent with Chacha Tawakkul. He is reminiscent of the wonderful breed of oldies who resurrect the past vividly.
“Some people are born with a silver spoon, and some are born with a golden spoon in the mouth.” Chacha Tawakkul said, “Field Marshal Ayub Khan had a lavish cutlery set made of pure gold. The golden cutlery set was occasionally used only when the monarchs and the heads of the sovereign states came to dine with the President.”
“Chacha, does food taste different when relished with golden cutlery?” we asked.
“I do not know.” Chacha Tawakkul said, “What I know is, it once landed us in trouble.”
Chacha narrated a fairly long Sherlock Holmes type of story about a missing golden spoon from the cutlery set. Before the matter could be brought to the notice of the President, Chacha Tawakkul solved the mystery, recovered the golden spoon from a butler and restored it back to the cutlery set. In the life of every important person, a chamcha (sycophant) occupies an elevated place. A low-ranking Police officer had won the confidence of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He divulged the theft of the golden spoon to the Field Marshal, and then credited himself with its recovery in a highly exaggerated dramatic diction. The Field Marshal was so impressed that he personally talked to the IG Police for his rapid promotions. Thereafter, the sycophant knew no bounds, and swirled to dizzy heights.
President Ziaul Haq was averse to everything and anything inscribed with the word ‘peoples’. He ordered renaming of the Peoples Open University. It was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s dream-come-true media-based distance-teaching institution, the first of its kind in Asia. President Ziaul Haq arrived to give Peoples Open University a new name. He unveiled the plaque, and gave the University a new name, Allama Iqbal Open University.
“The greatest desire of President General Ziaul Haq was to show it to the world that he was a truly staunch Muslim ruler, and aimed at converting Pakistan into an Islamic state.” Chacha Tawakkul said, “He got people lashed in public, and claimed it was the Islamic way of dispensing justice.”
“Chacha, tell us what Islamic thing he did after giving the Open University a new name?” we asked.
“While taking tea, he picked up a piece of pastry in a theatrical manner and showed it to his ADC and spoke loudly, so that everyone around could hear him, ‘Go out and ensure that the same type of confectionery and other eatables are served to my drivers and bodyguards’.”
Chacha then told us about the pathetic social conditions in the constituency of the most modern-looking CSS President of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Laghari. He and his family have acquired six seats in the National Assembly and the Senate. In some parts of his powerful constituency, women are still forbidden from wearing any kind of footwear. They are compelled to move about barefoot.
“Tell us, Chacha, who pocketed $20 million head money for getting Aimal Kasi arrested from President Laghari’s constituency?” We asked.
Chacha Tawakkul smiled, and said, “We will have to approach the Pentagon to find out the truth.”
