Though this nation was born to suffer, to remain in the mire, there is no reason for us not to applaud the well being and progress of others in this wide world which refuses to stagnate with us.
Not so very long ago, a matter of a mere six centuries, Spain was in the grip of its frightening Inquisition. The Christians, Jews and Muslims were acutely concerned with religion (even more than they are today) and they looked upon those who rejected their creeds as attacking the very foundations of social order and the significance of human life. Hardened by intolerance, each group was certain of its beliefs and those who did not believe with it were branded infidels.
This mindset was developed by and amongst those whose religious beliefs were left unaffected by education, by travel, by exposure to the outside world. Intolerance was born of reason subjected totally to custom and imagination.
The first inquisitors were appointed in 1480, recruited from the ranks of the Dominican and Franciscan orders, priests holding degrees in theology or canon law (as it was taught in their seminaries), their divine mission was to root out, investigate and punish heresy. They formed a government agency, and their jurisdiction extended to all Christians in Spain. They were concerned with no other religion. Their job was to produce converts suspected of lapsing, and fellow Christians who could be charged with heresy.
The inquisition made its own laws, its own procedural code and it demanded cooperation from all government officials. An edict was issued requiring those who knew of a heresy to reveal it to the inquisitors. Citizens were encouraged to inform against each other and were promised full protection. Those who knew and did not inform, if found out, were lucky to get away with excommunication rather than lose their lives.
Confessions were extracted through torture and punishments varied - a simple reprimand, being paraded through the streets stripped to the waist bearing the insignia of the offence, a fine, consigned to the galleys, imprisoned, banished or burnt at the stake. The purpose of the Inquisition was the unity of Spain. What it achieved, in the hundred years during which it flourished, was to help bring to an end the brilliant period of Spanish history.
Down maybe, but not out. Today, Spain is one of the greatest success stories of Europe, largely through the statesmanship of one man, Jose Maria Aznar who won the top post of prime minister in Spain's 1996 general election. When he was sworn in, the transfer of power was a historic occasion - it was only the second time in 60 years in Spain that power passed fairly and squarely from one elected party to another. (How many times in our 56 years have we seen this happen?)
Aznar, a young politician barely known outside Spain, promised a new and different type of conservatism. His campaign was successful in helping Spain distance itself from the image of conservatism characterized by Francisco Franco, the Franco era and the country's alliance with Nazi Germany.
He led his party to victory again in the 2000 elections, and now, with the 2004 elections coming up, this extraordinary man of only 50 years of age has voluntarily decided to leave Spanish politics, not to stand again, to go with his reputation unsullied, with his authority supreme.
He has given Spain eight years of sound, efficient government, he has strengthened his country's institutions, he has halved unemployment, he has rallied Spain's self-confidence, increased its global influence, and presided over a steady and clean government, he has lightened the bureaucracy, encouraged investments, aided and encouraged entrepreneurs, and somehow miraculously cut corruption to the point where it is not visible in any manner. He has precariously but safely negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the ETA in Catalonia. And, to his great credit, the man is free from any ideological posturing. As a leader he is exceptional. And that, one supposes, is why he has taken the decision he has taken.
And Pakistan, where are we? Hastily retreating, many would say. Headlines in the western democratic secular press on March 3 record the "Slaughter of the faithful: Baghdad 58; Karbala 85; Quetta, Pakistan 40." Muslim killed Muslim, linked by intolerance and ignorance, inspired by extremists with a political agenda who without any effort manage to inflame sectarian sentiments and undermine civil society. This year's slaying of Shias in Quetta, as with last year's similar slayings, is, to quote from an editorial in The Times (London), on March 3: "a terrible indictment of this avowedly Islamic nation's failure to enforce the tolerance that should be the central message of its faith."
The next day our press reported the statement issued via APP by info minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. In keeping with regulations, each government edict opens up with the phrase "President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali...". We are then informed as to what they did or did not say, what they have or have not done. In the case of the Quetta carnage, both have "ordered an inquiry" into the matter. APP also conveyed the shock registered by the two and the good news that they have both valiantly "vowed to apprehend the culprits at any cost..... they have pledged not to spare those spreading hatred in the name of religion among fellow Muslims.... Pakistan ensures religious freedom to all people.... the families of those killed will be compensated."
Now, how do you compensate for the wilful killing of persons for the sole reason that they were Shias by faith? Why does our government continue to mock the misery of the people?
In troubled Sindh, on the occasion of Ashura precautions were taken and the 'usual suspects' rounded up and then released. The Governor, Corps Commander, Inspector-General of Police apprehended trouble and dealt with it successfully. The least the Governor and Corps Commander in Quetta both military men, can do is to resign. To expect the concerned pampered politicians to do so is to ask for the impossible.
The sole statesman we have managed to produce, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, anticipated the quality of the inconsequential men who would rule his country. On August 11 1947, three days prior to the birth of the country, he told them: "...the first duty [the very first] of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State."
Yet again, the people of Pakistan feel they have been let down by yet another leader, and this time by a man who had it in his power (he still does) to do what he must do for his country.