IN this state of Pakistan, the most hypocritical words spoken and acts performed have to do with its founder and maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The obligatory regular pilgrimages made to his last resting place on every conceivable occasion — to name but a few, his birthday, his country’s birthday, the marking of the appointment of yet another politico put in place to do as Mr Jinnah would not have done — on which the people pray for his soul to rest in peace, verge on the criminal.
Were Jinnah ever to be aware of how his country has steadily degenerated, these men and women who transgress his wishes each hour they are in power must well know that his soul would be in torment.
The first duty of any government — be it blue, red, pink or green — is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of the people are fully protected by the state. This is what Jinnah told the future legislators of his country on August 11, 1947, three days before its birth. Yesterday we celebrated the 57th anniversary of his country’s birth, and yet we still strive to abide by his first commandment.
Hopes were in 1999 when General Pervez Musharraf arrived on the scene in the midst of chaos that he and his half-a-million-strong army would plunge in and come down hard and fast on the millions to whom law and order was but a joke. For reasons now, much later on, not too difficult to fathom, they chose not to do so. They had their own agenda.
However, during the first three years of the general’s reign, when he ruled the country with a cabinet of less than a dozen ministers, on the law and order front there was a definite slight improvement. People rested with greater ease in their beds at night.
True to his word, unusually, the general held the usual free and fair elections, as dictated by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and sure enough many of the usual corrupt and inept men and women reappeared in the country’s assemblies. The general freely admits that he has no choice but to deal with undesirables as they were thrust upon him through an uncleansed electoral process.
Nevertheless, he is obviously being patient, he is thinking ahead, and he hopefully will at some time in the not too distant future find a way out of the present morass. He has professed a wish for “enlightened moderation” to descend on us all, but has yet to spell out exactly how he hopes to bring about this remarkable revolution in mindset and thinking.
Meanwhile, in Sindh, and in Karachi in particular, we are descending into the old bad habits of the first half of the 1990s. Musharraf’s sympathies lie with the MQM, the party of the Pir of London. Circumstance has dictated that he be on good terms with it. He ostensibly feels that certain of its members have been hard done by, and that they have latent capabilities that can be used to his and his country’s advantage.
Last Sunday, at the end of my column devoted mostly to this year’s SITE scam, I touched on another potential scam: “Federal Minister for Communications Babar Ghauri has now arranged to carve out 405 ‘industrial’ plots admeasuring 1,000 square yards each (not yet demarcated) at Port Qasim. They are to be allotted by computer ballot, and only those who can claim to be ‘overseas Pakistanis’ have been allowed to apply on a down payment of a mere $750 per plot. (So far some 620 have applied).
“The question arises: how much will be charged ‘unofficially’ and by whom? If the government wishes to collect dollars, then anyone who can purchase and pay in dollars should be able to apply. As is the custom all over the world, government land must be properly demarcated and sold by public auction. Such is the practice in the case of ‘commercial’ plots at Port Qasim. Who is reading this? Who is interested?”
Federal Minister of Communications Babar Ghauri, the initiator of the Port Qasim scheme (or potential computer ballot scam) ordered that a “clarification” be issued in the press. It was on August 11, but it actually clarifies nothing. It does not even inform the overseas bidders that the plots for which they will bid are some 11 kilometers distance from the port.
Several e-mailers, all from the western world, wrote in, one from Canada with his reaction: “Your factual and anecdotal illustrations of commercial transactions in Pakistan measured against international standards pass for recreational reading overseas. It’s like the deals run by syndicates and mobs here.
“As an otherwise poor betting man, I feel the odds are in my favour if I assume that even literate Pakistanis who read your article, have a different reaction to mine. They probably wonder why you are wasting your time and quality newspaper space to tell them things they consider cultural and social customs; of compelling necessity. They know that the broker was paid coolie commissions and the folks that got the ‘goodwill’ money on those plots will defy your betting instincts and collect some more the second time around. It would be a business failure not to do so.
“Who is listening? I’ll stay tuned if you promise to check out what the buyers actually paid and to how many brokers or will they be extortionists this time? We have legalized this practice here in the name of ‘the added value of middle men’ or facilitators. Politically, it’s wonderful. This practice creates jobs for the otherwise unemployed.”
And then, on August 10, I learnt that a provincial minister of Sindh had expressed his interest, as related in a letter I addressed the next day to the principal secretary to the governor of Sindh, copying the president of Pakistan:
“Dear Brigadier Zamin, I confirm having telephoned you at 1205 hours today requesting you to convey the following to Governor Ishrat ul Ibad:
“At 2012 hours on Monday August 9, 2004, Nazim Haji received a telephone call on his mobile ... from Sindh Minister of Industries Adil Siddiqui. The honourable minister referred to my column printed in Dawn on Sunday, August 8, 2004, (copy attached hereto) and asked Nazim to inform me that:
— He, the minister, had asked Dawn not to print such columns in future and if they continued to so do they would do so at their own risk and peril.
— He would be taking action to have the police security provided to me withdrawn.
— It was my (Cowasjee’s) aim to stop Karachi and Sindh from being industrialized and that my aim was that people should invest in the Punjab rather (than) in this province.
— His party is all-powerful (omnipotent) and that they would take necessary action against me (Cowasjee).
— He (the minister) was going to Dubai for a few days and that on his return Nazim should meet him and tell him about the problems he was facing as an industrialist in the SITE area.
“I have read this letter out to Nazim Haji on the telephone and he has confirmed to me that he is prepared to endorse all that has been written above.
“Our president (and minister Siddiqui’s president) is rightly waging a war against not only worldwide terrorism but the homegrown terrorism now flourishing in Pakistan. He is preaching ‘enlightened moderation’ to the Muslim world at large and particularly to his citizens at home.
“How is it that a minister of General Musharraf’s own government is using terrorist tactics out of pique and out of having been somewhat exposed? And what connection do his words have with either enlightenment or moderation?
“Please be good enough to take necessary action.”
The minister referred to in this letter is in charge of labour, transport, industries and commerce in the province of Sindh. With a mindset and thought process such as he possesses, what good can he deliver? Is there any way in which he can benefit us? Do those that rule, whether in or out of military uniform, feel they owe nothing to the people?