Remarkable inconsistency

Consistency is lacking in the Islamic Republic. On July 9, well over a hundred citizens of Pakistan were bombed to death, and many more were injured. There were no protests made — at least that is what we gather from the media. No one demonstrated and official reaction was negligible. It matters little, because the dead were all poor, highly deprived, or handicapped as some were at the scene to pick up wheel-chairs from a government agency, and the incident happened in Ekka Ghund, tucked away in Mohmand Agency, of which most of us had never heard. Who is now bothered about the hundreds of bereaved left mourning their dead?

The nation, or rather the media and the media-savvy, is otherwise occupied, quite rightly, with those amongst the people’s representatives who are crooks and criminals, frauds and cheats. Those who have waved fake degree certificates in the face of the Election Commission are simply conmen, morally corrupt (probably also materially).

They have bluffed the nation, importantly the electorate (though the morality of the electorate has to be questioned as Jamshed Dasti was welcomed in).

So far, in the political hierarchy, the person suspected of alleged fraud is the ‘Monty Cello’ man (apparently the PhDs spelling is wonky) who amazingly lauds it over the law ministry. A bit of a joke is it not that the guardian of the law is suspected of being himself a law breaker. And is it not a joke that the legislators at large are protecting the crooks amidst them? And is it not a crime that attempts are being made to ‘fix’ the chairman of the Higher Education Commission to ‘persuade’ him not to do his job?

In all this examination of ethics and morality there is one strange omission that no one mentions. From a report published in the New York Times by Jane Perlez on March 11, 2008: “In the early 1970s, Mr Zardari went to London . . . . [where] he attended the London School of Business Studies and received a Bachelor of Education degree (B Ed). His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School. But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school, and associates said he did not finish his studies. . .”

According to this news item “when asked about his degree, Mr Zardari said, ‘I do have a degree. That is not an issue’.” But, “He said he attended the London School of Business Studies ‘much before I was married. I think it’s a B Eda degree. I haven’t really looked at it,’ he said.”

The following day, the Daily Times carried a news item elaborating on the NYT report and quoted Farhatullah Babar, who has the unenviable job of speaking up in defence of his party: “Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is a graduate from London, said PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar. ‘He is a graduate from the London School of Economics and Business Studies. You can check it on our party’s website,’ said Mr Babar, responding to a question regarding an article in the New York Times which shed some doubt over Mr Zardari’s
B Ed degree.”

To stand for election as president a man must qualify to be elected as a member of parliament and in 2008 a degree was a necessity. As with Pedinton School, no trace can be found of the London School of Economics and Business Studies, or the London School of Business Studies. It’s all rather inconsistent and somewhat confusing.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2010.