May I request teachers of mathematics to kindly come forward and teach our leaders the basics of transitive property?
ISLAMABAD: In mathematics, students are taught a concept by the name of ‘transitive property’ which says that for variables ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’, if a = b and b = c, then a = c.
In Pakistan, this concept is at work, though in the opposite direction as mentioned above. For example, General Ziaul Haq held a referendum in 1984, where the following invented question was asked of people: “Whether they endorse the process initiated by General Muhammad Ziaul Haq, the president of Pakistan, for bringing the laws of Pakistan in conformity with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and for the preservation of the Islamic ideology of Pakistan, for the continuation and consolidation of that process, and for the smooth and orderly transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people.” In short, if the people of Pakistan believed in the teachings of the Holy Quran, then this meant that General Zia could continue as president of the country.
In recent times, the same logic has been used. Here it applies to the Swiss letter case and the implementation of the NRO. The logic used is that democracy will be in danger if the letter is written to the Swiss authorities.
The point I am trying to make, of course, is that the two things mentioned in both examples are not in any way connected and are in fact mutually exclusive events. Keeping that in mind, may I request teachers of mathematics to kindly come forward and teach our leaders the basics of this established theory?
Dr Irfan Zafar
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2012.
