A bright future Mr Ashraf?

Till govt reintroduces Rule of Law, protects minorities, changes public mindset, we'll continue on unchartered ocean.

We must give Mr Asif Ali Zardari credit for being the only Pakistani head of state who will be witnessing the completion of the full term of an elected government … and also for insisting that there should be no delay in holding elections. He has proved to be the most astute of the presidents of this beleaguered country, accommodating, yet not vindictive, with an abiding grip on state affairs and the weakness of his opponents. And while he has tried to pacify all parties, there has always been the unmistakable whiff of political manipulation in almost everything he does. A former Sindhi politician, who has sadly pegged down from natural causes, once told me that Mr Zardari has, what the Brits would have described, as native cunning, a quality without which it is difficult to make any headway in the murky field of Pakistani politics. He has the unquestionable loyalty of his followers, who display huge spigots of lachrymose sentimentality when he is around. And also the derision of his opponents who would gladly like to see him out of power and replaced by a person who has a reasonably unblemished track record.

However, in keeping him in harness, the people of Pakistan have paid a terrible price. I can’t remember a period when so many Shias have been the victims of targeted killings, an apocalypse of war-mongering bloodlust, while the army has stood by detached, as if the events were taking place in another country. We have all been told that it is the president or the prime minister who gives the nod to the army to counter an insurgency. But as long as Saudi Arabia fights Iran on Pakistani soil, with the apparent acquiescence of the government, the carnage is likely to continue. I always naively believe that it was the duty of the Pakistan government to protect its citizens, whether they are Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Hindus or Parsees, not just the diplomats and the freeloaders in parliament. If they can’t do so, they have no business being in power.

I remember that day almost five years ago, when I was driving down Clifton Road, minding my own business. The window panes were up, the air conditioning was on and the music system was playing an aria from ‘Tristan und Isolde’. Suddenly, a Cruiser, crammed with fierce-looking guards, armed to the teeth pulled up alongside and drove my car off the road. ‘Allah be praised’, I said to myself. ‘Democracy has come to Pakistan’. Since that date, I’ve seen hundreds of Cruisers that have instant right of way, the gradual escalation in the price of essential commodities, totally unjustifiable deficit financing, worsening crime statistics and an orgy of ethnic killing. So when Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf keeps repeating the cliché that Pakistan has a bright future, perhaps he knows something that I don’t.

I would be unjust if I said that the peoples’ government had not done its bit in the field of food production and providing shelters for the poor. Laws were also passed for women protection, but nobody appears to be pushed to implement them. But all this is meaningless when the people are fearful for their lives, when the prices of commodities are increased every fortnight and nobody seems to give a damn. Unless the government can reintroduce the Rule of Law, protect the minorities and change the mindset of the people, we will continue to float on an unchartered ocean.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2013.