Those who planned the DI Khan and the Bannu jailbreaks are a product of Zia’s religious exploitation.
LAHORE: We are reaping the harvest of seeds sown by tinpot dictators like Ziaul Haq and General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who pushed this country into discord and bargained its sovereignty for petty gains. Today, we face the humiliation of being repeatedly shamed with events like the DI Khan jailbreak. Ziaul Haq manipulated this country in the name of religion, while Musharraf did the same with his concocted version of enlightened moderation. Both damaged the moral and social fibre of Pakistan, giving rise to a culture of institutionalised corruption.
In the process, Quaid-e-Azam’s vision and his objective of establishing a modern democratic welfare state were subordinated to the whims of individuals with no stakes in this country, nor any fear of accountability. These over-ambitious men, who lacked vision, but had lots of power, drove Pakistan to a state of perpetual discontent, disharmony and insecurity. Those who planned the DI Khan and the Bannu jailbreaks are a product of Zia’s religious exploitation. They have inflicted more damage on Pakistan than that inflicted by our external enemies. Our external enemies must surely have exploited this situation by funding terrorism, but then what else can be expected from them. The solution lies in self-assessment, accountability and some serious soul searching, instead of the present state of confusion we are in, where we find many sympathisers for these terrorists within our political establishment. Instead of mere rhetoric, it is time that the people of Pakistan are made the national priority, instead of the whims of individuals, be they elected or usurpers.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2013.
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