All of the same stock

The people have no doubts that it is the military that controls the miserable happenings in the country.

What a bloody mess! Wherever one may turn one’s eyes or ears, each and every day now brings murder, mayhem, misgovernance and mistrust. What passes for leadership seems to how have shut itself off completely from all reality. It drones on about democracy and has been heard to make noises, highly delusory, about how the military has evidenced its ‘subservience’ to parliament. What parliament? We are told that up to 40 per cent of the sitting parliamentarians were voted in on bogus votes. How does that sit with democracy? The people, at least those amongst the 180 plus million who inhabit this country who have any interest in what goes on in government (most are too busy scraping up a living) have no doubts that it is the military that controls the miserable happenings in the country, and, for that matter, outside. The fact that this government does not have a foreign minister is ample proof that foreign policy lies out of its grubby hands. Though, looking at what is available on the coalition benches in parliament, not one springs to mind, with ability or experience, who could fill the slot.

The government imported a finance minister, installed him democratically but, quite frankly, what has he contributed? Our finances and economy are faltering and failing, taking off in quite the wrong direction, away from the people, far from the bereft masses. It seems that the sole significance of the ministers in power, and that includes the prime minister, is how much they cost the national exchequer and thus, the taxpaying few. That they are all a financial burden cannot be denied — and that excludes what they make on the side.

And when on the topic of financial burdens, we, the people, have to look no further than at our gallant armed forces which swallow, shamelessly, the larger share of the country’s measly budget. By many, so it is reported, they have been found wanting, they have failed to live up to their reputation, and yet there has been not one resignation — only a half-hearted offer which was immediately turned down by the adoring parliamentarians. They all mainly remain silent, offering little explanation for what are seen as shortcomings, which is, of course, the wise thing to do.

Fortress GHQ has come under attack, the air force reportedly has its fair share of closet Taliban sympathisers, the navy, the poorest of the three, in Karachi has proven to be pathetic. The Frontier Constabulary is fair game, as are the police — and, indeed, as have been far too many innocent bystanders and citizens going about their daily tasks. The government, which has been put in place to govern, has abdicated all responsibility and in a crazy state of denial has it, even though the Tehreek-i-Taliban, which has a free run around the country (apparently even Karachi is riddled with them), issues statements claiming success, that it is those old friends who are trotted out regularly — RAW and Mossad — who are behind it all. And now, even outer space has been invoked by the interior minister.

We must be happy that the aliens chose the naval base Mehran rather than Masroor air base nearby in which, according to The New York Times “Pakistan is believed to keep a large depot for nuclear weapons that can be delivered from the air”. So let’s spare a little gratitude for small mercies.

There seem to be, thank the good Lord, no sacred cows left to us. Every institution is tainted in one way or another. Stories abound, filtering down from Islamabad about the connections of those who have been placed on pedestals and how they are haymaking. To be repeated, and repeated, is General Pervez Musharraf’s pithy response in December 1999 to the BBC, when asked about the level of corruption in the armed forces as compared to civilian governments: “We are all of the same stock”.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2011.