Who violates Pakistan’s sovereignty?

Is it any coincidence that the people who were not seen or heard from in years are suddenly appearing again like the mummies from the casket in horror movies? Speaking of which, this purana Pakistan is a horror movie. And I believe that is just an understatement. Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister of Pakistan, has announced that he will be returning to Pakistan next month. He had left his country citing bad health for which a better treatment by the gora was needed in England. Somehow, despite repeated requests and attempts to bring him back, he had resisted returning to Pakistan until purana Pakistan happened. Interestingly, his health issues, which had defied the gora healthcare system, have disappeared suddenly and word is that he is ready to assume charge of the finance ministry. What a joke!

For years, Pakistan bent backwards in order to satisfy the imperialist demands of the FATF that the country was not allowing any sort of terror financing and that the system was tight enough to discourage any leaks that might facilitate money laundering. Ishaq Dar was indicted by the accountability court of Pakistan for corruption. The foreign money laundering watchdog is obeyed but the country’s own accountability court is not. It is a mockery of Pakistan’s justice system to let this man get a clean chit. Why should any other country respect Pakistan’s sovereignty when the very country has no respect for itself?

When the types of Abhinandans and Raymond Davis are let go after attacking Pakistan and its people and patriotic politicians such as Shireen Mazari are dragged and arrested, then there is only one unmistakable message that gets heard quite loudly across the board: being an enemy of Pakistan has its perks. You’d be better off being hostile to Pakistan than being friendly and caring toward Pakistan. Moreover, cheating with Pakistan and stealing from Pakistan yields rewards sooner or later.

Let me tell you two experiences I have had to highlight the point about how much Pakistan as a state respects itself. In America, I can get a SIM card without any ID and use it to make calls anonymously. In Pakistan, not only do I need to provide my ID to get a SIM card but I must also physically go and let them scan my fingerprints. During the height of the pandemic, when traveling to Pakistan from the USA, I would provide my Covid test result at the airport. The airline staff would give it a cursory look and be done with it. But now let me tell you how it was in reverse.

The test was to be done only at the airline approved labs. The airline had instructed the lab that they must send the results to the airline electronically directly without the passenger having any access. The passengers were still required to take the test with them to the airport, even though they were not to be trusted. I never understood that part. There was one thing though that I was happy about: the lab employees were very strict in how they collected the sample. And they were supremely strict in denying even a hint of engineering the test result even when offered with good cash. For a brief moment, I was elated to see this work ethic. But then I realised this wasn’t done for the people of Pakistan. This was done for the foreign airline and especially the foreign country to where the people were traveling.

Hina Rabbani Khar said that the country was not in isolation. People are criticising her for that but I actually agree with her. A poor country is only isolated when it defies the imperial super powers and decides to take matters in its own hands. That funny idea was bludgeoned by removing Imran Khan. She also said that the country was moving in the right direction. I confess; I’d never decipher that phrase.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2022.

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