Incentivising enmity toward Pakistan

Countries such as the US, for example, always treats foreign dissidents with care and elevates them to stardom, especially when the dissidents are from countries where the regime is the one Washington DC is at loggerheads with. It may look ugly and immoral at times, however, from the standpoint of the selfish pursuit of national interests, it makes absolute sense.

Now, let us look at what Pakistan does. I will break the conclusion to you before delving deeper into it: Pakistan is perhaps the most welcoming and friendly country to rich and foreign enemies. We may look at foreigners with suspicion and loathe the idea of culturally mingling with them. However, we have discriminatory rules and norms for them, and not in a bad way. At the core actually, the mindset favours elitism. Foreigners are viewed as wealthy, powerful, holders of better citizenships and humans of higher value.

Foreigners have come to Pakistan and killed Pakistani citizens. It was the state itself that bent the justice system backwards to let them go scot-free. The rules (diyat) that Raymond Davis helped rekindle in Pakistan will lead to more elites buying get-out-of-jail cards. Diyat already has served many Pakistani elites with deep pockets to order home delivery for tailored justice.

Shahrukh Jatoi is free. Majeed Khan Achakzai is free. Abhinandan is free. Kulbhushan is in a non-Pakistani justice system. The most vicious and well-known thieves are roaming around freely in Pakistan. The global money laundering body kept Pakistan in the gray list but the true money launderers are enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in Pakistan. The man who arrested Ayaan Ali red handed is not only unknown and unsung, he was killed by unknown assailants. Calibri, for Pakistanis, is not just a font.

The people who indulge in true journalism for creating an informed citizenry and highlighting the crimes and corruption of the powerful people in Pakistan are either dead, missing, imprisoned, abducted, their whereabouts unknown, and so forth. They are also tortured and threatened with God knows what to stop them from doing their noble work. The people who came to attack Pakistan and create trouble here (Abhinandan and Kulbhushan) are out of Pakistani jail. Who would you aspire to be if you had the choice?

The man who killed innocent Pakistani citizens in broad daylight (Raymond Davis) went free and the man who was shot multiple times trying to create a brave nation (Imran Khan) is facing over 150 cases against him. The man who tried to harm the Pakistan Army by sending a memo to Admiral Mike Mullen asking him to subjugate the Pakistan Army and to withhold providing aid to Pakistan (Hussain Haqqani) is a friend of the current regime while the man (Imran Khan) who stood on the world stage at the UN and defended his religion and his country’s armed forces’ sacrifices in the war on terror was removed from the office, shot multiple times, slapped with cases after cases, jailed and released and possibly to be jailed again. The journalists who always supported the armed forces and helped create a soft image are either dead or abducted and incommunicado. The journalist — who stood in front of cameras in broad daylight and insulted the top establishment figures, revealed scoops from their personal lives, and told everyone about how they were “afraid of India and wanted friendship with Israel” — is thriving and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle.

It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that Pakistan rewards enemies and punishes sympathisers. There are incentives if one acts against the state of Pakistan versus the troubles one can get into if one tries to help the poor people and try to elevate them to a higher level of citizenry with more solid rights and better income. Pakistan needs to realise what its priorities are. Most importantly, it needs to rethink who the enemy or the ally is.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2023.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.