Revolution at Noon?

Privilege is its own reward. Isn’t it? Or is it a prison, a panopticon, which makes it impossible for you to escape? This takes me back to one paragraph from Harry Potter’s sixth book. Dumbledore has come to collect our little hero and is about to accost his guardian family regarding Harry’s mistreatment. “I left him upon your doorstep fifteen years ago, with a letter explaining about his parents’ murder and expressing the hope that you would care for him as though he were your own. You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you (their own son).”

The last line. The damage inflicted not upon the one neglected but on the one loved and treasured. This is the damage privilege does to the fortunate.

It is the privilege that kills you. Especially in Punjab. Consider this. Asif Ali Zardari spent over a decade in jail and while that wreaked havoc on his body particularly his digestive system, when you meet him you barely hear about his ordeal. Reasons? Much before he was sent to prison the hostile dominant national narrative had already robbed him of his privilege. Also his domicile.

But now look at the two Punjab-based politicians who spent some time behind bars. Before his current stint, Imran spent eight days in prison. And he wouldn’t stop talking about it. Likewise, Nawaz spent 14 months in prison after General Musharraf’s coup only to be sent into exile to Saudi Arabia where he spent almost a decade in comfort. Likewise, after sixteen months of entering and exiting prisons during the PTI tenure, four years of comfort in London. But we know about the man’s suffering in granular detail.

Don’t get me wrong. In the past decade, I have learned to take people’s suffering seriously. When he was in prison, I kept my ear to the ground and when I heard that he was really ill I was the first one to report it, and that too in this space, despite the dire consequences. When his wife died I made it a point of hosting an on-air tribute to her under the PTI’s stern gaze. (She was always terribly kind to me and a very brave accidental politician. This was the least I could do). I have tried to stay updated on the well-being of the former premier who is behind bars now. Journalists have some vestiges of privilege too and as I said this is the least we can do when we put it to good use.

But these sufferings are magnified and complicated by Punjab’s culture. It is an honour-based culture of privilege. When you are down what hurts you more is not your back pain or bad food but that people are watching and judging you while you are being humiliated. The idea of humiliation is bigger than the humiliation itself. Perhaps, that is why the PML-N arranged for a return where Nawaz doesn’t spend even a moment inside jail. That is the nature of Pakistani politics. Where the exhibition of privilege is a direct signal to what Professor Waseem calls the establishmentarian democracy.

Now that Nawaz is back in the country, his party, PML-N (Muslim League Noon), is being tipped as the next dominant force in this nation’s politics. When you are this close to power two or three things happen. Here is how it goes.

The circle around the man or woman expected to rise to power tightens and access becomes a privilege. The loyalists who create the human chain around the would-be ruler use access to enhance their own privilege and prestige. They are positioned to head ministries once their party comes into power. Once upon a happy time, governance was a hands-on job. But as our rulers have aged and after ruling in their sixties have reached their seventies, it has become easier for these loyalists to confine the source of power in one space and exercise power in their name. When the source of power, the ruler, has a passion project or a personal score to settle that becomes an isolated incident. However, the real damage is done when they are not paying attention and not to those who are even being targeted but to those who come in the way of their lieutenants.

So, what does this mean for Nawaz’s fourth-coming? Revolution? Well, there are some passion projects at which he is really good. Peace with neighbours. Attracting foreign direct investment, especially from the Arab world. Then he has the stature that helps in validating various strong positions. For example, the national action plan against terrorism. But what about other things?

Bear in mind that political change is becoming difficult in Pakistan. That means you have to break the system to effect it. The entire system was bent over backward to remove him from power. The same when pushing Imran out of power. Nawaz’s return also necessitated some creative meddling with the system. For its numerous failings, this system exists to shield the people in the proximity of power from its abuse. If you are not shielded you do not give your hundred percent. When you put all factors mentioned above together, you realise that apart from a few big flash bangs, the rest may not go as smoothly. Remember, what happened when the Imran government was being coddled by the establishment and even then it found ways to fail? Not much has changed since then.

My concern is neither access nor privilege. I am an ideas man. Since one fine day Gen Musharraf read one of my columns and made it a habit, my ideas are liberally used without attribution. This usually doesn’t bother me. Except when I have to update an idea and people refuse to listen because attributing it to someone else they have truly committed to it.

Let me give you an example. During Musharraf’s rule, I submitted a prospectus full of ideas on foreign and domestic policies to one of his close lieutenants, a four-star general, no less. I was summoned to his office and asked to elaborate on each point. I did so. I still have the original text which includes proposals on what became CPEC and rapprochement with Russia among many others. But as my responses were being jotted down I knew they had become his. And now I am locked out of them and can’t update any of them. I am not much for credit but since these ideas stem from empathy and deep thought it gets to me when I see my ideas being misunderstood or misapplied.

You are telling me any of the above is about to change?

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2023.

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