What lies beneath

It is said about the Pakistani nation that we are adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We continue to question our achievements but, at the same time, gloss over our failures, in the process, lying to ourselves and to others around us who care to listen. The same goes for those we consider our role models and our heroes. Somehow as a nation, we cannot look up to people who have made us proud. And we glorify those who need to be shamed instead.

Take the Malala Yousafzai incident and how it is being played out. While the world lauds the bravery of this 15-year-old who is now being seen as a symbol of resistance against the Taliban and a voice for education for girls in the country, within us are a number of people who are saying that the media is going overboard in its coverage of her. Instead, they argue, the focus should be on the children who die in drone attacks. Does it always have to be about one or the other? Can’t we mourn those who die in drone attacks and at the same time be proud of our brave sons and daughters? Why must we put them down?

We are not proud of Dr Abdus Salam, the country’s only Nobel laureate, because he was an Ahmadi, irrespective of what he achieved. Dr Eqbal Ahmad, one of the greatest minds of the subcontinent, lies forgotten, possibly because his columns in Dawn at the time asked questions and pointed out problems to which no one seemed to have answers or solutions. His dream of an international place of learning in Islamabad where the best and the brightest could come and benefit remains unfulfilled. The land on which it was to be built is appropriated for much lesser gains.

Another great writer and activist, Tariq Ali, is also disowned by us because we see him as an atheist. His leftist credentials just won’t do. Tariq Ali may be a hero in many international circles but in Pakistan, most don’t know him. Or don’t want to.

We are happy to trash writers like Dr Mubarak Ali and Khaled Ahmed because they are seen as too secular minded. Their only crime possibly is that they write what they see and mince no words about it. We are not used to the truth. And these two gentlemen have taken considerable pains to correct the notions and ideas that have been fed to us for decades by our official historians. The lies that we live with.

Most Pakistanis still think that we won all our wars with India and that India in fact started all the wars. They think that Bangladesh was created because the East Pakistanis were ghaddar, that one Pakistani soldier equals two Indian soldiers. If that is not all, we firmly believe that the Taliban are, after all, Muslims and, therefore, they cannot kill or bomb fellow Muslims. It is all a conspiracy against the Muslim world — somehow defeats the purpose of the attacks. That is possibly why the Taliban take credit for them repeatedly at the top of their voices.

Now, we hear that Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy will no longer be teaching at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Apparently, one of the greatest scientific minds that Pakistan has produced cannot find an extension at LUMS. No reason has been given. Except that someone let on that the great professor “writes too much” and “appears too frequently on television”. That’s rich coming from a university whose vice chancellor, in earlier years, also wrote in equal quantities and even had a show when he was younger on PTV. One would have expected such treatment from public sector universities. One can only wonder what forced LUMS to sack Dr Hoodbhoy. Personal jealousy?

In all this atmosphere of collective amnesia, we see a refreshing development this week in the form of a ruling by the Supreme Court on the Asghar Khan case. That the Court finds two army generals and a president of the country guilty of violating the Constitution and rigging a general election is a first step towards uncovering the truth. That the two generals will be prosecuted for treason remains to be seen — highly unlikely, despite the reaction from the present-day military high command endorsing the judgment and insisting that the army should stay out of politics. Credit goes to Asghar Khan for persisting and the Supreme Court for sitting up and taking notice. Good sense prevails in some instances, no matter that it happens two decades later.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd,  2012.