The writer is Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain
fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Lies, on the other hand, are like comfort food — so good on the palate, not so good on the belly. Lies hug and caress us, make us feel all warm and cuddly. They shield us from the lacerations of brittle reality, and envelop us in the warm glow of self-love. Numbed by the opium of delusional rhetoric, we sway to the rhythm of melodious lies and chant in chorus: “We are the Chosen Ones.”
And we can do no wrong. We didn’t start the fire that burnt down a place of worship and transformed the faithful into a murderous and maniacal horde. We are the Chosen Ones out to civilise the barbarian world. It was ‘they’ who did it. They, of that kind. The kind that does not believe what we believe; that does not chant what we chant; that does not exude the radiance of self-belief that we do.
Nothing compares with this feeling of sheer joy — a joy of pretending what we are not. Nothing compares to the sensation of freely floating on a sea of misplaced innocence, oblivious to the knowledge of having lost the innocence a long time ago.
Yes, we can contain the containers, but cannot contain our contagious enthusiasm for self-contentment of a curious kind. Yes, we can drone the drones with our verbal salvos, but dare not delve deep into the deplorable duality of our policy.
Wait, did someone mention policy?
The history of our policy on drones is knitted together by a magnificent chain of pearly white lies. This jewellery of deceit was bestowed upon a nation lulled by the nectar of delicious duplicity. The hypocrisy we called policy was oh-so-gently handed over from government to government till no one really knew who was doing what, when — and more importantly — why?
But now we may have some idea. The pearly white lies were alloyed within a bonfire of fear — a fear that the people could not stomach the truth because decades of deceit had made them incapable of digesting it. Rulers found themselves sandwiched between a hyper-power and a hyper-people. So the rulers went into default mode.
The lying mode.
And so it continues — a sorry saga of sound and fury signifying nothing. We thump our pumped-up chest like a Tarzan on steroids, only to plunge the dagger into the soft folds of our own belly. The wrath of Khan rains upon the hapless traffic of Peshawar as hordes of his supporters converge on to the Ring Road to bring America to its knees and slice its neck from ear to ear. The wrath of the TTP rains upon the petrified citizens of Pakistan as bombs shred their bodies into bloody ribbons. The wrath of the maulanas rains upon the valiant soldiers nourishing this land of ours with their ultimate sacrifice. And the wrath of the prime minister? Perhaps, all the wrath he had inside, was off-loaded on Pervez Musharraf, and Sharif is now running on empty. Silence can be deadly. Brooding silence, not.
Silence does not constitute policy and neither does wrath. In the echo-chamber of fear, lies resonate loudly. This government, like its predecessors, fears the truth about drones: a truth which says Pakistan cannot stop America from unleashing hellfire from Hellfires. It cannot do so because it is weak. It is weak because it has no financial and international muscle. It does not have this muscle because the leadership has transformed this country of a 190 million people into a nation of beggars.
Sharif knows this. Khan knows this. Maulana knows it. The GHQ knows it. But they do not want us to know it. Containers won’t stop drones. Chaudhry Nisar’s bravado won’t either. But in the long run, truth may. And the truth demands we expel Chechens and Uzbeks from our territory, subdue the TTP, regain control over the territory that is ours and wage ferocious peace with the world. But truth requires facing up to reality. And reality bites like a ravenous wolf.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (30)
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@csmann: Dear csmann, Pakistan has a population exceeding 180 million, and to my knowledge I am not aware that any one of them witnessed OBL's presence or death in Abbottabad, nor am I aware of any American being witness to the incident, nor am I aware of anybody in the world having reasonable proof that he was killed at Abbottabad. Although you are not interested in factual evidence the following may help you, but I doubt it. I OBL was suffering from Marfan Syndrome Not nice to have. 2 OBL was suffering from diabetes, Hepatitis C, severe lung complications, 3 OBL required constant kidney dialysis 4 Pulling a dialysis machine through the Afghan mountains to Abbottabad without electricity and under the surveillance of thousands of special OPS troops would have been tough going. 5 CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta stated in 2002 that OBL had all the appearance of Chronic kidney failure, and renal failure. 6 General Peter Bergen on CNN in 2002 basically concurred that OBL had serious kidney problems with the addition of wounds in the foot, left hand and arm from the Tora Bora Bombing. 7 In 2002 General Musharraf on CNN said that he thought OBL was dead due to his health problems. 8 In 2002 Dale Watson, the FBI's counter-terrorism chief, thought OBL was dead. 9 In 2002 Afghan President Harmad Karzai thought that OBL was dead. 10 Benazir Bhutto also thought OBL was dead. 11 Janes publication reported in 2002 that OBL was not on the list of Islamist extremists issued by the espionage and security forces of Israel.
These are just a few points, which indicate that OBL was probably dead prior to the Abbottabad incident..
Nice poetry, stating the obvious but provides no solutions as usual. The whole article oozes self importance, show offishness and not much else.
Wait, here is a brilliant idea: let's have yet another APC to have yet another consensus on stopping yet another drone strike!
@Sexton Blake: Listen to this expert on America , broadcasting from his cave somewhere in Tora-Bora!!He still does not believe OBL dies in Abbotabad although OBL family says it. And for him Pakistani killed by TTP are in hundreds rather than 50000 as most know.For him they are just the collateral damage of TTP warriors fighting infidels aka Pakistanis.
I do not really know where to start in regard to Fahd Husain's duplicitous article. Is he writing about Pakistan's economic development, general economic problems, social problems, health problems, educational problems, standard-of-living problems, or military problems both within and outside Pakistan. Obviously, Pakistan has severe problems with all of the above, and perhaps to a greater extent than most other countries. However, it has a lot of company. In India, about half a billion people are on the bread-line, about another half a billion are just getting by, and out of the remainder there are varying degrees of wealth, but perhaps 25 million are living very well, and far less than a million live at a fabulous level. It should also be remembered that many inhabitants of Western countries are also just getting by. For example about 100 million Americans are on various food assistance programs. In Australia many people are sleeping rough at night under bridges etc. Perhaps the worst problem facing the world is that 1,836 billion dollars are being spent on defense with Pakistan and India's defense spending averaging 7 billion and 48 billion respectively every year. I do not know how Pakistan will solve its problems, or the Western countries, which are getting economically worse every year, with no end in sight in regard to the wars the various leaders appear to delight in starting, and maintaining on an indefinite basis, without any semblance of negotiation. When all else fails leaders everywhere always seem to find the finance for military spending.
@unbelievable: "No one trusting Pakistan"
Yawn.
@Adnan Sial:
"Why we are not financially strong? because we elect those persons who are inhuman, dishonest, and thieves–looting our soil and transferring foreign—this is ridiculous. We didn’t invest in human development and now we are third world but actually the world is being run by us."
Pakistan is financially weak and near bankruptcy because of its national priorities. Remember the slogan "we will eat grass to get nuclear bombs and bleed India through 1000 cuts in a 1000 year war"? That is exactly why Pakistan is financially broke and ranks near the bottom in all human development indices. Geopolitical games and confrontational foreign policies against a neighbor that is 10 times stronger in all aspects is a suicidal strategy that is bound to fail and only hurt Pakistanis.
Can you imagine how your neighbors and allies view Pakistan? Your duplicity has resulted in no one trusting Pakistan - not the American's, NATO, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Taliban or even your own people.
Those who are as impressed as I am with this wonderful piece by Fahd Husain, and also those who harbour as strong a desire to save the one and only Land-of-the-Pure in their hearts as I do, would do well to see this for views of Husain Haqqani: FOR THE RECORD If hardliners take over, Pakistan will be like Iran without oil
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW
The link will take you to a page where you will need to go to epaper. When on epaper, go to "All That Matters" to see the recommended article. You can read it there or double click the article to see it in a new window. Worth your time, I can guarantee.
Fahd Husain should use 'knit' as the past tense of knit. Though 'knitted' is also used in many sentences and is considered grammatically correct, it is not kosher with most of the purists.
The diagnostic narrative of the author could be applicable and valid for most countris of the world. His propsed treatment is very much similar to what we hear from the extreme right in Europe and have to tolerate the fascist forces who despite being defeated have never accepted the defeat. I would wish for the authors sake and for the sake of the country he lives in to be more positive about the country which has gone through colonisation for upto two centuries.and the Talibans who have never accepted occupation in their history.
Rex Minor
Yes, you are right. We don't have the muscles to stop drones neither our Army nor our government but how could we let it happen as is. Will the imposed war on terror help our country to let its financial and power muscles grow? i hope not because the world, in your assessment, mere a puppet of USA. Then, why do we invest in our 'Nuclear Technology' and we know these won't be used. would these be a test of our Scientists? No, this was the muscle of power. And, we really did well. Why we are not financially strong? because we elect those persons who are inhuman, dishonest, and thieves--looting our soil and transferring foreign---this is ridiculous. We didn't invest in human development and now we are third world but actually the world is being run by us. Because, we do the work of others and they relax. Yeah, the land is our whether fetched by US or TTP but this is not the way of winning a war. We must set our priorities in such order: Stop drones, let the TTP surrender by convincing them, start a crackdown against rebellions and try to release Kashmir from Pakistan with the help of TTP, as we did in Zia-ul-Haq era supported by Americans. Job, Gates, Enron, and other corporations were not owned by the government of US. It were mere lay men living in America. So, better stop chanting and supporting a cause!
We have nuclear weapons. We are proud of them. They ensure our defence against the neighbouring nuclear power, India. That's all.
Neither our nuclear capability, nor the strength of our faith entitle us to allow our land to be used for terrorist raids in other countries. As long as the the terrorists shall operate in Afghanistan from our side of border, the drones shall come. We can only "talk" about intercepting them. We cannot shoot them. The consequences are too horrible to be contemplated. The only way to live honourably is to let the others live. Our hue and cry over the drones does not convince anybody. It is self-deception, pure and simple. The sooner we realise, the better for us.
The primary responsibility to clean our house is ours. The Prime Minister announced in Washington DC that "our own house needs to be put in order". That was a moment of truth. The entire world is waiting with baited-breath when the cleaning starts.
Cleaning the house is urgent because the remaining agenda of the government regarding energy crisis, attracting foreign investment, economic growth, youth development and fighting unemployment cannot even begin till terrorism is controlled.
@citizen X and SextonBlake, pathetic comments, ur comparing disappearing jobs to no-oppourtunity. disappearing jobs means because of no profit atleast the investment is in place, where is the investment in pakistan !!!! really pathetic people
@Fahd Husain, Very Beautifully written, But feel there is still time. Atleast Saying the truth would finish off most of your problems. Atleast the opposition - IK could do that easily because his stakes are very small compared to the parties in Power. IF IK is Really Honest that is, I do not think you need to be brave to do that.
A poet! A pleasure to read for the expression, and some of the sentiment, though I would credit Pakistanis with far more awareness of the duplicities that are. Over here we are wondering to what extent Germans as allies can afford to be outraged because the Americans have apparently been spying on the German Chancellor's mobile telephone conversations for over a decade. All a question of how far you can claim sovereignty, I'm afraid. It's in evidence everywhere.
"Wage ferocious peace" with all nations of the world - that's what we need
well written! and true - agree with what you said!
Many Governments will be lying to people, but I thought God gave Brains to everybody so they could think for themselves. Simply unable to understand why the Brains do not function efficiently when they are in Pakistan, but start functioning a lot better after leaving the Holy land.
Pakistan needs a new beginning and needs to restart its journey away from the path of hate and bigotry to one of peace, happiness and progress. With the current Constitution, the path to failure will be sure and violent so any change sought cannot be achieved with the present document, the Mullah having the nation by its throat and squeezing its life out, breadth by breadth. The exploitation and abuse of religion can never stop with the current Constitution. Without clarity of mind and thought the nation will exhaust itself running round the tree in circles. No one can help you, you have to help yourself and be the catalyst for change you want to see.
People use a variety of adjectives to describe Pakistan leadership such as pathetic or delusional. I tend to agree, but on the other hand why should Pakistan be different from most other countries. All Western countries use dodgy financial statistics to make themselves look good, but most of them do not make anything any more so jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate. As an example, unemployment in America is dreadful, but the Government fudges the figures, which gives a false feeling of security to the little people, and most of the new jobs coming up are part-time in the hamburger industry anyway. I do not know what Pakistan can do, but perhaps they should convince the people that fast food is the way to go. Sounds dreadful, but Americans like the stuff.
Much as I agree with this article, the fact of life is that most Pakistanis enjoy (as with a majority of the rest of the world do) "comfort food" -- only for the rest this food is things like chocolate, and wine and cookies etc etc. while sad to say for this beleaguered country it is as the author correctly pointed out above. And I do not these "tastes" changing anytime in the foreseeable future... simply because an overwhelming majority are as "ravenous" for their "comfort-food" as the "Big Bad Wolf" biting into the so-called "truth" (or reality)... whatever...
One of the most eloquent, almost poetic, expressions of the bitterly unpalatable truth that Pakistanis are understandably loathe to accept but until they take this bitter medicine they are almost certainly condemned to remain mired in this swamp of misery. Bhutto said we'll make the bomb even if we have to eat grass, an accurate premonition indeed.
Finally!!!
Finally a Pakistani has said it. The way to stop drones is to clean out the mess, arrest/ kill the terrorists (The foreign terrorists in your territory). Impose the law of the land and take people to task.
A poetic portrayal of the pariah Pakistan,the pretentious Pauper .The 21st century Changez Khan roars,leading the blood-thirsty hordes of bomb-belts of "bravery".
I cant believe how stupid and delusional pakistani politicians and pakistani TV anchors are. The guy in peshawar appears to have a single digit IQ and he is leading a party there...disgusting
What our dear Director of News is telling us that we should scared of the US because they are so mighty and powerful we must bow down to their wishes. So what if some dirty pashto boy is killed along with his family in the North as long as he and his kin are safe we should not say anything. Thank you for your yellow advice but thankfully there are still some men in Pakistan. There is something between "ghulami" and "dushmani", try thinking along those routes. X
Truth is a bitter pill to swallow. At least some in Pakistan are courageous enough to speak the truth, even though they are a small minority and are perceived as agents of the enemies' of Pakistan.
PTI trolls and others should read more articles like this one and open their eyes to the delicious duplicity being fed to them.
Non sense