Those alien concepts

Indicative of the qualities of this republic’s law makers and breakers was the reaction of both houses in which they sit, upper and lower, to the death of Nelson Mandela. As reported, senior members in the Senate did a decent job of paying tribute to a man respected, literally, by the world whilst in the lower chamber it received a quick and haphazard disposal. In neither did one of Mandela’s most praised and recognised achievements, truth and reconciliation, find mention.

But, as rightly recorded in this publication, the press and public was spared the usual “shallow and hypocritical rhetoric”, the best tribute that could be paid to him by the mainly “below average … mediocre players of petty power games” (very neatly put). The possibility exists that some amongst the mediocrity were wondering who and what was Mandela. And for those on whom recognition dawned, a man such as Mandela would have little bearing upon them — an alien in thought and deed.

Reconciliation — well, we know all about that and what it signifies in the Islamic Republic. The National Reconciliation Ordinance, conceived by Pervez Musharraf, aided by his successor as army chief, the then spy in chief, Ashfaq Kayani, backed by none other than the democratic US and the UK reduced reconciliation to the letting off and the welcoming back into the political ranks of a bunch of alleged (though few would deny the allegations) robbers and pillagers of the nation’s assets, with, thrown in for good measure, a few alleged murderers. A very wicked piece of legislation, later dealt with by the Supreme Court, but of course to no avail. We are back to the good old ways.

Now taking truth, a totally foreign concept in this land of the righteous, it stands no chance. It never has. The truth of its purpose and the ideology behind its creation has been obfuscated since its birth, bandied around by followers of different schools of thought, making it a bone of contention which is still the subject of argument, even of abuse, after 66 years of existence. As for truth, in its day-to-day politics, forget it. The leaderships through the decades, the “mediocre players of petty power games”, would not have known, or now know, what constitutes truth even if it were to hit them bang in the face and give them two black eyes.

The absence of truth from the national scenario and the dominant spirit of denial should be always brought home to those who remember, to that shrinking minority in a country which has no use for history, at this time of the year. But 42 years is a long time and memories are selective. How many will now acknowledge that most traumatic event of December 1971 when the Pakistan that Jinnah made was finally dealt its death blow? Territory was lost, a geopolitical role in Southeast Asia, and a significant part of the economy. The arrogance of 24 years and an absence of truth filtered down from the rulers to the ruled.

When things came to a head, the end being nigh, the leadership, and of course, the state-controlled media covered up any and all truth and it remains largely covered to this day. The free media of today, a legacy of military rule, remains subject to self-censorship, with sensationalism and hysteria projected fuelling the ‘victimisation’ culture, xenophobia, anti-Americanism in particular, drones, sectarian strife and the growing ambivalence towards militancy.

This present dispensation, with regard to mendacity as far as one can make out from known facts, is pretty masterful. Two members stand forth prominently, the minister of and spokesman on all affairs, mostly playing the role of acting prime minister, and the finance minister, whose statements too often intrude upon la-la land, trying to convince all and sundry of what is not what.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2013.

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