Fossils to the fore!

We had a midget spell of media-inspired euphoria after what was termed the unusual ‘zeal and fervour’ of the Independence Day celebrations. Taking into account Pakistan’s population and motorbike explosion rate, and that our full-blooded youth have little other outlet for celebration than to terrorise our cities and towns with motorbikes from which silencers have been removed, the euphoria was momentary, and here we are back to the nitty-gritty of what passes for normal in the Islamic Republic.

Fine, a few good things have happened of late, apart from the perceived reduction in terrorism — though the suicide bombing of the Punjab home minister was a bit of a slap in the face on that score as are the continued killings of military personnel in the war zones despite the ISPR’s rather awe-inspiring reported number of terrorists regularly taken out. Our fossilised prime minister of the third coming, in between his visits to Central Asian republics and receiving honorary professorships from Belarus, spared a few hours to come to Karachi and call for the de-weaponisation of not only this city but the entire country. Excellent idea, but just how will it be done, who will do it, and most importantly, do the politicos really want to do so?

The Supreme Court has banned the issuance of Houbara bustard hunting permits and the wholesale slaughter of that protected bird by those to whom the state is beholden. Again, this is excellent, but the Court can only order, it cannot enforce, so we ask if the government has heard and will it comply? Livestock population not being in explosion mode, the Punjab government announced a ban on the slaughter of female breeding stock, another excellent move, but again most iffy in its implementation. Prior to the next round of ‘zeal and fervour’ and the knife sharpening which will soon be upon us, some sort of government control on the nation-wide annual cull of livestock would make a lot of sense — preserve the dwindling breeding stock by banning the sale of young breedable cattle, sheep, goats, camels. Again, with the greed and ‘keeping up with the Khans’ mentality, and dithering governments entrenched in non-governance, it would seem a far cry.

There’s the rub; occasionally, far too occasionally, sense and right emerges in verbal form, never to see practical implementation in this sorry republic posing as a democracy. The much-hailed SC order by the fossil community on the 2013 elections has done the nation no favour. Granted, elections do not make a democracy but in this land they provide a chance to usher it in despite the brainwashed electorate. And all, other than the direct beneficiaries of the warped system, know it needs revamping — as indeed does the entire political system which perpetuates fossils and their descendants and cronies. The SC and the issue of a constitutional basic structure is also doing no favours to us, for it is the rocky basic structure of this state that has allowed it to evolve into what it now is.

One main problem is the mass of so-called legislators who will not and cannot legislate unless the status quo, or the furthering of their own interests, is concerned. The entire electoral system, basic structure and all, is rotten and seemingly beyond repair. Take the presidency and the prime ministership — both a joke, alternating between one and the other — one at one time all powerful and the other a cipher, and then vice versa. This is not in any way a parliamentary system — it is an adhoc arrangement made for whoever can jump the gun. And the ‘resignation’ games played are a mere form of petty blackmail.

We are not going anywhere until the days of the fossils end; signs are there, fortunately or unfortunately (depending upon how one looks at things in general, such as the famed abused national interest), that the army chief right now is in the driver’s seat.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th,  2015.

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