Step by faltering step, Pakistan is moving away from what it was meant to be. This is despite varying, and even contradictory, interpretations of what is branded as the Quaid’s vision. And this is an opportune moment to determine the direction of change that is taking place in this country.
On this, the last day of a departing year, we may be constrained to look ahead. But the shadows cast by the most potent developments of the departing year are sure to linger, since time is a continuum and is not swayed by dates on a calendar.
Still, the New Year does concentrate our minds on the current state of affairs and we get excited about what it will bring in the context of our personal and collective lives. It also inspires hope and a kind of resolve to make another attempt to set things right.
One question that stood out in year-end discussions and talk-shows was about the most significant event of 2017 – one that would have extensive reverberations in the coming year. By and large, the contest here would be between the ouster of the former prime minister through a Supreme Court judgment and the high drama that was staged on the Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad just a few weeks ago.
It may also be possible to bring these and other episodes together under the umbrella of the so-called civil-military relations. That is how our present deliberations could be set against the larger perspective of history. We should also look at the prospect of the establishment of a truly democratic dispensation after the expected elections in 2018.
I would hesitate to tread in this somewhat esoteric territory, though issues that have some linkage with the civil-military tangle frequently make headlines. On Thursday, the chief military spokesman, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, took strong exception to a statement made by PML-N leader Saad Rafique and there was prompt response by the federal minister. Let us not go into what it was all about. The point is that there is considerable confusion about the limits and roles of various national institutions. Meanwhile, there is little doubt about where the real power resides.
Anyhow, I feel certain that Pakistan is steadily drifting away from the general direction its founder had set. We may identify this drift in the mirror of what I believe was the most crucial event of the departing year: the Faizabad sit-in and how it was resolved. In this context, I encountered something on Thursday that confirmed my worst fears.
Here is this Gallup and Gilani Pakistan survey that, shockingly, tells us that seven out of 10 Pakistanis believe that the demands made by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik protesters during the Faizabad the sit-in were legitimate. This is something that one does not want to accept. Because if you see this as a credible assessment of the prevailing public opinion in Pakistan, you should be willing to concede that Jinnah’s Pakistan no longer exists.
According to the press release of the Gallup and Gilani Pakistan, the survey was based on this question: “Some people believe that the demands put forward as pre-conditions for ending the protest by Tehreek-e-Labbaik leaders, such as the resignation of Law Minister Zahid Hamid, the lifting of the ban which prohibits putting speakers on all sides of the mosque etc, are legitimate. While others think they are illegitimate. What do you think?”
We are told that a nationally representative sample of men and women from across four provinces presented this result: 69 percent said they were legitimate; 30 percent said they were illegitimate and just one percent did not respond.
Since I have retained my early journalistic habit of walking the crowded streets of the city and interacting with common citizens, I have a fair idea of the passions that are nurtured by ignorance and abject social deprivations. These people live stunted lives and lack the ability to think and to deal with an environment of disorder and injustice.
In that sense, the ground realities of Pakistan are somehow beyond the comprehension of those who pontificate endlessly on the national crisis in their comfortable living rooms. They are not aware that forces of fanaticism and of orthodoxy have almost taken them hostage. They dictate your public behaviour and prescribe the limits of your freedom.
As for the civil-military dimension of the Faizabad dharna, I have to refer to a proper and objective analysis of these relations that is conducted by think-tank Pildat. Every month, it issues its monitor that identifies key developments in civil-military relations. The Faizabad incident obviously figures in the November 2017 monitor.
Let me just quote its intro: “The manner in which the Faizabad sit-in was ended and the terms of the agreement signed by the government with protesters through the corroboration of the army – all mark a disappointing watershed in the history of Pakistan. That the army, tasked by the federal government, facilitated an agreement that capitulated the state to demands of a mob has all but disastrous connotations written all over it. Subsequent statements by the leader of the protest and actions, such as the DG Rangers distributing cash amongst dharna protesters, have not only raised serious questions about the writ of the government and the state but also about the role of the armed forces during the protest”.
Finally, I would very briefly like to share some thoughts I expressed in a panel discussion on ‘Quaid-e- Azam ka Pakistan’ held on the concluding day of the annual Urdu conference of the Arts Council, Karachi. The occasion was the birth anniversary of Mohammad Ali Jinnah on Monday. I was in the distinguished company of Mian Raza Rabbani, Javed Jabbar, Dr Jafar Ahmad and Harris Khalique. Dr Huma Baqai was the moderator.
While some very perceptive observations were made by other speakers, I only wondered if someone like Mr Jinnah – with a modern outlook, personal integrity, commitment to rule of law and tolerance for other religions – could live in and own the kind of society we have in Pakistan at this time. All of us, particularly leaders, tirelessly invoke his ‘vision’ but there is little clarity about what it was.
But if there is some mystification about what he said on which occasion, we have the example of who he was as a person and how he had lived his life. Where can we find him in today’s Pakistan?
The writer is a senior journalist.
Email: ghazi_salahuddinhotmail.com