Random thoughts
This year, New Year falls on the auspicious day of Juma. Let us hope and pray that it brings peace to the world and good tidings to all of us. The new year brings many activities with it.
Besides the normal celebrations, the media is also very active. The achievements/functioning of the government over the past year are critically evaluated – mostly criticism and not much appreciation. Sycophants give or demand credit even for things not done and critics even downplay genuine achievements and goals met. That is what politics is all about.
The PML-N was lucky to have survived many onslaughts. Ayaz Sadiq almost lost his seat to Aleem Khan. That would have been a major blow to Mian Nawaz Sharif. However, Jehangir Khan Tareen did manage to trounce Siddiqui Baloch by a large margin.
The time is ripe for Imran Khan to concentrate on strategies for the next elections. He should get out of the rut of blaming his losses on the Election Commission of Pakistan and the judiciary. If he doesn’t make major gains in the next elections, that will be the beginning of the end for him. He should concentrate on Punjab because that is where the crown lies. It will not be an easy task to dethrone Shahbaz Sharif who has done well for the province and enjoys a solid support. But cracks are there, as we have just seen in Lodhran.
The new year never fails to bring to mind a good friend of mine, the late Khalid Hasan.
He was press secretary to Bhutto – and an efficient one too. When Gen Zia staged the coup, Khalid went abroad and spent most of his time in London. I never met him during Bhutto’s tenure as Gen Imtiaz Ali, MS to the PM was my contact person. More about him later.
The first time I came into contact with Khalid was through the book ‘The Islamic Bomb’, written by two Jewish authors, Weissman and Krosny, and published in the US in 1981. The authors had interviewed Khalid in London and obtained some information from him about the ‘famous’ Multan Conference, where some people had made tall claims about making nuclear weapons in two to three years. As was to be expected, the authors later made some uncivilised comments about Khalid in the said book. Years passed until a chance meeting at a function organised by our famous poetess, Naheed Kishwar.
Khalid had a very pleasing personality and was soft-spoken and intelligent. We became good friends and this lasted until his sad, untimely demise. We regularly corresponded, even while he was living in the US. Each year he would send me a beautiful New Year’s card with some nice verse in it. The last card I received from him contained the following verse written by the indomitable Ghalib: Dekhiye paate hen Ishshaq buton se kia Fez/Ek Brahman ne kaha he ke ye saal achcha he
(Let’s see what favours lovers get from their idol [beloved]; A Brahman has said: “This is going to be a good year”)
I responded with the following: Logo! Dua karo ke guzar jaey khair se/Aasar keh rahe hen bura ye bhi saal he
(Oh people! Pray for the new year to pass safely as all signs point towards a bad year)
May Allah rest Khalid’s soul in eternal peace – Ameen.
Now a bit more about Gen Imtiaz Ali. He was a tall, slim, smart and very efficient officer and also a good athlete. Before Gen Zia staged the coup I often heard Gen Imtiaz talking to Gen Zia on the phone and addressing him as ‘Chief’. I believed he would probably have become the next army chief after Gen Zia, but it was not to be. After the coup there was a lot of pressure put on him to become a witness against Bhutto which he, as a gentleman, flatly refused to do. He was first posted as GOC Sialkot and then sent home. In doing so, the Pakistan Army lost a fine officer. After his retirement he went to Abu Dhabi and worked there as adviser to the Ministry of Defence for many years.
I often met him in Dubai as I used to travel there quite often in connection with our work. When Benazir became PM in 1988 he was appointed defence adviser (federal minister) to the government. He did not join her government during her second tenure. Unfortunately he became ill and after suffering for a few years, he passed away. May Allah rest his soul in Paradise – Ameen.
The conditions currently prevailing in the country are not good. I am not talking of the year just past, but about the last 15 years. The people and the country are witnessing bleak days. Incompetence, selfishness, corruption and hypocrisy continues. It almost seems like a free for all. Never mind that the public is put to extreme hardship. We feel ashamed when even our children point out the discrepancies between words and deeds, promises and actions.
Anchorpersons and journalists have become weary of showing the same jugglery and about-face performances. Without going into details, I would only like to touch upon the main problems faced by the people – the law and order situation, suicide attacks, target killings, unbearable inflation and skyrocketing prices of essential items, unemployment, loadshedding of gas and electricity, corruption, collapse of the educational system, destruction and corruption in PIA, Railways, Steel Mills, OGDC, NICL and, of course, the billions of rupees being spent on dubious programmes.
The ‘spiritual son’ of Bhutto, the ‘nominated’ successor of Benazir Bhutto and the so-called providers of ‘Roti, Kapra and Makan’ gave the public hunger, bullets and batons on their heads; and the present government has not been much better. Promises of milk and honey were made, only to be followed by more loadshedding, inflation, unemployment and a deteriorating law and order situation. We have all faced skyrocketing prices of essential commodities like edibles, petroleum products, electricity and gas.
The dollar now stands at 106 rupees while not many years ago it was 60 rupees. Journalists and anchor persons have a complete record of all this incompetence and corruption. The only silver lining to the cloud is the role the army and the Rangers have played in dealing with criminals, target killers, extortionists, blackmailers, etc.
When looking back on the past year (and the 14 that preceded it), I see total failure of good governance and accountability and I am compelled to give the above quote and to request everyone to pray that the new year passes safely, as the signs are not promising.
Email: dr.a.quadeer.khangmail.com