church attack they spoke in riddles – this was a conspiracy against Pakistan, Islam didn’t allow for such things, etc. A straightforward denunciation of the Taliban, the resolve to give terrorism no quarter, would just not come out of them.
We used to say that the holy fathers spoke with twisted tongues, hemming and hawing and not coming straight to the point. Our present messiahs, the PML-N or the PTI, Nawaz Sharif’s people or Imran Khan’s, are leaving the holy fathers behind. Are they scared or just being too clever?
This is all we have, and an army command which has made a virtue of procrastination, talking tough but taking decisions very, very slowly. When of a mind to act – say, when shaping a national response to the Kerry-Lugar bill or whipping up a storm of indignation over the Memogate affair (remember that tamasha?) – it needs neither cue nor permission from anywhere. When it comes to the threat posed by Islamic radicalism the army command becomes a stickler for constitutional propriety – the political leadership must show the way.
And the political landscape is denuded of all meaningful opposition, the PPP under Zardari having virtually self-destructed, especially in the national powerhouse of Punjab. So apart from the thrill of the PTI, we just have the brilliance of the Sharifs and then nothing, a desert emptier than the Sahara.
In all our dictatorships, from Ayub onwards, there was at least the illusion of hope…that dictatorship’s night would be succeeded by the light of morning, that Pakistan was destined to emerge from its sorrows towards a better tomorrow. For the first time the emptiness of the political landscape is so complete – Punjab dominant not only politically but intellectually, a scary thought…the Sharifs complemented by Imran Khan. If we are taking such pains to block our minds, no need for India to block our waters.
The poverty of the national narrative regarding terrorism and Islamic militancy is thus no accident. With such political intellectuals that Punjab has thrown up, we could only have had the All-Parties Conference we did, and no other. All students of politics should carefully study the resolution passed by that august gathering. Juvenile, badly drafted, full of clichés….to read it is to despair outright of the national condition. If this is the best our collective leadership can produce, can we get anything right?
Why then should the Taliban relent, or ease their terms, or become more reasonable? Looking at Nawaz Sharif’s confused expression (and he usually has one these days), listening to Imran Khan’s muddled talk, taking one look at the charismatic presence of the KPK chief minister (did ever a political man wear such a sorry expression?), they would be fools not to put more psychological pressure on this befuddled lot.
In any other country, after the roadside bomb which killed Maj-Gen Sanaullah Niazi, after the outrage of the Peshawar church attack, the cry would have gone up, enough is enough. Not here where our political leaders are going round in circles, displaying more patience than an ox with blinders on turning a Persian wheel.
But as long as terrorism doesn’t come to Punjab, ‘Delhi hanooz door ast’. Punjab therefore is right to have its head in the sand. From Lahore, Waziristan and even Peshawar look very far away…different territories, distant problems. Balochistan, lip-service apart, is already off the national radar. The atmosphere couldn’t be more right for Punjabi isolationism to thrive.
That is why a national narrative on Islamic radicalism is proving so hard to put together. We are ducking behind excuses because our hearts are not in this fight. We do not feel engaged. Our interests don’t seem threatened and, in any event, the well-heeled classes know how to look after themselves. When Islamic radicalism comes closer home, when Nadir Shah’s ravaging army on the march comes closer to Delhi, then we shall see.
Meanwhile, marvel at our ingenuity: asking Turkey to help us improve our police force and reform our taxation services, this on top of managing solid waste and reviving urban transport. China will help us do other things. Why stop at half-measures? Why not go the whole distance and outsource the nation? That seems logical, of a piece with our current approach to problem-solving. And we can then perhaps put our nukes in a museum…if the Taliban promise not to take them away.
But most pressing national question: how to outsource the Taliban problem? Clearly, we can’t handle it on our own.
Tailpiece: And Jahangir A Khan is gone – bureaucrat, journalist and small-time film personality. In Chun vey, Noor Jahan sings ‘mundiya Sialkotia’ to him. He was my pathway to journalism. Sometime in the autumn of 1978 when I walked up to the Muslim office in Aabpara – he was managing editor – I found him holding court on the editorial floor, legs slightly apart, arms in a heroic pose, somewhat like Mussolini addressing a crowd. I mumbled a few words and, turning his head towards me, he uttered the one word, “Taken”. That was it. May Madam sing to him again the same song in the everlasting shades.
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