Abandon hope all ye who enter here
September 14, 2012
‘Do you really believe what you write can change government policy?,’ the senior most member of the Zardari Praetorian Guard hissed, after accosting me at a wedding in Karachi. And although on that occasion I thought nothing of it, he was right. They are indeed beyond taking advice, they only want corroboration.
And that’s not because members of this regime are mentally challenged or unduly stubborn or even hyper sensitive, it’s something else and more profound. They are in a different stage of civilisation because, while we cannot exclude the intellect from participating in many of our functions, they can.
Nevertheless, like the doctor who gives his patient hope even when death is certain, I decided to continue with my rants. So here I go – once again.
Power, as we know, is utterly useless unless it is directed by a higher purpose and plan; and not even then if the will to put it into effect is lacking. Whether or not Benazir Bhutto was so equipped the moment she landed in Karachi on 18 October 2007, she was by the time she reached Bilawal house early the next morning.
Human flesh clinging to the truck carrying her and the cries of the injured had transformed her. She had found her calling – to lead the nation in pursuit of the enemy responsible for the (Karsaz) havoc.
Perhaps Asif Zardari also had some sort of a plan when he took office but either because he found the going too heavy or he mistook perseverance in a good cause for obstinacy in a bad one, he scrapped it. And the rest is (contemporary) history.
Hiding behind the slogan ‘democracy is the best revenge’ when, in fact, a well governed, united and resolute nation living well would have been far better revenge, he traded power for pelf. That became obvious in the initial months of his presidency when a flurry of orders concerning defense and foreign policy were no sooner given than countermanded.
But, more glaringly, when he was made to eat crow and restore the chief justice. His prestige never recovered from that blow and, to be fair, Asif Zardari never again tried dreaming while he was awake.
Having lost out in the power game, Zardari searched every nook and cranny of the political firmament for support. He was prepared to promise much to ensure that the parliamentary majority he had so artfully conjured up would remain intact, and he would remain in office. Sometimes this required ripping the guts out of a workable administrative system, like that of Karachi, to mollify an irate ally; or turning the telescope to the blind eye when it came to looking into the shenanigans of the KP regime and, on other occasions, shamelessly striking political deals even with those his wife had accused of trying to murder her.
But Asif Zardari stuck to the task, while working diligently to overcome all the good instincts he inherited from his wife.
Five years of PPP rule have brought about a revolution in mis-governance and standards of dishonesty. Where else has a serving prime minister been placed on the ECL on suspicion of corruption and is in peril of losing his job for contempt of court; the religious affairs minister only able to preach from a prison cell; the health minister, of all people, on bail for promoting drug production; the commerce minister a self confessed recipient of stolen funds and the president resisting every attempt to explain the provenance of $ 60 million in his Swiss bank account?
Where else has the administration of an entire province, with a population larger than half the countries of the world, been given up to an unelected favourite, and an obsessive and notorious land grabber?
Where else does a national health policy amount to anything more than saying ‘no’ to illness; a government hospital the worse place to be sick and ICUs (intensive care units) in hospitals serving as public thoroughfares between wards with only a traffic warden missing?
One desperate mother, when reporting that her son was having fits, was told that there was nothing anyone could do for the boy. A ‘quack,’ though she swears he was a doctor, suggested that plasters made from chicken droppings be applied on the soles of the boy’s feet while being fed gallstones from the bladder of a goat. When I saw her looking sad, a few days later, I did not have the heart to ask about the condition of her son.
The law and order situation is no better. So uncontrollable has violence become on this regime’s watch that ordinary rape, kidnapping and murder does not make it to the news any more – there has to be some form of ultra violence like chainsaw massacres and multiple slayings.
As for corruption, it seems that members of the regime have read up on their Gibbon who said that “corruption was the most infallible outcome of constitutional liberty,” except that Gibbon meant it as a (sad) observation and not something to be practiced day in and day out, and without let or hindrance by democracy lovers.
If truth be told, Pakistan has been brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin by corruption, which dominates the ballot box, the legislature and also laps at the feet of senior judges.
But we know all that, so why go on bellyaching about it, some will ask. Well, because there is the real danger that the people, in their infinite wisdom, may return this regime to power in the forthcoming elections.
Although this could surely only happen if, taking advantage of their dread of poverty, Asif Zardari buys the people’s vote in the next election. Recall his words at a meeting some months ago: “the next election is to be bought, not fought.”
And why not? If taking money is not a legal right, voters certainly believe they have a moral right to take all they can get following the example set by their leaders. And if money can get you anything you want, why believe voters will not do all that is required to obtain it? After all, while everything else can satisfy only one want, money – at least in the abstract – can satisfy any number of them.
It’s the blood chilling prospect of being lumbered with Asif Zardari for another five years that drives a lot of us to the keyboard to beg and plead with anybody around, including Fakhru bhai, not to let that happen. And not to throw in the towel, as he is wont to do, whenever confronted by ‘haira phairi’.
There is another reason. We have seen that democracy never lasts long in our country. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There has not been a democracy in Pakistan yet that did not commit suicide. To point that out is to rightly sound the alarm that it may all end once again in a vulgar tyranny. It portends a preference for democracy rather than the opposite.
Alas, the political sleuths of this regime cannot fathom that. Had they done so, they would have welcomed those who write and point out their errors. Instead, they have taken to criticising critics and reviling them. As someone said, ‘asking them how they feel about you is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs’.
Nevertheless, as elections beckon, critics who had once embraced feeble minded political correctness are lashing out at the regime. But Asif Zardari is confident that he will have the last laugh. And if he does then “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” (Dante).
Email: charles123it@hotmail.com
And that’s not because members of this regime are mentally challenged or unduly stubborn or even hyper sensitive, it’s something else and more profound. They are in a different stage of civilisation because, while we cannot exclude the intellect from participating in many of our functions, they can.
Nevertheless, like the doctor who gives his patient hope even when death is certain, I decided to continue with my rants. So here I go – once again.
Power, as we know, is utterly useless unless it is directed by a higher purpose and plan; and not even then if the will to put it into effect is lacking. Whether or not Benazir Bhutto was so equipped the moment she landed in Karachi on 18 October 2007, she was by the time she reached Bilawal house early the next morning.
Human flesh clinging to the truck carrying her and the cries of the injured had transformed her. She had found her calling – to lead the nation in pursuit of the enemy responsible for the (Karsaz) havoc.
Perhaps Asif Zardari also had some sort of a plan when he took office but either because he found the going too heavy or he mistook perseverance in a good cause for obstinacy in a bad one, he scrapped it. And the rest is (contemporary) history.
Hiding behind the slogan ‘democracy is the best revenge’ when, in fact, a well governed, united and resolute nation living well would have been far better revenge, he traded power for pelf. That became obvious in the initial months of his presidency when a flurry of orders concerning defense and foreign policy were no sooner given than countermanded.
But, more glaringly, when he was made to eat crow and restore the chief justice. His prestige never recovered from that blow and, to be fair, Asif Zardari never again tried dreaming while he was awake.
Having lost out in the power game, Zardari searched every nook and cranny of the political firmament for support. He was prepared to promise much to ensure that the parliamentary majority he had so artfully conjured up would remain intact, and he would remain in office. Sometimes this required ripping the guts out of a workable administrative system, like that of Karachi, to mollify an irate ally; or turning the telescope to the blind eye when it came to looking into the shenanigans of the KP regime and, on other occasions, shamelessly striking political deals even with those his wife had accused of trying to murder her.
But Asif Zardari stuck to the task, while working diligently to overcome all the good instincts he inherited from his wife.
Five years of PPP rule have brought about a revolution in mis-governance and standards of dishonesty. Where else has a serving prime minister been placed on the ECL on suspicion of corruption and is in peril of losing his job for contempt of court; the religious affairs minister only able to preach from a prison cell; the health minister, of all people, on bail for promoting drug production; the commerce minister a self confessed recipient of stolen funds and the president resisting every attempt to explain the provenance of $ 60 million in his Swiss bank account?
Where else has the administration of an entire province, with a population larger than half the countries of the world, been given up to an unelected favourite, and an obsessive and notorious land grabber?
Where else does a national health policy amount to anything more than saying ‘no’ to illness; a government hospital the worse place to be sick and ICUs (intensive care units) in hospitals serving as public thoroughfares between wards with only a traffic warden missing?
One desperate mother, when reporting that her son was having fits, was told that there was nothing anyone could do for the boy. A ‘quack,’ though she swears he was a doctor, suggested that plasters made from chicken droppings be applied on the soles of the boy’s feet while being fed gallstones from the bladder of a goat. When I saw her looking sad, a few days later, I did not have the heart to ask about the condition of her son.
The law and order situation is no better. So uncontrollable has violence become on this regime’s watch that ordinary rape, kidnapping and murder does not make it to the news any more – there has to be some form of ultra violence like chainsaw massacres and multiple slayings.
As for corruption, it seems that members of the regime have read up on their Gibbon who said that “corruption was the most infallible outcome of constitutional liberty,” except that Gibbon meant it as a (sad) observation and not something to be practiced day in and day out, and without let or hindrance by democracy lovers.
If truth be told, Pakistan has been brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin by corruption, which dominates the ballot box, the legislature and also laps at the feet of senior judges.
But we know all that, so why go on bellyaching about it, some will ask. Well, because there is the real danger that the people, in their infinite wisdom, may return this regime to power in the forthcoming elections.
Although this could surely only happen if, taking advantage of their dread of poverty, Asif Zardari buys the people’s vote in the next election. Recall his words at a meeting some months ago: “the next election is to be bought, not fought.”
And why not? If taking money is not a legal right, voters certainly believe they have a moral right to take all they can get following the example set by their leaders. And if money can get you anything you want, why believe voters will not do all that is required to obtain it? After all, while everything else can satisfy only one want, money – at least in the abstract – can satisfy any number of them.
It’s the blood chilling prospect of being lumbered with Asif Zardari for another five years that drives a lot of us to the keyboard to beg and plead with anybody around, including Fakhru bhai, not to let that happen. And not to throw in the towel, as he is wont to do, whenever confronted by ‘haira phairi’.
There is another reason. We have seen that democracy never lasts long in our country. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There has not been a democracy in Pakistan yet that did not commit suicide. To point that out is to rightly sound the alarm that it may all end once again in a vulgar tyranny. It portends a preference for democracy rather than the opposite.
Alas, the political sleuths of this regime cannot fathom that. Had they done so, they would have welcomed those who write and point out their errors. Instead, they have taken to criticising critics and reviling them. As someone said, ‘asking them how they feel about you is like asking a lamp post how it feels about dogs’.
Nevertheless, as elections beckon, critics who had once embraced feeble minded political correctness are lashing out at the regime. But Asif Zardari is confident that he will have the last laugh. And if he does then “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” (Dante).
Email: charles123it@hotmail.com
