Right questions, wrong answers

“Indian movies ask the right questions but give the wrong answers.” What Ashish Nandi, the celebrated Indian sociologist, said about the Bollywood can also be applied to our movies, soap operas, talk shows and much of the political rhetoric.

In the 1980s, popular Punjabi movies raised questions about the high handedness of state officials, social disparities, caste and class divides and other forms of oppression. It is hard to find a single question raised by these films that was not appropriate. However, the answer to all of these problems was one larger-than-life hero, Sultan Rahi, who could resolve all these complex dilemmas with his gandasa, a hatchet-like grass-chopping tool, turned into a weapon.

The Sultan Rahi and gandasa solution is a very tempting one indeed. The need for a real life Sultan Rahi or a political messiah comes from the depths of our psyche, from our need to encounter the divine on earth and let him take the burden of all of our problems. Unfortunately, it also takes us to the realm of modern-day idolatry where we worship singers, actors, sportsmen and, occasionally, politicians to fill our spiritual vacuum. It also comes from our laziness and fear to deal with our problems by putting years, decades and even lives of generations to solve them.

Perhaps no one has gone more astray in giving wrong answers to right questions than political Islamists and their modern-day jihadi children. Hafiz Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the banned jihadi organisation, once described to me the solution to the problem of the Muslim world in these words: “Muslim societies are powerless and decadent. What has changed from the days of their glory? The only thing they have relinquished is jihad.”

A similar solution was recommended by Maulana Munawar Hassan, former head of the JI, who argued for qatal-e-fi-sabeel-lillah within the country to solve Pakistan’s problems. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, another former head of the JI and who was closely involved in the Afghan Jihad, once described the Afghan Jihad against the Soviets as Ummul Jihad (mother of all jihads) that gave birth to jihadi movements all over the world.

All jihadis consider themselves to be the saviours of Muslims and their admirers also see them in the same light. However, Muslim societies do not seem to have benefitted from the fruit of their movements. They have only promoted chaos and created more poverty in the lands where they are most active.

Wrong answers to right questions are also rife in the realm of secular politics. The Pakistan Muslim League has framed different questions over different periods, finding lack of development as the major question. However, it often comes up with strange and disastrous answers. In his earlier incarnation, Nawaz Sharif wanted a car that could be bought by the aam aadmi (common man) in the country. Yes, a shining new car for the aam aadmi in a country where half the population is illiterate and one-fifth is hungry.

In Punjab, many poor families pick one of the male children and spend a large part of their resource on his education with the hope that this child will one day pull his parents and siblings out of their miserable situation. In most cases, however, this child turns out to the most ingrate offspring.

This is the Shahbaz Sharif model of development who thinks that by turning Lahore into a Singapore he can develop the entire province. This imperial model of development focuses on one city that receives up to 60 percent of the province’s development budget, leaving other districts with an average of two percent. While claiming to emulate Turkey and Malaysia, both of whom have followed a more equitable model of development, the Khadam-e-Lahore shares his model with Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has focused on developing its capital, Addis Ababa, at the cost of the rest of the country, particularly excluding the Oromo people, who form one-third of the population. Ethiopia did grow at eight percent per annum but today it is faced with an uprising that can tear it apart. Perhaps, the PML-N understands the consequences and that is the reason for tightening the screws in southern Punjab where civil society organisations are under more restrictions than the war-torn regions of the country.

And now to the real Sultan Rahi, the messiah of our times, the Quaid-e-Azam Sani or Imran Khan Awwal, who after two decades of efforts has been able to sell his personality cult as a political party. The PTI, or Imran Khan to be specific, craft their questions, by comparing Pakistan with countries like Germany and the UK and come up with only one answer – the promised Messiah. The religious commitment of his followers to his personality can be seen from their reaction to any criticism targeted at Imran Khan which they perceive as an attack on their own identity – a sure sign of religious commitment. It is seen as a blasphemy which must be answered with the harshest abuse possible, and Imran Khan condones and promotes this behaviour.

He is bigger than institutions. He is bigger than all the institutions put together because he is Imran Khan. He is truthful, not because he speaks truth but because he is Imran Khan. Millions must sing his songs and chant his slogans and the gaze of the media must remain fixed on him. His unending Nuremberg rallies will somehow deliver us the solution by overthrowing the system and bringing in the rightful ruler – who is rightful not because he enjoys the majority support but because he is Imran Khan. There is no need to sit in parliament and put long hours into parliamentary committees to bring reforms. There is no need to respect institutions. There is no need to put your own house in order in KP and build a model of the promised paradise.

Most important of all, there is no need for any humility. Imran Khan won 17 percent votes in the 2013 elections. Eighty-three percent of Pakistan did not vote for him; it voted for the parties that are not with him on his adventures. Apart from divine mandate, what right has he to pull down an elected government when there are no signs that the ruling party has lost its popular support and there is no popular uprising in the country?

Imran Khan is wearing divine robes that never fail to destroy a mortal. He is an Icarus who must fall. The only question is: how much harm can he do to this state and society before he lands on the ground?

Tailpiece: “You know, every time Donald thinks things aren’t going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him. The FBI conducted a year-long investigation into my e-mails. They concluded there was no case. He said the FBI was rigged. He lost the Iowa caucus, he lost the Wisconsin primary, he said the Republican primary was rigged against him. Then, Trump University gets sued for fraud and racketeering. He claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him. There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him”: Hillary Clinton in the Third Presidential Debate.

“I will accept election results if I win”: Donald Trump

The writer is a social anthropologist and development professional.

Email: zaighamkhan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @zaighamkhan