Random thoughts: Empty rhetoric

The show and the theatrics have ended. All the rhetoric by Daniyal Aziz, Talal Chaudhry, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Dr Arif Kirmani is over. The end-result is that Nawaz Sharif is no longer a tiger.

As the days went by, the tone of those surrounding him became aggressive and insulting towards the JIT and the Supreme Court judges. Even Hussain, Hassan and Maryam behaved like authoritarian politicians. All these actors made a laughing stock out of Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif’s rally from Islamabad to Lahore caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people as such public rallies invariably do. It even cost the lives of two people – one of them a 12-year-old boy. What a waste of human life for no purpose. Captain Safdar ironically termed this incident as the first martyrdom of a march towards democracy and compared it to the noblest martyrdoms of those who were killed by the Hindus. It has become so easy to make light of the misery of others.

History is full of golden sayings about people like our leaders. Unfortunately, we have many such ‘lucky’ people and they are our rulers.

One wonders if those that we saw at the rally had nothing more productive to do. Were they uneducated, unemployed and only out for a bit of fun and free meals? In our country, it is relatively easy to collect between 10,000 and 15,000 people over a short period of time by providing some minor incentives.

I was shocked to hear Nawaz Sharif asking the honourable judges to tell him the reason for his disqualification. He even demanded that they should justify whether they themselves were qualified to disqualify him. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who is the only voice of sanity, was not heard. Instead of acting with sobriety, Nawaz Sharif indulged in attempts to criticise the honourable judges.

He is completely ignorant of the fact that more accountability could still be on the cards. As Barrister Ali Zafar (my learned lawyer) has pointed out, the judges were lenient in their decision. They could easily have sent him behind bars for producing counterfeited documents and lying.

Nawaz Sharif has also claimed to be the prime minister of 200 million people. Is he including the members of all the other parties as his servants and supporters? We know that about 80 million are listed as voters, of which about 40 million actually participate in elections. Out of this, 14,800,000 (not 200 million) votes were won by the PML-N.

This so-called ‘power show’ did not impress anyone as Imran Khan, Dr Tahirul Qadri, the MQM and Asif Ali Zardari can all easily gather between 50,000 and 100,000 people for a rally as well. Mian Sahib, please do not be overly impressed by such mobs. You still have to face whatever NAB and the Supreme Court have in store for you.       

Many of us still remember that around 500,000 people gathered to greet Benazir Bhutto when she came to Lahore during the tenure of General Zia. At that time, Benazir even boasted that she could take over the government. A few days later, when General S A Z Naqvi and I met the president, he laughingly said that she seemed to have forgotten the fate that befell her father who was far more popular than she was.

Nawaz Sharif is now indulging in all kinds of rhetoric. However, when the judgment was announced, he did not dare to stay a day longer at the PM House. He should realise that he is not the first – or perhaps even the last PM – to witness this kind of end to his term. History is full of examples of other prime ministers – in Israel, Korea, Italy and Brazil – who have faced the same fate when they indulged in unlawful activities.

It is widely known that the wealth accumulated by Nawaz Sharif’s family, both domestically and abroad, has not always come by honestly. His sons were not Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to amass billions over a short span of time. Had their record been clean, the honourable judges would not have touched their father. However, Nawaz Sharif and his children could not satisfy the judges on this score. Let’s refrain from casting doubts about the intelligence and competence of the judges. Yes, the judiciary has had its bleak days and its black sheep, such as Justice Munir, Justice Anwarul Haq and Justice Irshad H. Khan. But these were just exceptions.

The claims that the money was not stolen or sent from Pakistan have no substance. Those who bribe, deliver these bribes wherever they want to – whether it’s Dubai, London and Switzerland. Meanwhile, the claim that loadshedding is no longer a pressing concern is false. Some areas still suffer blackouts for as long as eight hours a day. No new employment opportunities have been created. No peace has been established and target killings continue unabated. PIA is still in a mess. The problem is that inexperienced sycophants are placed in positions where professionals are better suited. This destroys institutions to the core.

The people have been invited to revolt and take the law into their own hands. We have all read about how bloody and cruel the Russian and French revolutions were. Many of us have seen on TV or witnessed in person the Iranian Revolution and know how bloody these episodes were. Would anyone want that for our country? A revolution is always bloody, remember that.

Nawaz Sharif always brags about having made Pakistan a nuclear power. Where was he when we delivered to the army more than a decade before the tests? In addition to KRL who did the job, the credit goes primarily to Bhutto – who made possible the start of the programme – and to General Zia and Ghulam Ishaq Khan – who not only fully supported the venture but also did not succumb to US pressures or accept the bribes that were offered. Many people know that Nawaz Sharif had no other option.

Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com