Pakistan owes its creation to the vision of Allama Iqbal, the tenacity of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the blood, sweat and tears of the muhajir .
The Sharif coterie is suddenly
irrelevant. Khatir Ghaznavi wrote so famously: go zara si baat par barsoan ke yaraaney gaye laykin itna to hua kuch
loag pehchaney gaye: years of friendship dissolved over a minor incident
but served to expose some people. Dragging on this disrepute for another three
and a half years does not seem possible; the nation’s contempt for the Sharifs
is almost palpable.
Interestingly freedom of the
press was given to Pakistan by a dictator, Pervez Musharraf. Freedom of the
press is an integral part of a democracy. Despite all the indignant claims of
safe-guarding of democracy by the Islamabad menagerie, also known as the
Parliament, the Sharif government has swooped down on freedom of the press by
closure of the ARY television channel. The blame is passed around; the Lahore
High Court did not order ARY’s closure, PEMRA ordered it but PEMRA does not have a legitimate chief etc., but
the fact remains that ARY remains closed in Pakistan. Various television
anchors tend to pull down their employers. And when the conversation gets very
pointed, Hamid Mir is attacked and GEO is shut down. If Mubashir Lucman goes
overboard, which he does more often than not, ARY is reduced to television
snow.
And this is what exposes the
self-serving Sharifs. If patriotism was paramount, or democracy dear, why would
they strangle the press? But how many fires can they put out? If I get
vicarious for a few minutes, their paralysis gives me a panic attack.
Zardari and the Sharifs excel
in verbal embellishments of their intentions and accomplishments. While history
will record their pillage of Pakistan as their primary “achievements”, their
secret pact for political musical chairs, with power alternating between them,
lies exposed and tattered. Bilawal Zardari can be credited for improving his
Urdu and introducing transparent tele-prompters to Pakistan. His speech seemed
extemporaneous but was read right through. Which in and of itself is not a
problem; except for its disastrous content.
Pakistan owes its creation to
the vision of Allama Iqbal, the tenacity of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
and the blood, sweat and tears of the muhajir (immigrants from India). An Aligarh University graduate, my
father would speak of Quaid-e-Azam’s speeches and how they followed all he said
to a tee. An Indian Civil Service officer, my father migrated to Pakistan by
train, his belongings in a wagon that was completely looted en route. Millions
of others were not that lucky, entire trains full of muhajir were massacred. Pakistan
was largely a rural society with little infrastructure and the looting and
burning had left it without even pen and paper in offices.
My father joined the Civil
Service of Pakistan; and it was the education, talent and hard work of muhajir
like him that put together a Pakistan that slowly but surely became viable. He
loved to recount how Jawaharlal Nehru had claimed that Pakistan would last five
years.
67 years later Kursheed Shah
calling the word muhajir a slur is so egregious and overwhelming that it
shouldn’t be dignified with comment.
As though Khursheed Shah’s
inflammatory statement were not enough, Bilawal’s un-parliamentary attack on
Altaf Hussain caused a fall-out of MQM resignations from parliament and
provincial assemblies. Zardari, the king of secret pacts, had one going with
the MQM as well, and just like the fake PPP condemnations by the PML-N and vice
versa, Altaf Hussain would also engage in frothing-at-the mouth lambasting of
the PPP, but within all was well. Bilawal’s thunder seems to have changed all
that and Zardari will need to go on overdrive to fix this one.
The end of seventy days of a
sit-in by Dr. Tahirul Qadri appears overtly to have been for naught, but it must
be acknowledged that in a very short time, Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan have
achieved a dramatic change in the mindset of Pakistanis. And this change is
what will carry Pakistan. Not just in the removal of the Sharif government but
in resetting Pakistan’s compass. In making corruption, self-aggrandizement and
usurping others’ rights criminal. And justice, employment, education and a
progressive economy a given.
The Sharifs seemed to be the
only ones that calculated the power of Tahirul Qadri accurately. Their high
anxiety caused the Model Town massacre and containers all over Lahore. Like
many Pakistanis I was deeply skeptical of the “crazy cleric” but with his
tenacious sit-in I too realized the vitality of the PAT. How organized and
disciplined it is and how it has educated the underserved for decades. It has
now transformed from a religious organization into a political party with a
very impressive following. The persona of Allama Tahirul Qadri is a notable
one. He is schooled in religion as well as constitutional law. On 2 March 2010, Tahirul Qadri issued a 600-page Fatwa on Terrorism in which he said that
"Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in
Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it”. This is in stark contrast to the various maulanas and moulvis
in the JUI and other religious parties who, overtly and covertly, support
terrorism and view the US and the yahood-hunood (Jews and Hindus)
as enemies, rather than the Al-Qaeda and Taliban that have destroyed Pakistan
in so many ways.
Post the Pakistan Awakening
forged by Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan, especially with the concepts of
economic justice and banishment of corruption, the lifestyle simplicity of
Tahirul Qadri must be noted. The royalties of the many books that he has
authored go to Minhajul Quran. He does not live extravagantly, tinker with
billions, and enjoy gourmet foods, palatial homes or four wives. He does not banish the females of the PAT
behind several partitions; in fact the participation of women in his sit-in is
beyond impressive. Pakistan is in desperate need of politicians and governance
that has individual and institutional integrity. Much to my own surprise I must
say that Tahirul Qadri may well be the one that fits that bill.
The crowds galvanized by PTI
and PAT only grow larger. The aerial view of the rallies is awe-inspiring. And
they promise more and more. Novel cases of individual courage are seen in
Arjumand Husain and his co-passengers preventing Rehman Malik and Ramesh Kumar
from boarding the PIA flight and tolerating the repercussions of employment
termination. The movement of the Sharif family is severely curtailed by that
annoying “go Nawaz go” chant. The moral pressure of the millions in PAT and PTI
rallies could steamroll the Sharifs. But before that something trivial may well
become the tipping point. Go zara si baat
par could make Nawaz history.
