Monday, November 19, 2007

The Path of a Patriot

Baig
Opposing General Pervez Musharraf is not a cause worth endorsing solely by itself.

General Pervez Musharraf is not the man he was when he first usurped the seat of Pakistan's government. Over time as his political age has advanced, he has undergone a staged metamorphosis: from an amateur idealist, to a practitioner of temperate Realpolitik, and then finally to an outright Machiavellian Prince.

It will be profoundly self-righteous of any single one of us to contend with authority that if exposed to the General's temptations - the troika of International interests, institutional weaknesses and a manipulable judiciary - we ourselves would not succumb to a similar fate. Opposing General Pervez Musharraf is therefore akin to focussing on the proverbial symptoms of a malady, and not its root, when in fact ours should be a struggle against the method of perpetuation of our affliction and not its recurring product. We are merely opposing a masque today.

It is high time that we question our motives before treading any further with placards in hand and slogans on tongue. The return to democracy we yearn for today can potentially be a rude awakening since General Pervez Musharraf's successor – in the wake of an all-pardoning National Reconciliation – is set to be Ms. Benazir Bhutto. Notwithstanding those forgotten corruption charges of fraudulently amassing roughly $1.5B of the nation's wealth[1], she is a more vociferous representation of strategic international interests than the General; she is the proverbial soldier of fortune.

This implies that there will undoubtedly be an intensification of tribal conflict leading to increased national destability in the event of her election and subsequent government. Moreover, the tide of extremism in Pakistan is unlikely to be subdued by a satellite government zealously enforcing external decree; if anything, it will fuel the same. Overall, such a fanning of the flames could be a fatal development in a climate where the country's social fabric is reminiscent of 1971 and international monitors are preparing contingency plans for securing Pakistani nuclear assets. Quite simply the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is a threat to national security – Ms. Benazir Bhutto's ascent must be stopped. This is as crucial as our government's reversion to democracy and deposition of General Pervez Musharraf; and so we have two objectives to achieve - not just one.

Our struggle at present is predominantly composed of pro-democracy demonstrations marked with an indifference to political positioning. A lot has been said in favor of this strategic non-alignment, and rightly so. However, such apathy is jeopardous on at least one account: the movement is an easy target for political highjack. Even as you read this, the PPP is actively conflating the tide of sentiment in Pakistani youth with its own pressure tactics. And it is no secret that having inherited the devotion of Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's unflappable loyalists, the PPP needs but a small further push to tip the scales completely in its favor. By being non-aligned, we give this party exactly that opportunity. This profound risk should not be overlooked when assessing the true virtue of our neutralism, and its true cost to our future.

We need to elevate our intellectual capital to genuinely understand the crossroads we find ourselves standing at today. In this regard, a study of history can be valuable since there exist patterns in human behavior which accord it a degree of predictability. Our struggle can hence greatly benefit from comparable examples from these archives - hindsight has the latency to impart wisdom no conjecture can provide. And so, the following case is worthy of notice.

There are lessons to be learnt from India. On 25th June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country - precisely two weeks after the High Court in Ahmedabad UP (where she had won parliament elections in 1971) ruled her recent election win void due to election fraud. Soon the prime minister, aided by the promulgation of President’s Rule, was ruling virtually by decree and thus began the country’s turbulent two-year journey through calculated oppression.

Ms. Gandhi was a proponent of a rather efficient school of oppression management. She administered a generous dose of comprehensive media blackout throughout the land, in effect birthing a communicative quarantine that drove deep schisms through the opposition camp and compartmentalized it into isolated pools. This efficiently dispersed the threat of a backlash. Leaders who took the cause of opposition found their clout limited in the absence of established channels of information flow, and so a unifying figurehead to lead the people of the land in their darkest hour was unable to flourish.

The Indian example can give us a better understanding of our own situation. Firstly, the example illuminates the indispensability of effective communication, without which, the rivers of protest cannot converge to form the ocean of change. Any tyrant understands this modus operandi, and thus does his paramount to disallow it. Secondly, it deconstructs the mechanics of tyranny: a potentially equivalent popular-reaction develops as a direct consequence of oppression, but precipitates only when catalyzed by a unifying leadership structure – or disperses ineffectually otherwise.

It is imperative that we truly understand the function of the aforementioned unifying leader. Unlike days of responsible citizenship, in times when the general populace cries "Revolution!” the role of a leader is less of a mobilizer and more of a focal point. . He is not required to inspire them into action – such impetus already beats within each protesting heart. He chiefly exists as an anti-thesis to the oppressor and gives the separately protesting throngs a locus of confluence. Consequently for such a figurehead to fill the leadership vacuum, the only crucial attribute is universal agreeability – for then, like fire-flies, the masses gravitate to him in expression of their dissent.

Therefore, we can realize our dreams for Pakistan by first designating a popular leader and then by empowering him through our voice, our action; our multitude. Such a platform of focussed patriotism has the potential of setting off a chain-reaction through capturing imaginations and stirring feet into vigor anew. And in this struggle, one good tiding is that we are all the progeny of the information age. In the guise of the World Wide Web, and to some extent cellular networks, we command a dissemination instrument which is pervasive and almost unstoppable. General Musharraf's emergency may have blacked out more conventional forms of media; it cannot restrain our virtual eyes, ears and tongues.

When considering the contendership of a unifying leader for our cause, the names of Hon'ble Mr. (Ex) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Mr. Imran Khan and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan naturally spring to mind. To my understanding, all three are compelling choices. I am of the view that whereas extremely competent and reasonably charismatic Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan would be nothing short of a grave national risk given his allegiance to Ms. Benazir Bhutto. Unless the good Barrister publicly proclaims his independence from the PPP to eliminate any conflict of interest therein, we should maintain his ineligibility for the position. In between Hon'ble Mr. (Ex) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Mr. Imran Khan, I would lend my support to the latter, given his hitherto commendable record of public service (the Cancer Hospital), his outspoken patriotism and his public appeal. On the whole, time is of the essence for us to reach a consensus on this choice. Destiny will not forgive, nor forget, our complacency.

The efficacy of our struggle is dependent upon efficient, disciplined micro-management. In this consideration, our foremost duty is that of pervasive information dissemination. And the most effective method of accomplishing this duty is dedicating the greatest amount of time to engaging new, hitherto unaffiliated individuals, instead of repetitively enlightening the enlightened. For we need to significantly expand the pool of our numbers to a critical mass – without which our voice would be lost in the tolling bells of suppression. It must not be expected that such a mass-contact campaign would be easy: we would need to nurture ample mental perseverance given the psychological demoralization inherent in laboring to awaken the apathetic, the bigoted and the morally flexible. We would find ourselves out of breath quite often.

We will harvest the uninitiated with the cruciality of our cause, and with our allegiances. We will not hesitate in revealing the true nature of our common enemy to them, leaving no inroad unexplored. We will resort to patriotic discourse where necessary, to sheer rationale where required and to dialectical resilience where needed in order to convince our audience. We will use all communicative means available to us, prioritizing those which can achieve supreme impact in the least amount of time. Those of us possessing the dexterity of the tongue will use that tongue. Those with writing skills will put such skills to comprehensive use. Those with physical stamina will take to the open sky in a spirited show of constitution-bound demonstrating. And those with all three traits will generously indulge in all quarters.

Unity is the only way to success in joint activism and a splinter-group can undermine an entire cause; much like it takes but one traitor to defeat the whole group. Therefore, in our endeavors we will ensure inclusion along the commonality of ideology, and not stated goal – for clash of ideologies is seldom reconcilable. Secondly, we will maintain our dignity but curb our egos lest they jeopardize our alliance. Thirdly and most importantly, our integrity will be Jinnahite in its infallibility - we will never bend under pressure, we will never yield to fear, we will never succumb to enticement. These three mantras will form the bedrock of our struggle.

The current milieu is a time of flux; like putty it is ripe for molding and shaping. Our founding-fathers have left us with an invaluable blueprint of conflict management, and we are also intellectually well-poised to actualize a popular-reaction. Though we find ourselves outmatched by our opponents' cache of material resources and their Western patronage, we possess a potent counter in the fact that once in unison, we can resonate the realms. And therefore it is critical that we perceive our responsibility to our country's future, and then act upon it. Recognition of this responsibility and its concretization through considered steps is the real path to the fruition of our aspirations - the only path a true patriot knows.

[1] A 1999 US Senate sub-committee report using Mr. Asif Ali Zardari’s money laundering activities as one of the case studies can be read at: http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/110999_report.htm

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

agree completely... whereas this tyranny under the musharraf junta has all the potential to lead to a US sponsored facade of democracy under BB which would be as corrupt as any of her previous tenures and as naive and strategico-politically disastrous as the ones of Nawaz Sharif...this indeed is a time of change...not faces, but a change in the maturity of those plebeians who decide on ACCOUNTABILITY based RESPONSIBILY to lead this country!

Anonymous said...

I fully endorse Baig's view. Imran is our best hope. It's heartening to see the way Imran is getting popularity. We have to make sure that Imran's message gets to all corners of the country.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for raising a critical and thought-provoking point. Do you think there is a possibility of pushing PPP loyalists to put forward a different leader as well? Benazir has served two terms already, and there are many apparently enlightened leaders in PPP (such as Aitizaz and Sherry Rahman) who should be pushed to pressure Benazir to not risk democracy for her party. PTI should definitely be encouraged, but when elections happen, there are too many chances (even with rigging) that PPP will come to power.

Anonymous said...

I fully agree! And it is up to us, the youth of the nation, to take matters in our hands now and support Imran Khan. He is the only leader on the horizon who seems to be concerned about the youth and the future direction of the country. But we need better organization. There are sprouts of resistance and protest among the youth all over the country but they are scattered. Someone needs to jump in and consolidate all these. But who??

Anonymous said...

I believe that Imran aims to serve Pakistan rather than use Pakistan for his personal gains. Please sign the petition below to free him:
http://www.brad.ac.uk/chancellor/
freeimran/

Anonymous said...

One reason why Pakistan is in such dire straits right now is due to our apathy. I have never voted nor have ever shown any interest. The recent events in Pakistan, though, have awakened the patriot in me. It is heartening to read this post and I truely agree with it.

Imran has fought fearlessly for Pakistan without giving a damn about his own safety or comfort. It is time we all rose in this fight for justice. I fear we will lose momentum and things will fizzle out but at same time have faith that the people of Pakistan will finally awaken from their slumber.

How can we increase participation in protests? How can we get the rest of society involved? Student bodies should unite and bring about a revolution in the streets. It will take a lot more to make Mush bend but we have to get there and we will inshallah.

P.S. Link to protest in UK to free Imran and all political prisoners and to free Pakistan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7100762.stm

We need more of this across the world.

Anonymous said...

Apart from the cancer hospital, there is a technical college that Imran Khan is building in Mianwala area which will provide education to 5 villages in that area. Most of us are not aware of this. He delivers what he aims to achieve. We must give him a chance to lead Pakistan.

Also pls. see this:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2007/November/editorial_November36.xml§ion=editorial&col=

Really makes one feel ashamed.

Anonymous said...

i agree that there is a time for change in pakistan. i think it would be a really big blunder if any of our former politicians are given another chance
they weere given 2 chances but failed to deliver too weak and probably too corrupt to do anything good for the country
it is time for a change
bring on Imran Khan
hida

Anonymous said...

Although I agree that Imran Khan needs to be supported, but what I dont agree is our dependence on people, rather than institutions. In terms of lessons from history, Nobel prize winner Dr. North has recently written that civilian control of the military is a neccesary condition for economic development, because the militray then has monopoly over voilence, something which only the state as in institution ought to have....so we should not have supported Musharraf, in the first case. Secondly, even now we should not depend on Imran khan or Bbenazir or leaders in general, but we need to focus on institutional development which can outlast the life the "good" leaders like Khan,etc

Anonymous said...

We want a new, honest, tolerant, liberal, "truly democratic" leadership.

Our so called PML-N and PPP parties are definitely not democratic, the way they have ravaged press freedoms in their own government tenures. We want a CHANGE.

Adonia said...

"Here I am addressing you in blood and flesh. Even if I died or were assassinated, from grave you will still hear the voice, "I don't accept this throne; I don't accept this rule.""

Lion of Pakistan, the indomitable Ali Ahmad Kurd in Islamabad on May 26, 2007.

Adonia said...

"Butan-i rang o bu ko tor kar millat may gum ho ja"

Smash the idols of race, ethnicity and party affiliation and become one as a nation.

Allama Iqbal

Guru said...

There is this supposedly one letter from Benazir to US official dated back to early 1990s as you can find it on my blog page. Would like you all to see it and let me know what you think about its authenticity.
http://thelandofpure.blogspot.com/
Regards

Anonymous said...

someone mentioned Aitzaz Ahsan and Sherry Rehman...nice ideas to throw up...but my only concern with leaders of Aitzaz Ahsan and Ahsan Iqbal (PML-N) is that they themselves cannot and havenot come out of the shadows of mega-corrupt leaders they have...I sincerely believe, that neither Nawaz Sharif nor Benazir Bhutto are anywhere close to the kind of visionary leaders we need today as a nation to progress in immensely challenging 21st century...Is Imran an answer? ... possibly yes...but more importantly, the largest political parties PML-N and PPP themselves are not institutions...they have personalities at the helm of affairs surrounded by pseudo intellectuals like Sherry Rehman and co etc as the ever present bootlickers...just read the statements of such 2nd tier leaders...all start with "mohtarma" or "mian sb" and end with that...defintely not what the youth of this country should look upto or deserve!