THE THIRD NOVEMBER IN PAKISTAN'S CALENDER

THIRD NOVEMBER IN THE CALENDER OF
PAKISTAN.
We have left black 3rd November 2 years behind. The dictator who painted this day with black in the history of Pakistan is relaxing in Edgware London, sniffing the morning breeze of Pakistan. He was bid welfare with all pomp and show. His important skin of power was pealed off by black coat. But he left with his own skin, which he didn’t deserve to take.
Though we want to leave it behind but it never leaves us. It is the shadow of our political misdeeds and wrong doings. It is a reminder of a crooked dictator who brought the country to the verge of disintegration. If black coat would have not done it for our political leaders, they were impotent to dislodge him. Musharaf is a damn lucky person and clever too. He has left so many wounds on the body politics of Pakistan that the politicians will keep on licking them and will have no time to chase him.
The power base is like a rocking chair. The same system is going on. Apart from inflicting grievous injuries on the country, he has played so tactfully with the politicians, that instead of chasing him they are chasing each other’s. Every one is scared and suspicious of the other. There is total break down of trust between them.
No doubt they speak quite a lot but if it comes to reality the same rulers will sabotage the process. They are naked in political Ashram.
Election is one factor out of many, of democratic system. Democratic system is brought by election and is carried by forward by collective legislation, accountability, transparency, good governance and ultimately delivery to the people. The definition of democracy is changed in our dictionary, since the day it was created. It is occasionally put in to practice for international consumption and the elections are held. Manipulation of the electoral process by agencies is a normal phenomenon.
The civil government that comes in to existence is by the people but never of the people and for the people. It has always been like civilian Martial Law. The civil bureaucracy is more corrupt and the delivery system to the public becomes more ineffective. The people get fed up and the Military take over is always celebrated in Pakistan.
No one is ready to sit in opposition, even if the country existence is at stake. The government of the day creates a friendly opposition. So the very concept of accountability and transparency disappears.
The same situation exists to day, after the departure of Musharaf. No body can deny the shear incompetence of the incumbent government on legislative and executive side. The opposition is facilitating to slow down the growth of the process further and spare no opportunity to destabilise the government.
One to one meeting between different political leaders and military has become the political culture of the day. These meetings are widening the gulf between the so-called political parties. The mistrust is already there. The country is in the grip of constitutional, executive, political and social problems.
The state of war is consuming every thing. Hunger, absences of job opportunities, rising inflation, disappearance of the basic commodities have forced the people to sell their children and robberies and dacoits’ are on rampant. The professional killers have the most conducive opportunity. Killing and abduction for ransom is daily occurrence. Some of the hospitals lower staff is openly involved in selling the children’s. The only job left for the government is the transfers of public servants for no obvious reasons.
A very high proportion of the public money is spent on providing security to the VIPs. Police force is deployed to protect them and the rest of the society is left at the mercy of dacoits and murderers. Foreign nationals are caught with weapons and released under pressure.
The army has to show their resentment through press and so is the case with the retired chief justice of the Supreme Court. It is all the manifestation of Islam Abad mental framework. What a similarity in approach between a chief justice and military general.
The activity of the military is widespread .The representative of the military junta had to cover meetings with the government in Islam Abad, to see the other leaders in Lahore, London and then had to dash down to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This fury of activities is hair rising for any political worker.
The opposition is doing all this, not derail the democracy and the government is doing it, not to open many fronts at the same time. The public is looking to Allah, Army and America. A new factor is Saudi Arabia. 00966 are considered a dangerous number.
In this sort of prevailing circumstances some of the leaders have the cheeks to discuss the sovereinigty and national pride. Can sanity justify these questions?
Can we call it by any definition a viable government or state? Every decision is taken after a call either from GHQ, 0966 or 001. The present government is sitting on a volcano and has inherited an indoctrinated terrorist, shattered economy and completely demolished institution.
The politicians are shrugging shoulders from the responsibility and refuse to discharge their duties. The terrorists are blessing in disguise to keep the country together. In normal circumstances there is no logic that the country could be held together.
Those who wanted to put Kabul on fire, they never had any mental intelligence that fire cannot be contained in boundaries and bullets do not have a fixed target and terrain. What ever the precision of the latest weapons may be, the collateral damage cannot be avoided.
Mullah and military must be brought to the book. In any society or country where the sword has to lead and the book is bound to bog down. It is against the law of nature and viability is a big question mark. I will end my article by quote from Dr. Tariq Ali,” Can Pakistan survive?”
DR. Khurshid Alam khurshidalam5@hotmail.com dated Nov. 2nd 2009.