Rubber is stretchable but

Simply there cannot be two opinions, I am pretty sure, about the hard fact that rubber is stretchable but at the same time it be remembered that it too has a certain limit to stretch otherwise it won’t be stretched any more but if yet even a little effort is made to stretch it any further then quite but naturally it won’t withstand the stretch anymore and instead it will just break off.

Present law and order situation is some of the countries is quite alarming and if you examine it microscopically you will also be convinced like me that had their leaders reckoned the fact that human can be bluffed, cheated, ignored and coerced to some extent and for a certain period of time only and not for an indefinite period whatsoever. Examples of Tunis and Egypt have very well proved beyond any shadow of doubt that had their top leadership realized themselves that enough is enough, they had not faced such an unexplainable humiliation at all but their inner instinct of lust of power turned them blind to the ground realities and at the end of the day they lost all that what they had earned during long past years.

No denying the fact, some time even a very small incident and that too of just an ordinary unknown individual can spark off fire which can engulf not only the local area or the province but even the country as whole. The best example to corroborate my statement will be that of the ordinary Tunisian fruit seller named Muhammmad Bouazizi who in protest to soaring prices, unemployment, political suffocation, to name a few, resorted to self-immolation to highlight the poor conditions of his fellow Tunisians and, to be honest, it was more than enough to wake up and ignite the whole nation in just one go. His compatriots brought his dead body in public to let everyone know what had happened which in turn lit the fire to the extent that country wide demonstrations started and the people dared to ask even their President Zein El Abidin Ali to quit.

The head of the state that had been on the throne for about two decade, tried to resist and used all his might and force to quell the uprising and continue ruling the country but it was way beyond him to win over the sympathies of his economic trodden masses. Tunisians right from east to west and from south to north had stood up against the top leader and despite his all out efforts, the president, once thought to be absolutely powerful had to bow against the same people whom he had kept right under his toes. Quite a sizeable number of people died in the turmoil and far too many were injured but people had decided to face the brunt under all circumstances whatsoever. The most humiliating part of the scenario is that President Zein could not even live in his country any more, rather on the contra, he had to flee to Saudi Arabia as a refugee  otherwise he had been imprisoned, if not killed, in Tunis itself-the country he ruled with iron fist for twenty odd years.

Next come Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak who grabbed the power way back thirty years ago did not think even for a fraction of a fraction of a second what to talk of a minute that all those whom he had gauged for three decades will be after his blood. He had all the plans to rule himself till his least breath and then his son Jamal Hosni Mobarak clings to the throne but alas the situation took a complete u-turn and the poor president had no option but to surrender to the will of the general public. During the long thirty years Hosni did all that whatever he could think of, whether right or wrong, to extend his rule and in the meantime he groomed his son to be ready to take over from him. The whole world witnessed what music Tunisian President had to face and it gave at least food for thought, if not lead, to many in different parts of the world including Egyptians to stand up right against their own rulers irrespective of the fact whether the rulers are elected or imposed.

The people, who were living under dire and continual political and administrative suffocation coupled with financial difficulties for many years were looking for the right opportune to strike but Hosni had literally usurped their rights to the extent that his poor compatriots simply could not even dream that one day they will queue against their mighty president. People just came on the streets and demanded nothing less than ouster of president himself.  President vowed to carry on and some of his advisors even advised him to use physical force against the protesters rather than surrendering to them and this is what he did. Not only police and intelligence but even the army was called in to crush the rebellion but the masses withstood as one and did not budge even an inch and faced all the atrocities of the cruel and ruthless president.

Hundreds of people including men, women and children lost their lives in the process of ousting the president, who as a last resort, even announced certain changes in his administration to calm and quiet, if not please, the people and give some breathing space for self to continue as head of the state but nothing doing.  Egyptians defied all the orders and were steadfast in their demand to see that Hosni leaves the presidency preferably today if not then tomorrow but not day after tomorrow in any case and the world witnessed that unthinkable happened. Army tanks bought to be used against external threats and not otherwise were rolled out from cantonments to the roads of the capital to trample over the protesting public but it utterly failed to deter the protesters who demanded nothing short of resignation of the president who did not like to leave but ultimately he had to swallow the quinine. Hosni could not any longer keep tight his grip over the country but at the end of the day, he had no option, but to finally pack up and tender resignation from presidency after thirty years of totalitarian and despotic rule. The public went into nationwide jubilation over his resignation which signaled that resultantly the empty handed and hungry masses triumphed and not the powerful and one the richest president.

Truly speaking, Tunisia has set the ball rolling which did not limit itself to Tunisia and Egypt only and instead it has reached as far as Djibouti though its cruel impacts, of course varying in degree and intensity, can be seen in many countries namely Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Morocco as well. Of all these twelve countries mentioned above, I would like to pen on at least two countries in particular when the situation has gone out of control and the rulers are facing the worst possible humiliation not at the hands of their enemies but their own citizens.

Bahrain which used to be headed by an Amir had lately been converted into kingdom for the reasons best known the rulers only but nevertheless the king is facing untold jeering from his own citizens. The tiny oil exporting country has Shia Muslims in majority whereas the ruling Al-Khalifa family is Sunni Muslim and therefore this is main bone of contention between the governor and the governed. Shias being in majority are not given the same rights and liberties which are bestowed upon minority Sunnies and instead Shias are kept at the far end of the rope which is not fair and unacceptable to the majority but who bells the ring. In past even Shias had clashed with the ruling family but one way or the other they were nipped down successfully but as the bad luck had it, now the public has learnt the lesson from Tunis and Egypt and hence they have come on the streets in very angry mood and they are very much determined to dent the absolute authority of the rulers. They are demanding equality and parity between the two factions of Muslims. Under the given circumstances when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, King Hamad Bin Eissa Al Khalifa had no option but to promise to sympathetically look into their genuine grievances and try to at least pacify them, if not satisfy them. Without caring as to who wins and who loses, the question is very simple that why Bahrainis had to come out to shout and what laurels, if any, King Hamad Al Khalifa had earned from such like ugly and unprecedented rebellion?

Libya is the next in the firing line which is the worst so far and I very much doubt if Col Muhamad Umer Al Qaddafi, President Libya had been challenged alike in the past though his era started not ten, twenty or even thirty years ago but over forty years and luckily he succeeded in crushing the public right under his nose but not anymore. Empty stomachs marched off from their houses and joined other Libyans to voice their anger against the brutal and savage brutalities of despotic president Qaddafi who as matter of fact did not even think not to use war planes to bombard his marooned citizens. Till now, none has used war planes-the utmost lethal weapon against the bare footed masses but Qaddafi has very bluntly and blatantly used the same to crush the upheaval. He has denounced demonstrations and announced on state television that he is not coming off the presidency like his colleagues did in Tunis and Egypt.   

The protesters in other countries mentioned in the article have passed on message to their governors that they cannot keep off the general public any more under cage rather they shall have to think of them if they wish to continue to rule. Some of the rulers have announces, though reluctantly, that they will not seek for next term while the others have showered some concessions right away with the promise that more concessions and liberties are very much in the pipe line which not a bad idea in any case. However, to me, quite interestingly the crux of the matter and the simple question is that why there had been so many hue and cries in the first instance? I do not have any capacity and or authority to know the first hand information about the head of the states under reference but yet can very convincingly pen believing that you are with me and not against me without the slightest shadow of doubt that they must have wept at least in their hearts if not on faces to meet such a disgraceful treatment at the end of the day and that too at the hands of none but those whom they did not recognize whatsoever. 

Didn’t the top bosses know that rubber cannot be stretched to the length they wished?