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Two Types of Love and Politics
By: Dr. Maqsood Jafri New York Love and politics have two types. Love is either true or false. When a
lover hankers after lust and bodily pleasures, it is untrue and ostentatious
display of love. The real love is beyond all sensuous and esoteric
propensities. The bodies die and decay but the true love neither dies nor decays.
Browning in a poem says that he has grown old but the color of his tears is
the same that was in youth time. Love is a passion. Love is eternal. Lust
is temporary. It is an appetite. Love is spirit and love is instinct. Both
are real and essential but are polls apart. Similarly, politics is also of
two types. The politics of conviction and the politics of convenience. The
ideologically dedicated people die but do not betray their conviction. Once a
man stifles with his conviction, then he finds no conviction to stifle
with. The power politics swings around the pillars of pollution. Such
political rogues have no faith in the betterment of the country or nation. They
only do politics to attain their personal goals and agenda. They change
parties. In the words of William Shakespeare, the true love does not alter when
it finds alteration. But these conscienceless politicians seek alteration
even before alteration. On the other hand, there are people who kiss the
noose and scaffold with bravery and sacrifice their lives for conviction.
It is very tragic that in Pakistan, we have feudal political system.
Nowadays, it is rapidly being replaced by the capitalist political system. The
money is ruling over the mind. The illiterate ruffians are in power while
the intellectuals have no place in the ruling junta. Now some modern ladies,
who are mostly non-conformists, have found place in the assemblies. It is
a welcoming step but the genuine political and educated ladies are ignored
and the sweet hearts are promoted by all political parties. The sincere and
genuine workers are mostly ignored. If I name the sweet hearts of
different political parties who are occupying the seats of assemblies, it will be a
long list. More over, being a former professor and responsible writer, it
does not suit me to unmask the pretty faces of the ladies before the world.
I respect the womenfolk and only aspire the genuine ladies to be
accommodated in politics. As we have some hereditary seats in our assemblies, after
winning the seats from their constituencies, they join the government and
get ministries. They are the scum of politics. We must rise and revolt. The
feudal system has to be weeded out. Pakistan can never have political,
economic and social stability, until and unless, it severs the branch on which
the owls are sitting. We have horse trading that has been converted into
donkey trading. These political mercenaries change the loyalties and jump to
join the ruling ranks.
Let us understand the concept of the politics of conviction and the
politics of convenience by an example. Senator Jehangir Bader is the best
example of the politics of conviction. When he was a university student, he
joined the PPP. During the dictatorial regime of General Zia-ul- Haq, when so
many heavy weights betrayed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he bravely chanted the
slogan:" Long live Bhutto." He was jailed, flogged and tortured. He did not
leave the party and stood like an unshakable rock before the torrents of time.
On the other side, Shah Mehmoud Ahmed Querashi was the member of the
Majlis-e- Shoora of General Zia-ul-Haq. His father was the governor of the Punjab
province appointed by General Zia-ul-Haq. This family was in the Muslim
League. When he sensed the political emergence of the PPP, he joined the PPP.
He was the provincial minister and then the federal minister in the
governments of the PPP. In the end of 2007, he was invited in a restaurant by the
PPP,USA New York to preside over a political meeting. I was one of the
speakers. After the function, we dined together. He was told by a senior
office bearer of the PPP that Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had a lot of respect for
me. I seconded the opinion and told him that I was writing a boot titled"
The Ideals of Bhutto" on the sweet wish of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. As I was
sitting next to him at the dinner table, I whispered in his years that he
could be the best candidate for premiership from the province of the
Punjab. He was very happy on my proposal and asked me to put this idea before
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. I have no intention to derelict his position or
degrade or undermine him. It was his political right to aspire for that
position. He was made the foreign minister and delivered well. But on the
reshuffling of the ministries, he should have not reacted and honored the party
decision and should have maintained party discipline. His leaving the PPP shows
his moral laxity and non-conformist attitude. Now he has left the party
and is seeking refuge for his political career. Whether he joins PML(N) or
Tehreek-e-Insaaf, it is his choice but he has become the example of the
politics of convenience.
I may be permitted to present myself in the court of my readers. I have no
claims. I hate bragging. Had I been only a political activist, I would not
have touched this aspect of my life. But as I am a poet and humble
scholar, I feel it my moral duty to present myself before history regarding my
political conviction. Since my youth, I had announced my political commitment
with Bhuttoism. For me this political philosophy means the establishment
of democracy, social justice, moderation and progression. As a writer and
thinker, from the core of my heart, I have been supporting Bhuttoism. In
1972, when I had just joined Gordon College, Rawalpindi as a young lecturer of
English, Begum Nusrat Bhutto asked me to join the government. I thanked her
and preferred the life of a teacher. During the callous regime of General
Zia-ul-Haq, I condemned martial law in my speeches and supported Bhuttoism.
As I was a government servant, my orders of transference were issued. I
was transferred to Bahawalpure. I refused to accept the orders and declared
to resign. My dear friend, the federal minister Mr. Mehmood Ali on his own
got the orders of transfer canceled. The government of General Zia-ul-Haq
allotted residential plots to forty writers and poets In Islamabad. Some of
them were not even the author of a pamphlet, what to say of being the
author of books. I declined to get a plot in Islamabad. In 1992, then the Prime
Minister of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, asked me to join
his government to promote the cause of Kashmir at international level. I told
him that being a pro-Bhutto, how I can work with him. I pay him homage for
his large heartedness. He said that he needed my services for the sacred
cause of Kashmir and there was nothing political involved in the offer.
Once, he in a leisure mood told me that some ministers of his cabinet had
complained against me for helping the PPP workers of Azad Kashmir. I boldly
accepted the charge by saying:"I help every needy with out any
discrimination". In 1997, I was made the in charge/ adviser of the Political Research Cell
of the Pakistan Peoples' Party. On the instructions of the Chairperson
Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, I was asked to sit in the Central Secretariat of the
PPP in Islamabad. The present Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar,
then the Secretary General of the PPP and Senator Reza Rabbani had kindly
received me in the PPP, Secretariat, Islamabad. I used to write for the party
and send proposal to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto about party matters. She
considered my proposals with seriousness. In 2005, in a letter addressed to me
from Dubai, she asked me to write a comprehensive book on the ideology of
Shaheed Bhutto. In 2007, in New York, once again she reminded me to write the
book on Bhuttoism. I wrote the book titled" The Ideals of Bhutto" in 2007.
Last month, this book has been re-published by National Book Foundation,
Islamabad with a special message of President Asif Ali Zardari. It is
available at the shops of National Book Foundation all over Pakistan and in
Islamabad market as well. I must declare here, that in the presence of the
President of the PPP, USA, Mr. Shafqat Tanweer, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had
acknowledged my life long sincere political and ideological services for the
party and Bhuttoism. She had also expressed her wish to appoint me ambassador
or make me her adviser on assuming the government. It is on record and Mr.
Shaqat Tanweer said it so many times in front of party affiliates in New
York. I am committed to Bhuttoism and have never asked for any perk or
portfolio. Am I a man of conviction? This question bothers me much but with the spiritual satisfaction.
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