Pakistan’s Saga of Political Change

Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD

 “….in December of 2000, the CIA released a report of global trends to the year 2015, which stated that by 2015, “The war in Afghanistan is inherently related to the situation in Pakistan……….Pakistan will be more fractious, isolated, and dependent on international financial assistance.”[1] Further, it was predicted, Pakistan:

will not recover easily from decades of political and economic mismanagement, divisive politics, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction. Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties.”

Tragedies know no bound. Pakistani people know it too well as from the beginning of their nationhood; they have been living within the compound of self-generated tragedies. Is there another name for the institutionalized wickedness, known treachery, vengeful political liars and mass murders governing the ungovernable and calling themselves to be the guardians of Pakistani politics? In case, you have misapprehensions, you will recognize these wicked characters by their deeds, not by their claims - namely, the few military Generals and their by-products few feudal lord families – politicians encompassing the ruling elite - the hub - the colored body with borrowed white British colonial mindset and traditions seeing the people as ‘neo-subjects’, not entitled to any human dignity and rights or civilized consideration and role-play in political affairs. They have all consumed and stolen almost fifty years - most precious lifeline of the nation to satisfy their own whims and privilege mind. They are not accountable to anybody in the ‘no system’ political system. Over the years, many ordinary Pakistanis cry to locate their abducted family members known as “missing people” some twenty thousands or so people during the General Musharaf regime. Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court cannot bring any news to the grieved families still waiting for their loved ones to return home in safety. Nobody knows if they are still alive somewhere, or traded-in to the Gunanatanobay terror business by the Generals, or thrown in the sea by Death Pilots as it happened to several thousands innocent political activists in Argentina during the 1980’s under military dictatorships. Those Argentinean military dictators are currently under scrutiny and legal trial.

There appears to be a Political CURSE on those now governing the nation through conspiracies and backdoor intrigues. Prevalent moral, psychological and political curse of the few egomaniac monsters premeditates all to zero sum game that Pakistani people aspire to look for. Once corruption comes into systematic societal thinking and practical domains and conditions which are conducive to political cruelty, insanity and moral and spiritual curse are established, the disease spreads with frightful rapidity. The federal governance, the assemblies, the Generals and the official infrastructures in Islamabad all reflect the sadistic outlook for worst tragedies to come. More and more a nation lost with moral and spiritual power of unity find itself strangulated by its inner generated conflicts of dark mindset and perverted priorities. What about situations where all is deliberately ruptured by insanity of the few, shattered apart, disintegrated to enrich few cruel monsters into extended governance - that is contemporary Pakistan?

How to change the worst into workable best? In a knowledge-driven 21^st century global culture of change and human development and given the abundant resources of Pakistani’s educated classes enriched with proactive visions, intellects and zeal, lot of ills can be diagnosed into workable solutions only if people with positive THINKING and dedicated energies were engaged in an organized scheme of things to pursue such vital national priorities.  Volatile issues demand urgent care and cure, not national curse to those who claim to be the political linchpin of the country.  Many divides exist between what is said officially by the PPP run crime- riddled administration and what the thinking masses experience in daily despairs, social, economic misfortunes and political horrors, street bloodbaths and foreign drone attacks, killing of the civilians, non productive commerce and trade, nothing moves in any rational direction to make their survival come true - a gruesome portrayal of so called democracy at work. The in-house tragedy of vices and ruins so apparent, rather than finding solutions within the political activism, some smart guys find convenient sidetracks to approach the Supreme Court - a self-serving practice to avoid politically generated solutions to a naïve and lost sense of reality. Legal judgments do not change the human character or bring societal revolution nor determine the destiny of people or pave ways for sustainable societal change and development. History as a learning medium of knowledge is ignored; obsessive and on-going curse of the few feebleminded distorts the spirit of optimism. If Iqbal, student Chaudry Rehmat Ali and his friends, Mohammad Ali Jinnah-Qauid E- Azam  and Liaqaut Ali were alive, they would have disowned this disdained prevalent national culture of wickedness – a “zalam and muzloom quom”  (nation) co-existing with the oddest to its origin and against its very moral and spiritual foundation.  

Nobody knows what is next - the best guessed politics of business as usual.  Men who are established corrupt, devoid of reason and honesty, indicted criminals and universally hated and rejected become “Our Man in Islamabad” – America’s Mr. Zardari and the Gang to rule Pakistan. Nothing else except ignorance of the facts of life reinforces the observation and image that the nation is demoralized and delusional lacking any sense of rational THINKING for its present and future.  Would a Change and Cure to the prevalent Curse come out of the nowhere?

The nation must realize the triviality and viciousness of the PPP- Generals naïve governance and opt out of the terrible sense of helplessness and imposed insanity of the few. Foreigners will not help Pakistan, their plans are working to disintegrate Pakistan. Nation’s own future is at stake. Andrew Gavin Marshall “Imperial Eye on Pakistan- Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 (Global Research: 5/30/2011) states that “in December of 2000, the CIA released a report of global trends to the year 2015, which stated that by 2015, “The war in Afghanistan is inherently related to the situation in Pakistan……….Pakistan will be more fractious, isolated, and dependent on international financial assistance.”[1] Further, it was predicted, Pakistan:

Will not recover easily from decades of political and economic mismanagement, divisive politics, lawlessness, corruption and ethnic friction. Nascent democratic reforms will produce little change in the face of opposition from an entrenched political elite and radical Islamic parties.”

Recently, global concerns and consensus have emerged to speak against the US led secretive drone attacks on innocent civilians in South- North Waziristan, tribal belts of Pakistan. Several American and other global peace activists have gone to Pakistan to stand with the victims of the deadly drone attacks. Global news outlets report of approximately 3,000 or more civilian casualties during the 2010-20111, mostly innocent civilians killed by the Obama List. The Obama administration claims legal immunity but spells out clearly that the drone operations are conducted with consent of the Pakistani ISI - military Generals. One report specifies that the US Pentagon sends in-advance informative directive (fax) to the Pakistan intelligence on the near future drone attacks and possible targets. The people of Pakistani are not surprised that Generals and Zardari regime are making cash dollars out of its miseries and targeted killings. Conscientious and thinking people of Pakistan must strive to workout freedom from exploitation and death squads operated by these cruel rulers. A dire sense of reality would ask for change and reformation of the cancerous political governance.

Andrew Gavin Marshall (“Imperial Eye on Pakistan- Pakistan in Pieces, Part 1 - Global Research: 5/30/2011), points out that David Kilcullen advisor to “President Obama warned in April of 2009, that Pakistan could collapse within months, and that, “We have to face the fact that if Pakistan collapses it will dwarf anything we have seen so far in whatever we're calling the war on terror now.” The adviser explained that this would be unlike the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, which each had a population of over 30 million, whereas  “Pakistan has [187] million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American army, and the headquarters of al-Qaeda sitting in two-thirds of the country which the Government does not control.”

The Pakistani nation must see the mirror – look at itself straight, candidly and with fullest sense of moral and political accountability:    who they were, where they are and where they are heading to?   Or the Nation stands no chance for the recourse or coming out of the deadly political stunts of the few, time killing legal battles and the historical graveyards. If the nation was not complacent in all of these sadistic misfortunes, the Generals, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs could never have come to rule them and to molestate the moral, intellectual and spiritual culture and values of Islamic Pakistan. None of these political figures (Bhuttos, Generals, Zardari and Sharifs and Chaudries) made any positive contributions toward a genuine functional democracy nor do they have any knowledge of it. History has a defined role and the present and future generations must give credence to these developments and learn to be aware of the future in waiting, and how best to make a navigational change to ensure independence and integrity of Pakistan. If some were alive and you were to ask the Generals, Bhuttos, Zardaris and Sharifs, what went wrong with them?  What made them to transgress against the poor masses of Pakistan? Why were they dismissed from the public offices? What made them to act like cruel monsters to the interest of the Pakistani people?  Why could they not change their wrong THINKING?  Surely, they will claim innocence and blame others. But history sees the nations and leaders by their actions, not by their claims.

To safeguard from further collapse and economic and political destruction, Pakistan must be reconnected to its original ideology and purpose of the freedom movement from the British colonial rule. Even if the obvious circumstances deny place for creative solutions and a new political system for change and freedom from the absurdity of the Few, but if there are mindful and active people of Reason and dedication to pursue change, the political framework - infrastructures (thoughts, people, institutions and priorities) of the Nation can be uplifted, reformed and rebuilt out of the deliberate chaos and neglect, political mismanagement and ruins of the few corrupted rulers. Could the THINKING PEOPLE of Pakistan reverse the course of junk history and make a new beginning based on the Islamic ideology and values of the concept of Pakistan?

There are conspicuous talks of new elections as if there is a genuine democracy at work.  Rationally speaking, what would the known criminals and gangsters contribute to the future-making of the beleaguered nation? Absolutely nothing other than repeated chaos, death squads and continued dismantling of nation’s social-economic and political infrastructures. Political election is not the remedy but a cancerous sickness to be rehearsed again. There are generational gaps in understanding the real politics - the societal conflicts, mismanagement of economic and political affairs, institutionalized corruption and selling the nation to foreign Masters. Pakistan desperately NEEDS CHANGE and educated and intelligent people from the new generation, men of NEW IDEAS and intellectual and moral strength to MAKE A NEW BEGINNING and sustainable solutions away from the combined and corrupt political and military authoritarianism- the Generals making the policies and decisions. Pakistan needs navigational change but there is no political system to facilitate durable political change on its own in a peaceful manner. Another military take over will not solve any problems but create more. One can imagine the most viable solution to serve the interests of the beleaguered people would be to immediately remove the Zardari regime (although criminals do not leave offices except by force), and bring-in a non-political-non-partisan educated leadership and credible government for one to two years with the public mandate to devise a new constitution and encourage new generation educated Pakistanis to establish new political institutions and then arrange the next national elections for new assemblies and new governance. A keen sense of time and history with a focused mind and collective will can refurbish the nation and its dusted aspirations to find a workable cure for the on-going political curse inhibiting all positive thinking and optimism for the future.  Time and opportunity offer a challenge to the THINKING new generations of intellectuals and concerned Pakistanis. Although many were forced to take permanent refuge in forgotten graveyards but there are good many THINKING People still around within Pakistan and in foreign lands conscientious to imagine and see Pakistan reclaim its lost freedom, safeguard its integrity and human dignity and respect as a valuable member of the 21^st century global community. If not, the Generals and Zardaris and Sharifs could well set the stage and facilitate a return to the colonial bondage. Pakistan was not created by Bhuttos, Zardaris, Sharifs and the Generals; they are simply dead entries in the history books and nothing else.  Pakistan is living and cannot be allowed to be treated like the “missing people” or those vanished by the Death Pilots to the sea. Would the common folks like to remain silent spectators or become active proponents of a well articulated navigational change to protect the freedom, Islamic values and national identity of their existence?

 While talking on the apathy of politicians and age of civilization, Sir Alex Fraser Tytler - a Scottish jurist, professor and historian (1742-1813), made the following observations:

“These nations have progressed through this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage.”

(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012)