Pakistan in Search of Political Change

Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

Across Pakistan concerned political news makers are crying wolf. Nobody can predict future - what is next after Sharif’s demise. The emerging political culture of ‘blame game’ is a no surprise to any rational observers of Pakistan’s modern history. It typifies what can go terribly wrong when the so called politicians turned egoistic authoritarian are the assumed master of the nation’s affairs for over fifty years. The consciousness of moral and intellectual political behavior sinks to its lowest ebb in comparative global affairs. The deliberate evolution of corrupt political culture is the hallmark of Pakistan’s national political life.  Despite unchallenging hard evidence, the nation and its ruling elite are not willing to face the critical mirror of what went wrong and who should be blamed and how to change the vicious and vindictive culture into a viable system of political governance for the best of the people. Thugs, prostitutes and known indicted criminals are continued to be embraced as political leaders. MQM- the Mohjair Qaumi Movement, negating Pakistan’s foundational ideology assumes importance and has 22 members at the National Assembly. Strange as is, in an infested political culture, yet the same are being investigated for crimes. Is the nation not complacent in its own downfall? Over half of century, Pakistanis have not produced any leader to lead the nation into a promising future. Every now and then, the unwanted military interventions and military coups have incapacitated the natural powers and energies of the body of Pakistan. A left-over skeleton devoid of essential chemistry can be manipulated and broken by the few self-centered competing antagonists.  Some two decades earlier, “Pakistan: Enigma of Change”  (Media Monitors Network-USA) by this author offered the proactive thinking and applied workable scenario for change and institutionalized development leading to a sustainable future. This should have happened in a culture of positive thinking where the elite and masses are open to listening and learning of their pitfalls and willing to use new thinking and creative strategies for change and development of public-oriented new institutions. It could not have happened in a society devoid of reason and critical thinking and most importantly, abhorrent to rational change. The continued corrupt political culture and people who manage it cannot be the credible future tellers.

What Went Wrong?

Most disastrous and wasteful time frame of Pakistan’ history is consumed by the military dictators. None had any imagination for political change and national development. All military coups were individual and catastrophic for the future of the nation. Those who participated and collaborated were equally guilty of crimes against the people of Pakistan. The time and precious opportunities they stole for change and development can never be returned to the lifelines of the nation. All dictators are dead against their wishes except the by-products – the Bhutto family, Sharifs, Zardari and Musharaf. The separation of East Pakistan was a fatal blow to the integrity of the nation. It was deliberate and planned by ZA Bhutto and General Yahya Khan - the chief conspirators. Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman was the winner of political elections held in One Nation.  The political power should have transferred systematically to his leadership and the party. But instead, greed of power, fear of the unknown and political vindictiveness resulted in Pakistan’s military defeat and surrender to India. The obvious winners were ZA Bhutto and India and Pakistan lost its credibility as One Nation. Bhutto family continued to enjoin bloody history of political intrigues and killings to maintain the political power.  Did the elite or the Nation learn anything useful form that horrible tragedy of its own making?

Another evil strand can be found in the interwoven feelings of hatred and fear between the masses of former East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and West Pakistani ruling elite. The Bengalis were simple, better educated and dedicated to Islamic values and indeed belonged to a morally superior intellectual culture where the idea of an independent Pakistani grew out of their thinking and futuristic imagination. Within the concept of One Nation, their representations were low and their presence often unappreciated by the West Pakistani elite. Did the Pakistani elite not know what was in-waiting for their drudgery and wickedness to the interests of the masses?  What is the cure to political indifference and systematically ordained political corruption of the few?  Is Pakistan at a threshold of political change or a new sustainable political culture for the future?

Traitors are Within not Elsewhere

In 2011, one CIA operative contractor Raymond Davis killed two Pakistani civilians at Lahore.  President Obama and Hillary Clinton identified Davis as US “diplomat.” The truth could not have been further than this. The then President Asif ali Zaradri –“our man in Islamabad” as the US administration used to call him, and General Ashfaq Kiyani intervened to stop legal prosecution against this murderer and set him free from the prison. None of these figures had any sense of rationality or accountability to the legal justice of Pakistan. When Osama bin Laden was attacked and killed at Abbotabad, they repeated the same token of absolute loyalty to the Master. The then CIA Director thanked Zardari and Kiyani for their cooperation. But both denied the advanced knowledge of US military operation.

Gordon Duff, Staff Writer and Senior Editor of Veterans Today (“Diplomat, Drug Mule or Terrorist” Veteranstoday: 2/18/2011) spotlights the episode of Raymond Davis who killed two Pakistani national in cold blood murder at Lahore. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called him a “diplomat”, in reality he was a CIA operative contractor involved in subversive and illegal activities across that land of the poor and deprived, managed by the US aid dollars including the Pakistani government – the PPP –Zardari’s thug operative governance and the army Generals on regular US payroll. We now call it diplomacy explains Gordon Duff and the thugs are “diplomats.”

“We can only imagine what they do. We have seen their parties, gay sex orgies in Kabul. We have seen the photos from Abu Ghraib. We have seen the bodies, children, women, the aged, anyone unable to duck gunfire from the window of a Humvee or black Chevy Tahoe…. What is Raymond Davis? ….. Raymond Davis has supplied the answer. His training? Davis is “black ops.”…..“Black ops” is the friendly term for terrorism, usually reserved for our enemies. ….. What Davis is accused of isn’t new. Americans have been arrested for driving around Afghanistan, shooting people at random, throwing hand grenades into crowds. Americans haven’t been arrested for breaking into homes, dozens of them, murdering entire families “by mistake.” Americans haven’t been arrested for drone attacks that seem to leave rows of corpses, always so many children among them, burned and dismembered, just like the photos of the “precision attacks” on Gaza….Is America telling Pakistan that Davis and his friends were on “official business?” Have they explained exactly what that business is? I can’t wait to hear this one.  Hey, what does it matter. Pakistan is notoriously corrupt. Wait a couple of weeks, slip a few hundred thousand bucks into the right pockets and it will all be forgotten.”

The Nation Looks for Political Change

Pakistan’s problem rests with power politics. Those who grab the power through intrigues, political conspiracies, military coups, sectarian killings and large social-economic disruptions do not foresee any exit to their hegemonic control. These are household names of hatred and disgrace to thinking Pakistanis. The Nation that allows criminally indicted and most corrupt people to hold offices of national governance and responsibility cannot be viewed as a nation of moral values and honor. This is how East Pakistan was lost. The political curse and disintegration of the economic, social, moral and intellectual culture goes on without an end insight. 

Unless thinking people of the Pakistani Freedom Movement and Foundational Values reactivate their thoughts and energies for a Navigational Change, the Nation is at critical crossroads for its own fragmentation and by its own so called monstrous political leaders. How to change the political cruelty and tyranny of the few unto anew value-based political system of institutions, responsible leadership and governance? Pakistan desperately needs people of new educated generation enriched with proactive vision, new ideas and political imagination to safeguard the freedom of the nation from ultimate chaos and ruins. Those who are part of the problems cannot be part of the solutions. 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: 5/28/2011: http://www.globalresearch.ca/imperial-eye-on-pakistan/25009), 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.

American foreign policy makers view the Pakistani politicians-Generals as beggars, bootlickers who will perform all kind of superficial acts to please the Master - the one who calls them an ally when needed but will stab Pakistanis when they become a liability. Disillusioned and disconnected with its roots, Pakistan continues to move forward - not towards change, normalcy and progress - but towards tragic events fomenting planned deaths of the citizenry, destruction of the social, economic and political infrastructures, incapacitated and broken lifelines and ultimately to become a battle ground for mindless ethnic and regional divides and national collapse. Talibans (TTP) are fighting against the ideology of Pakistan. If these trends resulting from the inhuman and barbaric policies and practices of the ruling elite remain in the pipeline, the nation could end-up losing its freedom and integrity.  You might wonder, "Is the problem insolvable?"  

There are alarming dichotomies involved in the political role of the PPP and MQM. Who is the real Mohajir? There are no Mohajirs (refugees) in Pakistan. Those who migrated from India and elsewhere in 1947 were part of the Pakistan freedom movement. After six decades, those claiming to be “mohajir” are denying the national fabric of Pakistan. MQM faces the question of legitimacy if it calls itself a Mohajir Movement. Pakistan is comprised of One Nation. Those collaborating with the MQM should be questioned for their role in national politics.

In situations of emergencies, competent leaders offer hope and build trust of the nation to articulate workable remedies. But Pakistani politicians are used to blame game, often pointing fingers at India and others for their failure as appears to be the case in Baluchistan. Pakistan is being destabilized and dehumanized by its own wicked so called leaders who lack understanding of the ideology of the Muslim nation.  Pakistan's future is not linked to Nawaz Sharif or any peace deal with the TTP. The Government and the Taliban are buying time and opportunities to readjust to the changing geo-political climate of the region. America is in the process to take out its NATO- led forces from Afghanistan. Pakistani officials and the TTP would hurry to fill-in the gap and to acquire upper hand in future strategic priorities. Pakistan security forces are relentlessly watching which way to turn the table and to counteract the tide of bloody insurgency dipping into the political psyche of Pakistani culture.  

How can there be a change in the political cruelty and tyranny of the few?  The 2014 massive public protests and demonstrations at Islamabad went out with no positive change or achievements. Undoubtedly Sharif’s regime killed innocent civilians during and prior to the peaceful demonstrations at Lahore and stole money into foreign accounts. But nobody is held accountable in a court of law. Western analysts claim Pakistan to be a ‘failing state’ as it is run by dubious political-military elite. Pakistani leaders exhibit deafening silence to respond to the US-European accusations. Often when sadistic politicians cannot solve one set of problems, they could come up with smart but naïve ideas to create more critical problems to distract the masses. What is the solution to the morally and intellectually sickening political culture of Pakistani politics? In view of the obvious failure of the current regime under Nawaz Sharif, the conscientious people and organized political establishments should initiate action to set up a new Government of National Unity replacing Nawaz Sharif with a non-partisan, intelligent and honest leadership. This appears to be the urgent political shift to restore normalcy and sustainable political governance. It is hard to expect the National Assembly as is to act against Sharif, only to reaffirm its irrelevance and incompetence being a stooge of the rulers and unable to provide workable democratic option for change - when facts of life warrant a change, the responsible institutions must respond to facilitate change to safeguard the national interests, freedom and integrity of the country.