Aitizaz Ahsan: The Other Side of the Coin! by Yasmeen Ali

(Is Aitzaz a Dark Horse or a Trojan Horse in the Politics of Pakistan?)

The press these days, is going ga-ga over Aitzaz Ahsan, as are various web-sites, that seems to have sprung up, out of the blue, his life long "struggle" is being penned with eloquence worth reading, and, for an average reader, with no insight into the intricacies involved, the impression that is being created, that, he was the dark horse, whose arrival and bursting upon the public scene was long awaited to lead our nation, according to the media, primarily targeting the intelligentsia, composed of the English speaking reading lot.

The projection is for the next elections to come, when this able and capable man, is to lead us to a path of glory, strewn with rose petals and the rainbow overhead! Words, it seems, are not enough to highlight his story of "struggle", for the freedom of our masses. The dedication of, a few, amazes one when one reads and hears these tributes. It is said; "Expression and manner can often conceal, but your writing, your true self will always reveal".

Being a nationalist to the core, and a bystander, in these events to come, one can only marvel, as to what and where, these projections will eventually lead us. No person can claim to be a nationalist, if he is being projected by the western press, as such, if the man is from the masses, and the voice which he voices is the voice of the masses, then there is no need for the crutches of the western press. Then thirty-eight US Senators need not put their weight behind the man, then two dirty and scruffy looking Americans do not have to stand vigil at his house!

It is the fear of the unknown, for him, a weak person, with no inner motivations or convictions who seeks foreign help, especially from a nation which no one likes in our country for its dubious role in our political history for the last sixty years or so.

In fact no pivotal power of the past and the present has been sincere to us, history proves it. So let's not keep a veil over our eyes, in all sincerity, each leader or aspiring leader, must have an untainted background, in the aspects of morality, and loyalty to the nation. Not a government in power or a super power whose interests have always been double-edged.

If the man, in question, under the guise of appeasement, which is an act whereby, a nation makes concessions to a possible enemy, in order to avoid a war, will lead us nowhere. Being no jingoist, or a hawk at the moment in time, I will still very cautiously, put my money on the new dark horse, the upcoming Darling of the West. A person muses when writing, as there, the innermost mindset is revealed. In the present circumstances, the person in question has already given away this mindset and stance in his book. It would not have mattered in the least, as what his stance has been in his book, but when the same person aspires to be a national leader and if portrayed by such by a super power, the alarm bells do ring!

Aitzaz Ahsan, in 1996, wrote a book, the INDUS SAGA," And the Making of Pakistan'. However, by 2005, an "improved " version with additional pages was written. This was published, of all the places, from New Delhi, India. A country, with which we had had three wars, a country responsible for the dismemberment of a wing, a country on whose behest King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, had, vetoed our entry in the UN. And a country, who has always given refuge to the undesirables of Baluch separatists movement, and also, otherwise, more favourable to him, in his design of creating a greater Afghanistan.

On the basis of a fallacy, thinking that the old Suba of Qandhar and Kabul was his by right, and in fact, the whole of the lands from the west of Indus were his for taking. In all of his endeavours, he was supported by India from which country Aitizaz decided to get his book published!

Now, the new book, has a title of INDUS SAGA' "From PataliPutra To Partition', which reflects his inner self and his thought process. Men like Khushwant Singh have given their favourable comments on the cover of the book, and we all know the directions in which Khushwant Singh writes. Through his sarcasm and effort at humour, his language "“ barbs dipped in honey, with double entendres - he ridicules Muslim rule in India and of course the independence of 1947.

In his acknowledgements of the book, Aitizaz mentions the names M. J Akbar and Pramod Kapoor. When one reads the book, one understands why? Because the book , apparently about the Indus Valley through the eyes of an Indus Person, is a farce! He applauds the figure of Nehru, the man who along with M.K.Gandhi, planned to create the same geography for West Pakistan as they did succeed in ensuring for East Pakistan. They planned to incorporate the NWFP in India and have a direct link with Afghanistan, through Dogra Maharaja of Kashmir (who had some sort of control over the Gilgit Agency) all the way down to Gurdaspur that Sir Cyril Radcliff had given to India betraying the trust placed in him as an arbitrator in drawing the boundary in the Punjab. Step Two of this Grand Plan was the takeover of Kalat State and eventually, the Pakistan would have been just the present Punjab and the Sindh Province, all east of Indus. Naturally, minus Karachi.

Now, Aitizaz is a wise man, I am sure he would have read our political history and the efforts of Quaid-e-Azam when he, too, had asked for a Muslim corridor to be carved out of British India linking Bengal with Oudh, Delhi, East Punjab, and the present Pakistan. This aspect is well documented in the then Viceroy's, Letters to the Secretary of State, Amery (Correspondence of April, May, June, 1943).

I am sure, Aitizaz Ahsan, would have spent sometime researching while writing his book. I am sure these points and references must have come up, on which Quaid-e-Azam fought for Pakistan and its creation! One, wonders, how did he miss these points? And what induced him to publish his book from India, the role of the country that I've briefly stated above.

In the book in question he attempts to discover our original inhabitants of the Indus region, and yet he can only name only 11persons. The most astonishing is the name of Arjun (a character of the Mahabharata epic). Aitizaz tackles, the unfolding of the global empires, by portraying a Grand Mahabharata, as if the world lived in a culturo-civilization vacuum. He thereby denies the more powerful, well recorded, Iranian and Turkish Empires of the same epoch. He fails to understand and acknowledge why our national anthem is in Farsi and the crescent and star of the Pakistani flag is influenced by the Turk.

Aitizaz, is obsessed by the theme of Mahabharata. Either by design or ignorance, this modern day champion of Indus, does not enlighten us, that concept of a Mahabharata is actually, a concoction, of the fertile Hindu Brahmin mind, in the recent past, less than a thousand years back. Aitizaz "˜s argument and thought process is the same as of Nehru who also underlined the "˜Oneness of India' on the grounds of a common Indian race. Thus, this "˜able lawyer' builds a case of Akhand-Bharat.

But remember that this book is ostensibly about the creation of Pakistan and its past history! A person may be given the benefit of doubt if he is making a speech and get carried away by his own rhetoric and say what may be incorrect. But as stated earlier, he who muses gives his inner self away!

My question to Aitizaz is: Is the Brahmin dream of "˜One India' under the pull of what he calls "Centripetal pull of India", is his dream as well? I can tell him that a vast majority of people, even those critical of the government of Pakistan, value their sovereign freedom. Sixty two years after the partition, the perpetual humiliation of Muslims in India and the threats they face to their life, property and honour "“ even in Muslim majority Kashmir which has always had a Muslim Chief Minister, and steady deterioration of prospects that has pushed the Muslims to the bottom of social pile, Aitzaz is unable to see through Brahmin duplicity "“ baghal main chhuri munh mein ram ram "“ and is mesmerised by it instead?

I do not know what are his actual intentions! Behind the cover of a popular agitation with a benign agenda - the restoration of independence of Judiciary and rule of law "“ what is his own role and mission. The second question I have is: Is Aitizaz, the Indian Trojan Horse in our land? That fear is supported by Aitzaz's own word: In an extract of his book and I quote (INDUS SAGA: Pg XII), in which Aitizaz grieves," Six decades on, there is hardly an Indian, even the most accommodating and rational, who does not privately resent the partition of 1947. Even the most congenial Indian, Hindus and Muslims will say with love and affection," How much better it might have been if...........".

India is not a state but an empire. History in India is written and taught from the standpoint of imperial dreams of the upper castes "“ not the aspirations and hopes of the oppressed majority - 85% untouchables, which includes 20% Muslims. Every Indian is taught to dream ruling over all of South Asia. But Pakistan "“ a sovereign state "“ was the dream of the Muslims of India. Either Aitzaz does not know or he deliberately ignores the fact that the sidelined majority - 85% of the population - look at Pakistan and Bangladesh as "˜their brothers who secured sovereign freedom by converting to Islam'. They look up to Islam as an instrument of equality and freedom. Aitzaz thinks the exact opposite. He is free to return to the bosom of "˜Mother India'. He eagerly awaited into the fold of "˜collaborating untouchables' with open arms.

Looking briefly at Aitizaz's political sojourns, we see a man who has changed his bandwagons more than once. He was in the PPP until Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was arrested after the military coup in 1977. Aitizaz left Gujrat and his seat because of the fear of the Chaudhrys. He shifted his residence and his politics to Lahore and other areas. He joined Tehreek-e-Isteqlal on whose platform he was a part of the MRD. Later, when the winds changed in its favour in 1986, he rejoined PPP. Even now, he is using the PPP platform although the Party does not trust him and he is shunned. He wishes to return to political prominence on the shoulders of the Lawyers Movement. He hopes that the Americans would facilitate his return into the mainstream of politics. There is still place in Pakistan's politics for those trusted by India as well as America.

The role of this chameleon, has always been very dubious, is all I can say!

The writer is a Lawyer and Educationist based in Lahore