You’re no American prez, Mr PM!
Anjum Niaz
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting
Let’s first talk ‘democracy’ before we discuss the radio address by our prime minister last Friday. This morning, we are to witness the fruits of democracy as touted by our leaders when turncoats from three political parties will face each other in by-elections. All eyes are on PPP-82 (Jhang), where two feudals, Jabbowana (PPP) and Chaila (PML-N) will contest. Chaila was earlier disqualified for giving a fake BA degree, but thanks to the Dogar court which removed the graduate clause (only to benefit Zardari) and with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba support, Chalia can again enter the Punjab Assembly.
We all are adrift as a nation. Convicts, cheats, felons, jailbirds are the government’s and opposition’s most favoured. Forget the Taliban savagery, the whole landscape is turning bloody. Had the rot been contained; had corruption by cabinet ministers been stopped; had Zardari’s wealth been returned to the treasury coffers; had the energy crisis been resolved; had the president fulfilled his promises made to the people of Pakistan; had the superior judiciary been allowed to work independently; had the PML-N been a genuine opposition party and not a shadow boxer; the daily practice to reward the criminals that we’re witnessing among the ruling party and the opposition would be a thing of the past.
Why then do we react when the masses take the law into their own hands? While they watch helplessly the powerful steal, con, swindle in broad daylight, they vent their anger on petty thieves. It doesn’t take much for a mob to build up these days. Lynching, burning and public lashing is a knee-jerk reaction. Robbers burnt to cinders; boys lashed naked until the mob’s hunger to hurt simmers. The shenanigans of our VVIPs have turned the peace-loving citizens into bloodthirsty, murderous animals.
Sitting atop the national debris and fashioning himself on the US presidents’ weekly radio address to the nation, Prime Minister Gilani rolled out his maiden speech last Friday. But while the US presidents talk direct to their people on issues they hold dear, our prime minister patted himself on the back by his self-praise on what a good job he had done the past two years.
He lives in the rarefied strata solely reserved for the VVIPs, a sort of Mount Olympus. His abode is far removed from the 180 million working stiff Pakistanis struggling to survive. Therefore, the list of achievements that Gilani tooted are in my (and almost everyone else’s) humble view the exact opposite of what he claims. Other than the state-owned PTV and APP who trumpet the prime minister’s rosy assertions on the government’s successes, the rest of the media, both print and electronic, portray a Pakistan mired in poverty, corruption, mis-governance and hopelessness. The downhill slide seems unstoppable, no matter what Gilani may say. Better it would have been for the prime minister to temper his speech with sound bytes laced with reality and truth. But unfortunately, our rulers, past and present, don’t like to hold the mirror and talk things unpleasant.
A few folks think the media is obsessed with the NRO; while others castigate us for talking about corruption 24/7. Targeting the president and his Swiss cases is unfair, they contend. The Supreme Court is crossing its bounds and needs to be corralled, they avow. Zardari himself says a handful of media guys want him to resign; not the people of Pakistan.
Democracy has become a deformed joke.
While the chief minister of Punjab is busy countering the governor who is literally breathing down his neck, making sure that Shahbaz Sharif falls flat on his face ending up a failure and Punjab falls to the PPP, the governance is going to the dogs. Salmaan Taseer is bent upon fulfilling his promise he made to his boss Zardari, vowing that he will present young Bilawal with Punjab. Sharif’s and Taseer’s politics has gotten so personal with both throwing spanners in each other’s paths that the day is not far when people power might oust both.
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah motorcaded with screaming police hooters in Jhang with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan leader, Maulana Ahmed Ludhyanvi, while campaigning for the by-elections in Jhang being held today. The SSP openly targets the Shias and kills them whenever it can.
If this is ‘democracy’ it’s the very devil. It’s ugly as hell.
In Sindh, it’s the same story. The PPP and the MQM are on a destructive path, determined to drag the province down with their petty politics. We’re told that the Sindh chief minister is hobnobbing with the ANP guys to create mayhem for the MQM in Karachi. More innocent blood will flow just to keep the rulers hold on to power.
If this is ‘democracy’ it’s the very devil. It’s ugly as hell.
In NWFP where terrorism stalks the land, the ANP-led government has once more demanded that their province be called ‘Pukhtunkhwa.’ It’s threatening to boycott the forthcoming session of parliament (where Zardari is supposed to shed his presidential powers) if their demand is not met. Their handpicked bureaucrats are being given perks beyond their allowances. The chief secretary, according to a Peshawar resident, has a “Toyota Camry, a 2,400cc car when he is officially allowed a 1,300cc vehicle. This is besides a number of other cars at his disposal. The higher grade officials have been allowed mobile phones costing Rs15,000 worth with the government picking up the tab up to Rs4,000. This is in addition to the landline phones that they have.”
The only common thread running among our politicians and bureaucrats of all shades and stripes in the centre and the provinces is money. All the biggies are raking it in with both hands. The proof of their corruption is in black and white carried in headlines by the print media everyday. Asked to explain how their personal wealth grew by leaps and bounds over the last one year, each one of them has had a cock-and-bull story to tell. They may silence the anchors questioning their assets but they cannot fool the viewers.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s hope of catching the corrupt is beginning to look like a distant dream; a mirage, if you please. How can one man go around the country – from Khyber to Karachi — netting the corrupt? He is no bionic man with supernatural powers. Our lordship can only pass judgment; not move mountains. The two men — Malik Qayyum and Navaid Ahsan of NAB — against whom the full bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice passed a judgment on December 16 go about their business unhindered. Interestingly, NAB courts are clearing cases against Rahman Malik and Usman Farooqui for the lack of evidence. What a joke! Imagine the amount of money frittered by NAB in making up cases against these people, only to now declare that they are innocent.
Meanwhile, the curse of the VIPs continues. I get this email from an irate passenger saying that last Friday the PIA flight from Islamabad to Karachi “instead of departing at 3.00 pm was delayed by 15 minutes because our honourable Senate Chairman Farooq Naek came in his Merc all the way to the tarmac to board the flight.”
“It’s about time someone identified our VVIPs in uniform and in the judiciary too,” writes another concerned Pakistani.
Indeed, accountability across the board can save Pakistan in the final analysis.
Email: anjumniaz@rocketmail.com
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