I give only one message. It is the message of the morrow, the message of history. Believe only in the people, work only for their emancipation and equality. The paradise of God lies under the feet of your mother. The paradise of politics lies under the feet of the people. I have quite a few achievements to my credit in the public life of the Sub-continent but, in my memory, the most rewarding achievements have been those which have brought smiles of joy to the weary faces of our miserable masses, achievements which have brought a twinkle to the melancholy eye of a villager – (My dearest daughter: A letter from a death cell – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto).
With words as such the Bhutto still beckons; in his time of captivity as reason gave way to recluse and his conscience slowly embraced the wings of fate; the torrid soul spewed out the wisdom that had been cocooned in his being. A hopeless hopeful in his last days, the firebrand who was once envisioned as the leader of the third world had been reduced to a politico gambit of the Martials. As he penned his last words to his daughter, he forged in them his mettle and spirit; a solemn ode to the brave; a morituiri te salutant!
Ex post facto the nation has been in the pythonic grip of the military establishment and the once formidable PPP which boasted the collective strength and zest of a generation has relegated to a hodgepodge circus that will make Ze Bhutto turn in his grave. The peoples “party” – as in a political ideology – has been morphed into a “party” of merry-making and good times as the convivial clowns feast on the treasury. Forget about strength of conviction and tackling the issues; forget about the challenges of poverty and illiteracy; of Baloch sectarianism and injustice; of education and innovation; of mobilizing our talents and revamping our economics; the present assembly of blockheads in Islamabad will consider the completion of their tenure as their biggest toast to boast. The spectrum of intelligence lies nestled between the infamous “aap ki nazar mein” to “kehna bohot asaan hai”.
Sandwiched between the shadow governance of our “heroic” army and the umbrella conspiracies of the western my- baaps; the status quo is of a frustrated defiance stripped naked of any morals and decency. From parliament to local government; any substantial investment towards any institution for the common good is viewed as a wasteful exercise in futility. Under the present predicament, the collective mindset is of – a temporary opportunity so heavenly afforded in a narrow window of democracy to salvage the gains and consolidate the coffers – and it has reached demonic proportions.
As a result we have become an Orwellian prophecy; A Martin Seligman experiment on animal-psychology of “learned helplessness” – where an animal is repeatedly hurt by an adverse stimulus which it cannot escape. Eventually the animal will stop trying to avoid the pain and behave as if it is utterly helpless to change the situation. This learning is so powerful that even after the stimulus is stopped the behavior stays and when a chance to escape is presented, the learned helplessness prevents any action.
There is no denying the army’s tyranny of an abusive –cum- sadistic parent. One even finds many an argument in favor of and justifying the Memo-gate (if proven true) that it highlights the desperado attempt of a civilian government to avert another coup d’état and assert its authority and significance, but this is just absolute claptrap nonsense. If the army is to be denied any future endeavors then the purist way forward was and has always been for our elected leaders to cultivate an environment of trust fostering a meticulous and undistracted inquiry into the issues that plague us, followed by a piercing pursuit of solutions therefore. Such an activity if conducted by an educated and progressive group of credible officeholders who are in-tune with the sentiments of the people they represent will be a genuine step forward to change; it will cement in our psyche that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is the righteous path to prosperity. The CBMs or confidence building measures so oft used for international relations are needed closer to home as our society is further carved by sectarianism; regional upheavals and religious fanaticism.
The present government has failed miserably in all regards; if “democracy is the best revenge” then this brand of democracy is a mockery of the martyrs and it will avenge nothing. The childish fixation on trivial matters masquerading ambitions of greed and plot has further fanned the archaic concepts of enlightened despotism and wants of a messianic revolution. In the words of the great Bhutto – “If things do not change, there will be nothing left to change. Either power must pass to the people or everything will perish”
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