For years now we’ve known about unchecked crime injustice and maladministration rife in Sindh, and taken to art form in Karachi. We have known about murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, and plunder without let or hindrance; of outlaws recruited into the police, of hitmen belonging to various political outfits massively inducted into various government organizations: of the total breakdown of the administrative machinery and the non- functionality of the courts and the legal system.
We have known all that but, knew it in broad generality. Not till the last few months, when this broad generality started getting filled out by figures and numbers did the full horror of the situation sink in as far as most of us were concerned. Not till we heard about the daily take of extortion by the MQM thugs; the monthly plunder by the PPP ministers through their front men; the tens of kills of individual political hitmen; the daylight theft of everything capable of being stolen: indeed not till we heard the names of the political bigwigs who were sponsors of all these criminal activities and realized that it was a rare political bird indeed who did not make it to these lists, did we finally get an idea of the sheer scale of crime rampant in Karachi in particular, and in Sindh and the rest of the country, generally. Only then did we get an idea of how organized this crime was [and is]; that it was driven by policy; that as a matter of fact this was the central policy of those elected to govern the province and the country, and it is from this that many other lesser policies emanated.
If anyone has any doubt about the centrality of a policy of plunder backed by immunity for the plunderers, followed both by PPP and PML-N, one only has to take cognizance of two basic facts viz: one, that of the tens of mega corruption cases not a single one was pursued, investigated, or prosecuted by either party–then or now. And two, not even one of the lesser parties sitting in parliament has taken the trouble to air even a modicum of concern over this issue, which, given the scale of the plunder and mis-governance would be considered an existential threat by any country with the size of our economy.
How could this situation come about, without a clear understanding among ALL political parties who have a stake in the Pakistani pie, which all are sharing, each according to its ability?
How, after all, did the concept of a “friendly” opposition evolve–a concept fundamentally antithetical even to the most watered-down concept of democracy?
There should be little doubt in any mind that this concept was central to the infamous Charter of Democracy. This Charter seems to have taken to heart a central slogan of the Republican Party of the U.S that ” the government that governs least, governs best”. Add to this the proviso that in a democracy, theft is the prerogative of those elected to commit it, and that it is the duty of the government to provide protection to the perpetrators, and you have Pakistani democracy in action!
Of all the horror stories of what Karachi has suffered over the last few years, the most shocking was the revelation that the MQM has been a dedicated Indian fifth column in the pay of RAW. But why should this have caused any shock to the establishment. After all, the MQM-RAW connection was uncovered during the 1992 Karachi Operation and was well known to the intelligence agencies. Because Ghulam Ishaq Khan cut this operation short, it should have been expected that plenty of RAW sleeper cells would have weathered the worst of the storm, would reorganize, and in time would be called out by their masters to commit mayhem in Karachi. And if RAW needed any favours, they were not long in coming when Parvez Musharraf breathed fresh life into a moribund MQM. But as if that was not quite an achievement, Musharraf’s NRO also rehabilitated the two biggest thieves in the country, and legitimized corruption in our land which now rules society unchecked, completely demolishing our skeletal value system. Musharraf thus became the mother of the nexus between treachery and corruption which has now taken the form of an existential monster.
What he left out was filled in by the Charter of Democracy. No single person has done more to gut this country than this ex-generalissimo, who has now come back to become president all over again…someone who, when it came time to stand like a man and take it on the chin, got himself holed out in a CMH! O the pity of it all.
To the sleeper RAW cells in Karachi was added an Asif Ali Zardari in power, the most venal and characterless wretch that the foul soil of the sub-continent ever produced. Into this equation was added the “friendly” opposition of Nawaz Sharif, our expert white-collar criminal, and the triad was complete. With this combination in operation, any tit of an officer in any intelligence organization could have concluded that the end of Pakistan as we have known it was nigh. After all if even the junior most intelligence operative had put himself in the shoes of the chief of RAW, he would conclude quite easily that if Pakistan were to be brought to its knees, it was not to be done in FATA, but in Karachi, where triggering off of a prolonged water crisis alone would be quite enough to garrote the mega city, from where the rot would easily spread north and west.
So why did this scenario not occur to anyone in the establishment all the while when the rot was well and truly spreading and the foundations of Pakistan were eroding?
I have two takes on this. One a broader and deeper one, and the other a more immediate one.
First, the broader one. The only part of the “establishment” which had some form and institutional independence left, was the army. But this “independence” after a progression of Martials Law, eventually came to be vested solely in the office of the army chief, as it became a one-error army, engulfed in insecurities, so that voicing of a professional disagreement by a junior made the superior officer insecure. Such disagreements came to be seen as insidious to “loyalty”.
Second, the generals progressively kept voting themselves privileges which made them a different “class” with little or no connection with junior officers except in an odd conference, a model discussion, a lecture, or a chance encounter. Indeed, if the generals were now to start getting buried in separate graveyards, the breach would be complete. This cut off the generals from what I would call a ” feel” for the sentiments prevailing under them–a feel which can always be translated as knowledge, and often as inspiration. With this knowledge and, or, inspiration missing, if there was to be any chance of a general breaking through the institutional “insecurity” and speaking his mind to the army chief, such chance evaporated.
So now I come back to the same question i.e. when anyone could have appreciated where a combination of treachery and plunder would lead, why was nothing done to remedy the situation?
The answer by now should be very clear. Among what constitutes the “establishment”, the greatest traitor [Altaf Hussain] was in cahoots with the greatest thief [Asif Ali Zardari]. And both of these were in partnership with the man leading the “friendly opposition”, Mian Nawaz Sharif [our expert white-collar criminal]. The central policy of the governing clique was theft and immunity from accountability for themselves, and harassment and prosecution of those creating obstacles in the way of this unholy alliance [witness the treatment meted out to Chairman NADRA for just one example]. And who is left out of this equation? The Chief Justice and the Army Chief?
Both of them were icons, to begin with. Both tottered and fell to the irresistible blandishments of Malik Riaz Hussain. He first trapped Brig Amjad Kiyani of the Kiyani syndicate, a very willing victim of entrapment. It was not long thereafter that the DHA scandal burst forth, which made Gen Parvez Kiyani and Lt Gen Imtiaz Hussain billionaires on the glittering firmament of newly rich upstarts of Pakistan. And they were then joined by Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry, the son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who too was seduced by Malik Riaz without having to be wooed.
Thus, for about five years Pakistan suffered an embarrassment of riches which must be unique in the annals of world thuggery. The biggest thief of the country became its president, supported by the second biggest thief as a loyal leader of the opposition. The most corrupt judge became the Chief Justice of the country, with the most corrupt general as the Army Chief. And this conglomerate of human refuse was held together by the most despicable pimp of the nation–Malik Riaz Hussain.
Thus, in this “establishment” who was to appreciate and warn whom about what was afoot unless immediate remedial measures were to be taken? The lesser Generals who still preserved themselves uncorrupted? Well, to the best of my knowledge none of them broke their silence and ventured forth. The culture of the “one error army” and their resultant insecurities were far too ingrained in them to allow them to stray and break free from the instinct of self-preservation.
But at last the unimaginable seems to be happening. Finally, the Generals who so long had flattered to deceive, seem to be standing up for their country. In this process they need to cast a very serious eye at Karachi. They must immediately exert all their power to bring Karachi back from the brink. Each day they lose, they allow the enemy to entrench. And with each day of limbo, they lose credibility, which is perhaps the only real resource left to their country.
Every week we hear that they admonish, cajole, berate, and advise the Sindh government to improve its governance. It is about time they shed their naivete. They should finally understand that the present dispensation is not vested in any shape manner or form, in the idea of good governance. They have been thieving so long, that even if they wanted to change, they cannot. They have already destroyed the police, the judiciary, and the civil services, the very tools required for good governance. The Sindh government cannot improve its governance because this is essentially Asif Zardari’s government. And what is his record of governance except the percentages he is known for?
The army needs to push for governor’s rule in Sindh. It must do this without further loss of time. It must use its influence to appoint a governor solely on the basis of merit. It must then place the very best among the civil servants and police officers in the most important positions. And then it should give total support to these officers to improve governance.
Along with this it must use its influence with the Chief Justice of Sindh to improve the functioning of the courts. If this is done with dedication and sincerity and the will to succeed, success will come. The situation in Sindh will start improving. The people will start getting their faith back in the country. And this faith will strengthen and spread. This is the need of the hour.
Do I really believe that if the army is totally committed, it will be able to retrieve Pakistan’s fortunes? Yes, I do. And my reasons are simple. First, it is the ONLY institution in the country which has the power to do so. Second, so far it has not really put a foot wrong. And third, it is the sole repository of my hope. And hope is the only thing we have left. Without it, there will be nothing.