Perne in a cyclic existence; escape should be our greatest imperative – but that is easier said than done. There comes a time in the life of all ordinary mortals when the great fountain of originality runs dry and the feeling of déjà vu becomes the invisible thorn in our flesh. The great mystics of the past became hermits to break out of this self-repeating cycle of inaction and gratification that fills the time between birth and death. The narrative in the new millennium is exactly the same as in the last one; the same lies, the same excuses, the same explanations, the same prayers and the same hopes – the only difference is the calendar year and fresher seeds of the human race. I see this everywhere but my concern today is Pakistan simply because I feel our need for Nirvana has never been greater than it is today.
Pakistan has grown older but many of us citizens deliberately or otherwise stagnate in the same putrid waters of uninspired and unoriginal thought and inaction. The same politicians tell us the same lies to win the same so-called right to rule us in the name of the same defective and rigged democracy. The same failures follow and we are given the same excuses and apologies – but what is missing from this fine dish of lies is the salt of culpability. The cup we see half full has holes in it and no amount of filling will ever give us the satisfaction of filling it to the brim. Lies have moved up from being institutional to national and now they have become generational – if you do not believe me, please take some time to read the ‘history’ taught in our schools or pick up a paper or if you prefer, watch TV especially day time TV. Ignorance has become ‘knowledge’ and truth has become an intolerable inconvenience. Recycled lies look exactly like old lies except they sound new because of our great ability to forget deliberately or otherwise. In the ‘gyres’ of a cyclic life, lessons are never learnt because mistakes are ‘never’ made so no one is ever responsible for our national failures and pains which are nasty and chronic in nature.
The outrage in Pakistan at the arrest, mal-treatment and subsequent conviction of Aafia Siddiqui in America is well documented so forgive my confused disgust when I read about the barbaric stoning to death of a woman in front of a court building in Lahore and in the presence of many hundreds some of whom were policemen. You would imagine such brutal murder would have been justified on account of some truly horrific crime; but the fact of the matter is, all she had done was to marry someone of her own choice. We, the people donned our self-righteous hats when a year ago the Delhi rape case was front page news but strangely we fail do anything about the daily rape and murder of women and children in Pakistan. It seems the only way we feel we can look better is when something horrific happens in India. This is the cycle of bigoted self-deception that is our reality; we cannot think inside the box let alone outside it.
We are not surprised when Chaudry Nisar, our Interior Minister, makes a puzzling statement; he says the law and order situation in Karachi is satisfactory and the operation against criminals in the city is going well. There can be only two explanations for this statement from our Minister; either the population of Pakistan is entirely made up of drooling idiots or Chaudry Nisar is a total imbecile. I am not prepared to accord him the title of ‘clever liar’ because that implies some degree of intelligence and competence. Karachi is convulsing and writhing in the unbearable pain of daily murder, kidnap and extortion and yet Chaudry Nisar finds the situation ‘satisfactory!’ MQM, who have cyclically been part of almost every Government in Sind, is complaining about the murder of their workers – its leader Altaf Hussain of Edgeware wastes no opportunity to screech and scream dire consequences in long distance telephonic addresses. MQM is less of a political party and more of a violent personality cult albeit in a city where violence and extortion tools used by other political parties too. Same politicians talking the same smelly stuff and we the people wonder why we cannot get rid of the putrid smell of intransigence.
Until Pakistan’s elects a prime minister we will have to do with Nawaz Sharif – and his extended family for running our national affairs. Pervaiz Rasheed says that Mr Sharif never invited India’s PM to his inauguration and that he never, at the time, expressed a desire to visit India. I recall vividly the moment when Mr Sharif did all this and said on TV that even if he did not get invited to India, will be happy to anyway. I am all for friendly relationships with neighbours but is all the lying necessary? The term ‘cricket diplomacy’ often slushes around in our electronic and print media as way of making things better with India; well, how long do we have to wait? Cricket diplomacy has managed to prevent, I am told, two or three hypothetical wars but it has failed to any impact on the Kashmir, water theft, territorial disputes and state-sponsored terrorism in Baluchistan. Pakistan does have serious internal law and order issues but the only question is not ‘how can India trust Pakistan’ but also vice versa.
Narendra Modi’s inauguration produced a striking image; gathered to celebrate his coronation were the likes of Nawaz Sharif, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Hamid Karzai – no wonder US decided to stay away from the party. India’s legal system's failure to deliver justice for thousands of murdered and maimed muslim victims of the Gujrat riots is a haunting travesty of the rule of law. Modi as the man in charge of Gujrat at the time was never charged, not even with dereliction of duty and today he sits on the throne of India, having got about 30% of the vote – described by the press as overwhelming mandate! Let me do the maths; 70% people did not vote for him but yet gets to rule them? Ah, the wiles and beauty of democracy!
Nawaz Sharif, who claimed Pakistan’s throne in an election that were so rotten that there was hardly any core left, broke bread with Modi – shall I make the jibe about the beauty of democracy again? Then there was Karzai; whose democratic credentials are as crooked as a Rs 157 banknote who mingled with other dignitaries as if no one had noticed the stink about him. Then of course, we saw the smiling face of Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa who has yet to answer very serious questions about the cold-blooded murder under his guard of hundreds, if not thousands of Tamils when LTTE was crushed. Rajapaksa hold on power is a direct result of a very South Asian kind of ‘democratic’ elections and I have little doubt he in the same club as Nawaz and Karzai. The cyclic nature of South Asian democracy and politics is like a disease that does not quite kill us but it also does not let us live a pain free life.
Nirvana is not just a quest for Modi but for all the people of South Asia who must seek a better brand of leaders. Our lives are controlled by unknown factors we can only label as x and y but this is because we fail to break out of a relationship that can only be defined as;
The square of x plus the square of y equals a number.
Breaking out of the circle of relentless lies and fatalistic inaction is our only hope – Nirvana is only a word unless of course you do something to achieve it.
Anyone up for Nirvana?