Forward March: About Turn (Najam Sethi)

The Friday Times, March 10-17, 2005
Forward march, about turn
Najam Sethi's E d i t o r i a l

General Pervez Musharraf has gone hoarse exhorting Pakistanis to be "moderate" and "enlightened". He has trooped all over the country pleading for a "soft image" of Pakistan. He has posed with Grand Prix racing car drivers, jogged with Marathon runners, mingled with glitterati at fashion shows, sported well cut western suits, chomped Havana cigars in bush shirts, rubbed shoulders with music bands like Junoon, and so on, with one aim in mind: to show the rest of the world that we're "regular" guys doing all the moderate things that normal people do in this day and age and not the fiery, fanatical, bearded, blood curdling terrorists and jihadis that we are made out to be by the western media. Alas. In the last few months, we can point to at least four cases in which the leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League have consciously obfuscated, abandoned or negated the very principles of enlightened moderation espoused by General Musharraf.

One example of mealy mouthed obfuscation and contradiction in government was demonstrated by the issue of the "religion-column" in the proposed new machine readable passports. The federal interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, and the religious affairs minister, Ijaz ul Haq, remained at loggerheads. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the PML president, was loath to abandon his pro-MMA instincts. The issue required one firm policy statement from the very top but none was forthcoming. Meanwhile, the foreign media went to town and ridiculed Pakistan.

The issue of "honour-killing" continues to provide grist to foreign mills. MNA Sherry Rehman's reform bill was summarily shot down by the PML last year. Then, amidst much ridiculous chest thumping by PML MNAs about the justification for honour killings, the king's party passed a feeble law against karo-kari. One phone call from General Musharraf would have saved the country much embarrassment but none was forthcoming in the "national interest". When Kashmala Tariq, an MNA from the PML, recently floated another bill to plug the loopholes in the law, the PML again flocked to the MMA, hid behind its skirts and scuttled the bill. Where was Shaukat Aziz, our enlightened prime minister obsessed about the symbiotic relationship between the economy and our national image, at that time? Why didn't General Musharraf order Chaudhry Shujaat to whip his wayward flock into submission? Why does the ruling party constantly mock itself, its leader and the nation over important human rights issues?

The dangerous controversy over the Aga Khan University Examination Board is another such case. The AKUEB was set up by General Musharraf in 2002 and incorporated into the 17th constitutional amendment with the approval of the MMA. This enables private universities and colleges to be affiliated to the AKUEB and conduct their exams under its professional umbrella. It is a sensible arrangement because of the failing international credibility of public sector degree awarding educational institutions. But the mullahs don't like it precisely because of its a-religious professionalism. So they have been trying to whip up a religious storm against it. Regrettably, some ministers in the Punjab government have lent their shoulder to the mullahs' mischief even as others have supported the federal law. What's going on?

Now the High Court has gone by the book and shamed us all. The state prosecutor couldn't produce one credible witness out of the 150 witnesses to the gang rape of Makhtar Mai. So the court acquitted all except one. Wonderful. This is a great blow for the judiciary, is it? The judges have redeemed their honour and upheld their independence, have they? What happened to them when the first and second and third martial law was imposed upon Pakistan? What happened to them when they were blinded by the chamak of powerful politicians? What happened to our busybody advocates General and our learned Attorney General and our able Law Ministers and hard working Law Secretaries when this case was being "argued" by the state before their honourable lordships? The fact is that no one gave a damn. No one picked up the phone to insist and demand that the prosecution should make a water tight case and get the convictions to redeem our collective national honour. But now that the world media is denouncing Pakistan, the federal information minister has hastily informed us that the government intends to appeal the judgment on instructions from "the top".

Forward march. About turn. Forward march, about turn. That's the name of the stupid game. There is no real vision. There is no substantive planning. There is no effective enlightened moderation. When it suits us, ground realities become paramount. When it doesn't, ground realities can go to hell. The National Defence College in Islamabad is holding seminars to imbue parliamentarians with "correct" notions of national security and democracy. Many civil administrative institutions now have generals lording over them. Parliament is guided by a man in uniform. Granted that civilians are useless, anarchic, ill-reputed. But how many lessons, might we ask, have such distinguished khakis given our honourable civilian representatives in human rights, liberal values, religious moderation?
None, we fear. And there's the rub.