Durran3
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There is so much to write about this week, but first to my friend Mr Mukhtar Butt, earlier of Karachi Cantonment, now just of Karachi, as quoted in Letters to the Editor of Aug 20.
He says, We always target the army that ruled for almost 31 years but we tend to ignore the rule by civilians that also runs over 32 years and not 17 years as quoted by the writer.
I had merely taken the years the Pakistan Army ruled Pakistan directly under various types of martial law and attempted to show the periods that dictators remained in power as against elected civilians.
But I do not have a problem to illustrate the periods of rule of civilians before Ayub Khan: Liaquat Ali Khan: four years and two months; Khawaja Nazimuddin: one year and six months; Mohammad Ali Bogra: two years and six months; Chaudhry Mohammad Ali (bureaucrat, nominated): one year; H.S. Suhrawardy: one year; I.I. Chundrigar: two months; Feroz Khan Noon: 10 months; Nurul Amin: 13 days. (I have not included the caretaker prime ministers in the list).
We should note that even Gen Yahya Khan lasted two years and nine months. However, I have a correction to make in ZABs stay in power: it wasnt just the four years that he was prime minister; he was president for two years and 10 months before that, taking his total stay in power to six years and 10 months, even so far less than three of Pakistans army dictators. Incidentally, adding Yayhas period brings army rule to 33 years and eight months!
But back to Mr Butts earlier letter (Aug 15) not all of which I answered last week. On Afghanistan he asserts, We hold an important position in the region and the US cannot achieve the desired results without our help. We have to put up a brave face, stand tall and spell out our demands to the US....
First about putting on a brave face and standing tall. These are mutually exclusive terms, please sirs. For, putting on a brave face means, variously, to behave in a way that makes people think you are happy when you are not; that you are not as ill as others think you are; that you are not as terrified as it seems, and so on. It means that you put on a brave face to deceive others as to your actual (dire) situation. How, then, can you stand tall if you are putting on a brave face?
In any case, what pray do we Pakistanis have to stand tall on? Our desperate illiteracy? Our back-breaking poverty? Our descent into religious and sectarian extremism, and utter and complete cruelty towards our minorities? Our hypocrisy when it comes to striking attitudes? Our growing violence? What do we stand tall on, please?
I know that there will be some who will say, But we have the bomb, what is this fellow going on about! An immediate question: who, pray will we use the bomb on, for Gods sake? Bagram airbase? No, a thousand times no; let us stand up to our own height which, if the rest of the worlds is 14 feet combined, should be about 1-1/2 feet, and build ourselves up (taller!) the way other civilised countries have. Say, by spending less on vastly expensive but useless weapons systems such as F-16s which reportedly are programmed not to fly into India (our main so-called enemy), and more on education and providing healthcare and safe drinking water to our people.
As for holding an important position in the region and the US not being able to achieve the desired results without our help we ought to stop this mantra and ask ourselves how long will we be able, or be allowed to, milk our geographical location? For how long will we make use of our nuisance value?
Look around please, reader, and ask yourself if Pakistan has even one friend in the region i.e., the countries that abut us, that trusts us fully and completely? There is not one, not even China that does not have issues that make it uncomfortable when it comes to this countrys slide into uncontrolled militancy and resultant terrorism.
No, the way forward is not to attempt to stand up to our quite puny height and talk down to other powers in a bid to gain prominence through them, aided by our terrorist friends and pawns in Afghanistan and North Waziristan. For we are likely to fall down on our (brave) face.
The way forward is to befriend all the Afghan people: northerners, southerners, Pakhtun and Uzbek and Hazara, Sunni and Shia. To be the elder brother to Afghanistan, rather than its manipulator. We must also ask ourselves whether our last involvement in Afghanistan was good for that country or for Pakistan.
We should post haste, if not sooner, cleanse ourselves gentlemen, and show the world a kinder, gentler Pakistan. Which will not happen unless incidents such as the one in Sialkot are stopped with a firm hand before this barbarity grows and spreads. I have said this before to the hardworking and sincere Shahbaz Sharif: muzzle Rana Sanaullah before he loses the plot completely. He was on TV trying to explain away the Sialkot incident by telling us that this type of vigilante justice had become the norm in Gujranwala police range since the last year and half.
Could he tell us why something has not been done to stop this outrage? May we know why all the police officials, including the DPO, who were lolling about at the scene are not behind bars as abettors to that horrific crime? Is this something to stand tall on? (Or on Dr Shazias rape?)
In the end, a heartfelt thanks to the young American servicemen and women who are helping our people caught in the devastating floods. They are operating in a country that is considered hostile to America by pollsters. May the Almighty keep them in His care and return them to their loved ones safely.
In the end, a heartfelt thanks to the young American servicemen and women who are helping our people caught in the devastating floods. They are operating in a country that is considered hostile to America by pollsters. May the Almighty keep them in His care and return them to their loved ones safely.
He says, We always target the army that ruled for almost 31 years but we tend to ignore the rule by civilians that also runs over 32 years and not 17 years as quoted by the writer.
I had merely taken the years the Pakistan Army ruled Pakistan directly under various types of martial law and attempted to show the periods that dictators remained in power as against elected civilians.
But I do not have a problem to illustrate the periods of rule of civilians before Ayub Khan: Liaquat Ali Khan: four years and two months; Khawaja Nazimuddin: one year and six months; Mohammad Ali Bogra: two years and six months; Chaudhry Mohammad Ali (bureaucrat, nominated): one year; H.S. Suhrawardy: one year; I.I. Chundrigar: two months; Feroz Khan Noon: 10 months; Nurul Amin: 13 days. (I have not included the caretaker prime ministers in the list).
We should note that even Gen Yahya Khan lasted two years and nine months. However, I have a correction to make in ZABs stay in power: it wasnt just the four years that he was prime minister; he was president for two years and 10 months before that, taking his total stay in power to six years and 10 months, even so far less than three of Pakistans army dictators. Incidentally, adding Yayhas period brings army rule to 33 years and eight months!
But back to Mr Butts earlier letter (Aug 15) not all of which I answered last week. On Afghanistan he asserts, We hold an important position in the region and the US cannot achieve the desired results without our help. We have to put up a brave face, stand tall and spell out our demands to the US....
First about putting on a brave face and standing tall. These are mutually exclusive terms, please sirs. For, putting on a brave face means, variously, to behave in a way that makes people think you are happy when you are not; that you are not as ill as others think you are; that you are not as terrified as it seems, and so on. It means that you put on a brave face to deceive others as to your actual (dire) situation. How, then, can you stand tall if you are putting on a brave face?
In any case, what pray do we Pakistanis have to stand tall on? Our desperate illiteracy? Our back-breaking poverty? Our descent into religious and sectarian extremism, and utter and complete cruelty towards our minorities? Our hypocrisy when it comes to striking attitudes? Our growing violence? What do we stand tall on, please?
I know that there will be some who will say, But we have the bomb, what is this fellow going on about! An immediate question: who, pray will we use the bomb on, for Gods sake? Bagram airbase? No, a thousand times no; let us stand up to our own height which, if the rest of the worlds is 14 feet combined, should be about 1-1/2 feet, and build ourselves up (taller!) the way other civilised countries have. Say, by spending less on vastly expensive but useless weapons systems such as F-16s which reportedly are programmed not to fly into India (our main so-called enemy), and more on education and providing healthcare and safe drinking water to our people.
As for holding an important position in the region and the US not being able to achieve the desired results without our help we ought to stop this mantra and ask ourselves how long will we be able, or be allowed to, milk our geographical location? For how long will we make use of our nuisance value?
Look around please, reader, and ask yourself if Pakistan has even one friend in the region i.e., the countries that abut us, that trusts us fully and completely? There is not one, not even China that does not have issues that make it uncomfortable when it comes to this countrys slide into uncontrolled militancy and resultant terrorism.
No, the way forward is not to attempt to stand up to our quite puny height and talk down to other powers in a bid to gain prominence through them, aided by our terrorist friends and pawns in Afghanistan and North Waziristan. For we are likely to fall down on our (brave) face.
The way forward is to befriend all the Afghan people: northerners, southerners, Pakhtun and Uzbek and Hazara, Sunni and Shia. To be the elder brother to Afghanistan, rather than its manipulator. We must also ask ourselves whether our last involvement in Afghanistan was good for that country or for Pakistan.
We should post haste, if not sooner, cleanse ourselves gentlemen, and show the world a kinder, gentler Pakistan. Which will not happen unless incidents such as the one in Sialkot are stopped with a firm hand before this barbarity grows and spreads. I have said this before to the hardworking and sincere Shahbaz Sharif: muzzle Rana Sanaullah before he loses the plot completely. He was on TV trying to explain away the Sialkot incident by telling us that this type of vigilante justice had become the norm in Gujranwala police range since the last year and half.
Could he tell us why something has not been done to stop this outrage? May we know why all the police officials, including the DPO, who were lolling about at the scene are not behind bars as abettors to that horrific crime? Is this something to stand tall on? (Or on Dr Shazias rape?)
In the end, a heartfelt thanks to the young American servicemen and women who are helping our people caught in the devastating floods. They are operating in a country that is considered hostile to America by pollsters. May the Almighty keep them in His care and return them to their loved ones safely.
In the end, a heartfelt thanks to the young American servicemen and women who are helping our people caught in the devastating floods. They are operating in a country that is considered hostile to America by pollsters. May the Almighty keep them in His care and return them to their loved ones safely.
