fatman17
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view: Getting our priorities right Shahzad Chaudhry
Pakistan as a state beset with security issues needs prioritised treatment of its litany of maladies. When the overall structure is in danger of burning down, it is advisable to first fight the fire than search for the carpenter to blame him for doing a terrible job
Some new elements have entered the discourse on Pakistans troubles. And the thinking class has done no favours by attempting to deflect attention from the clear and present danger. Case in point: Asif Ezdis article Thank You, Sufi Mohammad, carried in The News of April 29, 2009.
Mr Ezdi terms the militancy in Swat and elsewhere a brewing revolution similar to the French Revolution of 1789, and lambasts the liberal elite for their failure to comprehend such underpinnings.
Ejaz Haider, in his piece Our intellectual demise (Daily Times, April 30), has surgically unravelled the weak theoretical basis of such an argument; that should be enough to kill such vagrant thought. There is however a need to place into perspective the underlying effort in such approaches towards the insurgency.
The second such diversionary effort brings into question the use of force without qualification; in other words, suggesting the futility of the entire effort, and thus proposing submission and a fait accompli. This, again, is a very dangerous suggestion.
Feisal Naqvi calls it learned helplessness (Daily Times, April 29). A ***, in an experiment quoted in his article, attuned to helplessness, drowns when thrown in deep water in only 30 minutes as compared to another still given to fighting and struggle, who will survive on the average for sixty hours before drowning.
Drown both will, but if the consequence is to determine the conduct, then the famous fable of a Mexican seeking relaxation applies to the protagonists of the popular national sentiment. It certainly doesnt help if the proponents of such notions have been till very recently the forbears of what the liberal elite are blamed for propounding, especially those who need to be seen battling for gender equality.
Ezdi has not chosen to elaborate his prescription for the problem as he describes it. But were he to do so, one assumes feudalism is probably what he wishes to treat. Feudalism, more an intellectual entity in any discourse than a physical denomination though that too is a reality has meant greater political space for some who seek to become national leaders while only representing a narrow segment of society.
It ought be stated that feudalism in its physical shape will continue to be a curse around which the state has reluctantly accepted to grow since independence. However, what might hold better promise is recognising the fact that the phenomenon has diluted sufficiently now to mutate into various forms along a wider spectrum of ownership, not necessarily the landed feudals that were the original culprits.
This has come about as part of an evolutionary process and not the revolutionary model that is being encouraged for quick remedy. A continuation of the trend, along with other factors such as better education and greater upward socio-economic mobility etc will trounce the old order and bring hope to the under-privileged.
The malady runs deeper.
Pakistan, as a federation of composite units of varying hues, has survived till date despite the structural dichotomies. To treat these problems with shock therapy is absolutely ill-thought and entirely destructive. In a developing and evolving discourse of sensibilities and emotions, on the back of armed insurgencies in Balochistan and FATA, with sub-nationalism and religion used as vehicles of propagation, the effort of disparate groups is to seek moral acquiescence of the unwitting masses and an unquestioned position of power, political relevance and access to resources to establish themselves as warlord-feudals. Thus they rubbish the institutions of electoral democracy and consider its various attachments repugnant to religious teachings.
An unnecessarily long military involvement in politics, though anchored more in the personalities heading the military establishment rather than the organisation per se, has left raw resident emotion in competitive institutional entities that keep resurfacing regularly. Those seeking remedy more often than not propose irrational solutions, even if they may endanger the super-structure.
This is not to say that disparities do not exist, or do not need redress. It is the larger issue of phasing the processes that may attend to this increasingly complex hierarchy of concerns. Just as a line of action is chosen, howsoever reluctantly, there are always distractions created to seek dilution of effort.
Pakistan as a state beset with security issues needs prioritised treatment of its litany of maladies. When the overall structure is in danger of burning down, it is advisable to first fight the fire than search for the carpenter to blame him for doing a terrible job, or, even more ludicrous, to discuss with him the style and design of the replacement furniture. These may be valid concerns, but only after the fire has been doused.
The writer is a retired air vice marshal of the Pakistan Air Force and a former ambassador. He can be contacted at shahzad.a.chaudhry@gmail.com
Pakistan as a state beset with security issues needs prioritised treatment of its litany of maladies. When the overall structure is in danger of burning down, it is advisable to first fight the fire than search for the carpenter to blame him for doing a terrible job
Some new elements have entered the discourse on Pakistans troubles. And the thinking class has done no favours by attempting to deflect attention from the clear and present danger. Case in point: Asif Ezdis article Thank You, Sufi Mohammad, carried in The News of April 29, 2009.
Mr Ezdi terms the militancy in Swat and elsewhere a brewing revolution similar to the French Revolution of 1789, and lambasts the liberal elite for their failure to comprehend such underpinnings.
Ejaz Haider, in his piece Our intellectual demise (Daily Times, April 30), has surgically unravelled the weak theoretical basis of such an argument; that should be enough to kill such vagrant thought. There is however a need to place into perspective the underlying effort in such approaches towards the insurgency.
The second such diversionary effort brings into question the use of force without qualification; in other words, suggesting the futility of the entire effort, and thus proposing submission and a fait accompli. This, again, is a very dangerous suggestion.
Feisal Naqvi calls it learned helplessness (Daily Times, April 29). A ***, in an experiment quoted in his article, attuned to helplessness, drowns when thrown in deep water in only 30 minutes as compared to another still given to fighting and struggle, who will survive on the average for sixty hours before drowning.
Drown both will, but if the consequence is to determine the conduct, then the famous fable of a Mexican seeking relaxation applies to the protagonists of the popular national sentiment. It certainly doesnt help if the proponents of such notions have been till very recently the forbears of what the liberal elite are blamed for propounding, especially those who need to be seen battling for gender equality.
Ezdi has not chosen to elaborate his prescription for the problem as he describes it. But were he to do so, one assumes feudalism is probably what he wishes to treat. Feudalism, more an intellectual entity in any discourse than a physical denomination though that too is a reality has meant greater political space for some who seek to become national leaders while only representing a narrow segment of society.
It ought be stated that feudalism in its physical shape will continue to be a curse around which the state has reluctantly accepted to grow since independence. However, what might hold better promise is recognising the fact that the phenomenon has diluted sufficiently now to mutate into various forms along a wider spectrum of ownership, not necessarily the landed feudals that were the original culprits.
This has come about as part of an evolutionary process and not the revolutionary model that is being encouraged for quick remedy. A continuation of the trend, along with other factors such as better education and greater upward socio-economic mobility etc will trounce the old order and bring hope to the under-privileged.
The malady runs deeper.
Pakistan, as a federation of composite units of varying hues, has survived till date despite the structural dichotomies. To treat these problems with shock therapy is absolutely ill-thought and entirely destructive. In a developing and evolving discourse of sensibilities and emotions, on the back of armed insurgencies in Balochistan and FATA, with sub-nationalism and religion used as vehicles of propagation, the effort of disparate groups is to seek moral acquiescence of the unwitting masses and an unquestioned position of power, political relevance and access to resources to establish themselves as warlord-feudals. Thus they rubbish the institutions of electoral democracy and consider its various attachments repugnant to religious teachings.
An unnecessarily long military involvement in politics, though anchored more in the personalities heading the military establishment rather than the organisation per se, has left raw resident emotion in competitive institutional entities that keep resurfacing regularly. Those seeking remedy more often than not propose irrational solutions, even if they may endanger the super-structure.
This is not to say that disparities do not exist, or do not need redress. It is the larger issue of phasing the processes that may attend to this increasingly complex hierarchy of concerns. Just as a line of action is chosen, howsoever reluctantly, there are always distractions created to seek dilution of effort.
Pakistan as a state beset with security issues needs prioritised treatment of its litany of maladies. When the overall structure is in danger of burning down, it is advisable to first fight the fire than search for the carpenter to blame him for doing a terrible job, or, even more ludicrous, to discuss with him the style and design of the replacement furniture. These may be valid concerns, but only after the fire has been doused.
The writer is a retired air vice marshal of the Pakistan Air Force and a former ambassador. He can be contacted at shahzad.a.chaudhry@gmail.com
