JUN 11 - Musharraf regime - dictatorship in nature - therefore isolated in form and substance, ended up due to lack of proper governance and public support. There may be many more reasons but I have mentioned here only the two that I felt needed to be mentioned. The results were any way disastrous as we all know.
As for the Zardari government - elected democratically though - lacks trust and credibility as many many may agree with me. Whether a Liberal or a Rightist, both have common feelings in this matter and somewhat a similar opinion on Zardari's reputation and capabilities. Some have even questioned his mental ability.
Zardari's leadership was born out of a ceaserian operation - an unborn politician was stem-celled to synthetically grow overnight into a leader-cum-deliverer for the Pakistanis. Whether he was a willing or an unwilling party to this fast-paced (some say scripted) development only history will tell and the historians will judge.
From Musharraf to Zardari, I feel, the net return on investment made by the nation has been a ZERO SUM GAME. Some may argue that the zero game encompasses all 62 years. I will agree but I do not want to take the clock backwards in my first part of musings. Another time, another day!
10 years (I am counting since 1999 when Gen Musharraf was parachuted by his colleagues onto the seat of power) the nation as a whole have grudgingly passed and we are still trekking to somewhere or no where, I don't know, do you?
The vision that we are going somewhere evokes fear of the unknown. The imagination of our destiny seems as elusive as the thought of the internet - that really a world wide web which seems to be growing and growing sucking all of us, body mind and soul, into its womb, at the same time exponentially multiplying in size and dimension, geometrically creating myriad numbers of parallel world out there. At the end of the way we have become atoms and molecules being gobbled by a big black hole.
I do not mean to scare any one but there is really it seems to me a scarry similarity in Pakistan's state of affairs and the internet. I will address this observation later.
We are now 62 years old but still discussing whether Jinnah, our nation's "only" father (The US has a set of fathers, they call them forefathers) meant Pakistan to be an Islamic (I mean Islam for governance and law) state or whether he wanted the nation to be for the Muslims (like Israel for Jews) but wished the governance of the state to be Western - where laws, statecraftship and governance are based on Greek, Roman and other ancient civilization's political and adminsitrative practices that predates Christian Bible.
The nation's biggest stake holder - the Awam - still awaits since September 11 2001 for some one or a group of leaders (like America's forefathers) to fix the bearing for our ship, define a definite course for it, so that the passengers of the ship and the ship itself can get out of the storm which has brewed in our lands - thanks to the clouds that gathered somewhere else but glided eastward in our direction.
Lack or absence or non-performance by weather pundits (read visionaries, thinkers, think-tanks, study groups, etc.) has brought us I feel to where we are now.
Our politicians and leaders, individually and collectively, are jumping around like chicken without heads - like fish out of water - like a bull in a China shop - like the Jungle ka Badshah who did what he could do best: If he was a tiger he became a leader out of strength (coup), and he ate others for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, if he was a monkey, he became a leader out of sheer weight of numbers (democracy) and he therefore danced from one tree to another and ate whatever grew on those trees 24/7!
The role and performances of the Generals, Babus, Judges in nexus with tribal leaders did not allow anything else except for themselves. This matter has been a subject of study. Much have already been written and spoken about it.
Today, we still find ourselves in the eye of the storm, splashing the waters of the whirpool like an unwanted swimmer or more likely like a non-swimmer. The nation's psychology and the state's ship thus have both been damaged. This is the bad part.
Now the good part:
Within our damaged psychology, mind, body and bodypolitik, in our stem-cells, veins, blood, bones, flesh et all, there still remains our good DNAs, fresh stem-cells, good blood, living cells, working veins and active neurons that can be beaded together like a string of pearls and then harnessed, multiplied, worn, exhibited, touted, demonstrated, so we - the nation - as a whole can rise, elevate its self-esteem and create a trait, super goal, a super value- call it Pakistaniat - just as Americans say: It is "un-American" OR It is "American".
All things good out there are American! American has been created as an adjective. For example loving anmals is American. Loving life is too. Temper management is American too. Not touching each other is American too. Enjoying life is American too. Take all values - they are all American. Why not part of Pakistaniat? Why can't Pakistaniat become an adjective? It is simple but powerful. Stand on it and we may be able to move the world.
This is that strategic depth that we really need - not just a friendly Afghanistan on our Western border as our strategic depth. That is horizontal and only just one plane in the holistic dimension of existentialism.
Vertically, even if it is only by the word of our mouth, by single murmers if neccessary, we need to create out there a mammoth reverberation of a set of those values which are based on simple common sense and evoke ownership of the good parts and elements of our traditions, customs, and history.
We need to reclaim ownership of our two histories: Cultural and Religious. Combination of both by permutation, extrapolation and interpolation will create Pakistaniat.
This will automatically evolve into a powerful, a peaceful but a strong proud nation where religion as an issue or for that matter all other issues will only be a part of the whole called Pakistaniat and not Pakistaniat itself.
To be continued...
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