Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
The General and his band of supporters, or is it brigands, who have solely and immensely benefited from his illegal rule are singularly obsessed with keeping him president as long as he lives. They have distorted the already warped laws with the sole purpose of re-electing the General as the president so that he can keep working on his Vision 2030 programme. They do not remember that those projecting the 2010 and 2020 Vision are cooling their heels in Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
Once a friend said that it would have been great if people had long lives like Hazrat Nuh. I said that I was glad that our lives were shorter and more tenuous and asked him to imagine a scenario where a capricious autocrat like ours was to continue ruling for 900 years. He shuddered at the thought and said shorter lives were certainly a blessing.
In 1949 when the Chinese Communists were closing in on major cities like Nanking, etc., and meting out capital punishment to those involved in profiteering, prostitution, pimping, hoarding, drug-dealing, they failed to deter those involved – who knowing that they would be shown no mercy by the Red Army continued with these activities until the very last moment, hoping they would escape the fate met by others. Self-interest makes people oblivious to the dangers and consequences of their actions. Obsessed with self-interest, they completely lose touch with reality and here this principle seems to be working inexorably towards its logical conclusion.
I am amazed at the propensity of autocratic rulers to unerringly choose the path of self-destruction, although they see many self-destructs. Their penchant for self-destruction is, however, not without blessing for if they did not self-destruct, how on earth would one get rid of them?
Autocratic rulers, kings and dictators misperceive reality because of their misplaced belief in their infallibility, invincibility, indispensability, sagacity, and of course their 'Divine' right to rule. These factors combined with the deadly and insidious role of the opportunistic sycophants become a brew more dangerous than the purest nitro-glycerine, simply waiting to blow up at the slightest jolt. The problem is that not only do they blow themselves up, but in the process they destroy the lives and futures of the millions who languish under their rule.
The General himself is quite confidently treading the path that has spelt doom for many before him, but he thinks he enjoys immunity from any such mishap. When and how this latest saga of autocracy will end remains to be seen, but there can be no doubt about the outcome. He is being given a life-line by an equally desperate power-hungry politician, Benazir. Her name means 'unequalled' or 'matchless'. She certainly is matchless in her quest for power.
The General and his coterie are the greatest stumbling block to all progress and development. Though we are not quite Zimbabwe yet, but are steadily on that deadly course. A BBC report said, "Zimbabwe is to start circulating a new 200,000 Zimbabwe dollar note, in a bid to tackle the country's inflation, the highest in the world. The new note, issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, can buy one kg (2.2 lb) of sugar. Food and fuel shortages have become common as the government relies more heavily on imports, pushing prices to new heights. The official annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe is nearing 5,000 percent. In practice, this means the price of a loaf of bread costs 50 times more in cash than it did a year ago. The IMF forecasts that by the end of 2007, prices will be 1,000 times higher than they were a year earlier."
Regarding the situation here, a report on August 19th by Shahid Iqbal with words from the horse's (the State Bank's) mouth tells the story of the state of finances and looming disaster that threatens the very fabric of the state and its economic and social health. He says, "The government has borrowed a staggering amount of over $ 15 billion in the last four years, the as country's total debt and liabilities reached $ 40.172 billion at the end of June 2007, while it was $35.474 billion in 2003-04, the latest data by the State Bank reveals. Pakistan paid $ 9.706 billion as principal during 2003-07 and still the total external debt of the country increased by over $ 5 billion to push the total debt to $ 38.699 billion. In 2003-04, the total external debt was $ 33.352 billion. Had the government stopped borrowing, the country's total debt would have declined to $ 23.646 billion after payment of principal as debt-servicing at the end of June 2007…
Pakistan borrowed over $ 3 billion during 2006-07 alone, which was a sharp jump and was in contrast with the other three years when it made moderate borrowing. The figures reveal that the huge borrowing was made to make payment of debt-servicing and continuous current account deficits.
The massive borrowing raised the debt-servicing which had started rising after a substantial decrease in 2004-05 to $ 2.715 billion from $ 4.969 billion in 2003-04. The State Bank's latest figures showed that Pakistan paid $ 13.258 billion as debt-servicing, including $ 3.553 billion as interest during the last four years. The paid amount is close to the borrowing the country made during the same period. The State Bank has been purchasing billions of dollars from the local market by flooding the local currency and creating inflation in the country."
These massive borrowings are apart from the billion dollars a year that they get for their services in Fata.
The people are being increasingly burdened with bad debts just to meet the luxurious lifestyles of the ruling elite and lining the pockets of the few, as is apparent from the stock exchange indexes and real estate prices. The borrowed money is simply being used to perpetuate the present rule because there has been no major investment in public works, power, infrastructure, health or educational fields and welfare or research. Not only has the quality of governance deteriorated, the entire system is in shambles, bridges collapse, prices inflate uncontrollably, people disappear, institutions like PIA go down the drain, the rich-poor divide sharpens and lawlessness has asphyxiated life in general.
Democracy was already bleeding to death under the rule of nincompoops led by the General. It was hoped that the Supreme Court (SC) would give decisions that would help staunch the ebbing life, but all expectations and wishful thinking were dashed to smithereens by the 'doctrine of non-maintainability'.
The organised, wilful and premeditated violence against the lawyers and journalists on Constitution Avenue on September 29 was the direct consequence of this decision. There will definitely be bloodier and more callous attacks against civil society by the illegal government, which has been lent respectability by this decision.
Edward G. Browne in Vol I of his book, A Literary History of Persia, tells about the end of the Saffavid dynasty (A.D. 868-895), which was established by Yakub bin Layth ( son of a coppersmith, hence the name Saffavid, i.e. the Brazier Dynasty) and lost by his brother Amr. The "most extraordinary battle between Amr bin Layth and Ismail bin Ahmad the Samanid near Balkh in May 895A.D., which put an end to Saffavid power. Amr bin Layth was declared a rebel by Caliph al-Mutamid in AD 884, was again restored to favour in AD 890, but again lost favour in AD 895. He was utterly routed by Ismail bin Ahmad whom the Caliph had incited. The 70,000 horsemen he had reviewed before the battle were all scattered, though it is said not one was even wounded [an aside: it was an army in the PML(Q) mould] and the evening saw the fallen prince a captive in the enemy camp in want of supper.
A farrash, who had formerly been in his employment, happened to pass by, and took pity on him. He brought some meat, borrowed a frying pan from one of the soldiers, made a fire of camel-dung, and set the pan over it, supported on a few clods of earth. Then he went off to get some salt, and while he was gone a hungry dog, attracted by the savoury smell, came up and thrust its nose into the frying-pan to pick out the bone. The hot frying-pan burned its nose and as it drew back its head the ring-like handle of the pan fell on its neck, and when it took to its heels in terror it carried the frying-pan and the supper with it. When Amr saw this, he turned to the soldiers and sentinels who stood by and said, 'Be warned by me! I am he whose kitchen it needed 400 camels to carry this morning and tonight it has been carried off by a dog!'"
The above anecdote signifies the volatility and precariousness of rulers and of life in general and of generals, because situations change suddenly and awkwardly without so much as an indication to one who is about to be the victim of that change. Certainly that morning when Amr bin Layth was reviewing his 70,000 strong army, he had no idea that deserted by them, he would end up a captive of Ismail, but rulers heed not.
Hafiz Shirazi has said:
"Fe al jumla aitbar makun bar sabbat-e-dahar
Kay een karkhanai ast kay taghaiur mi kunad."
It means,
"Do not trust the apparent steadfastness of the world
It is a place where abrupt changes are the norm."
The writer has been associated with the Baloch national struggle
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