The lost years
Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
19.07.2007
Indisputably a very high level of expertise and knowledge is required for creating genetically modified crops (GMCs). It is quite a difficult task to incorporate the desired changes in a crop, changes that would enhance its capabilities and qualities according to the needs and requirements of the scientists and entrepreneurs.
As is apparent from the scarcity of GMCs, this is not an easily achievable aim and not all can succeed in this venture. This lack of success and the high costs have made bio-engineering a science of the elite and a field which is off-limits to the less endowed and less talented lot on earth.
However, this crucial science for the survival of the burgeoning population of the world pales in comparison with one of the oldest but yet imperfect science that human beings have striven to develop through trial and error, though regrettably it still retains a larger proportion of the error aspect.
The science under review here is called the science of Genetically Modified Democracy (GDM). It is the product of attempts to legitimize blatantly illegal power and ruthlessly unjust policies. This is the ?open-ended? and ?open-sourced? science that is constantly improvised to suit the idiosyncrasies of individuals, institutions, groups and parties. It has the adaptability, capability and potential that no seed of GMC can ever match.
Those who dabble in this science needn?t be super-intelligent or even scrupulous. Anyone who can summon batons or guns in large enough numbers or has the innate ability to befool people with a glib tongue and pseudo-charisma can successfully practice this science.
Over time it has assumed greater importance because human knowledge has not progressed to a stage where it can create genetically (read politically) modified human beings, who would be amenable to the manipulation that the ?saviours of mankind? consider a must for an opposition-free rule. This science has found its impetus in the desire among some to acquire as much power and pelf as is humanly and inhumanly possible.
This is the science that tries to create illusions of freedom even when the clanging sound of chains is deafening, of having rights even when you have no say whatsoever, that it is your vote that is deciding the fate of the country when in fact the ballot box was stuffed full of marked ballots even before you left home, that ?national interest? is in the people?s interest and not for perpetuation of rule, that if those living in the DHAs are rich the country is rich, that ignominies increase a country?s respect, that prosperity is proportional to the number of mobile phones in a country, that the NRB is the reconstruction bureau and not the deconstruction bureau, that the fall in number of voters is natural after an increase in population, etc. The list of illusions created to perpetuate their rule is long, painful and sordid.
It is the science with which these ?saviours of mankind? make the ungrateful and intransigent masses appear to accept them. It helps them to sideline primary state functions like the rule of law, access to justice, social peace and individual security, individual rights and liberties, and yet be applauded by their mentors as serving democracy.
This country has had the misfortune of being ground-zero for the testing of the most virulent, vicious and vindictive forms of GDM experiments and innovations. The rulers here have relentlessly tried to create a ?democracy? that will suit their needs and keep them in power perpetually. Tragically, all these high-minded innovators have sounded, acted and ended alike, leaving nothing but chaos behind. The people have suffered horribly and endlessly due to their experiments.
All tinker with this science but the Generals here obsessively indulge in it to try and palm off their ?iron fist? as the most genuine form of democracy and the basic requirement for the survival of the country. They try to create a general illusion of unquestioning acceptance by the masses of their ideology and importance; though it is the ?generals? who are more affected by this illusion than the people due to self-hypnosis.
The civilians too have not been lagging far behind and have tried their best to equal the military?s efforts, but they have been hindered by decidedly unequal ?rules of engagement?. Given an opportunity they too would have excelled at innovation. The political parties have aided and abetted in every grotesque and bizarre experiment with the lives of the people. The bureaucracy and the judiciary have been very trustworthy. Constitutions are supposed to be sacrosanct but here they have been desecrated with smugness and sanctimonious aplomb. Some were abrogated while some were put in abeyance and others badly mauled. The 1973 Constitution, which is an object of the country?s infatuation because it was written while the establishment was on a rebound after being harshly jilted by Bangla Desh, too did not survive in its pristine form and a few hours after promulgation was laid on the operating table for radical surgical procedures. Since then it has been ravaged by the most bizarre experiments of amendments, PCOs and LFOs, but many still mistakenly believe that it is the panacea for all ills.
Military-sponsored and dependent democracy is a denizen of the peculiar environment found in the ?citadel of Islam?. The combination of the uniform with the office of the presidency is nothing new here as Ayub Khan and Zia both mocked the people before, but this time around this combination has become mockery incarnate due to the insistence on projecting the uniform as an eternal symbol of democracy; symbolizing its essence, for which they want the people to say ?hosannas? at this blessing.
All the governments have tinkered with the rules of democracy but this dispensation has tested the limits of tolerance of the people. First Musharraf depoliticized politics and then added insult to injury by making the PML (Q) the ruling party with the wonder of wonders Chaudhry Shujaat as its president, following it up with rigging up of a graduate assembly which seems to have graduated in spinelessness and obsequies.
All the efforts in this glorified laboratory have been directed at presenting blatantly illegal acts as the embodiment of democracy. The innovation of ruling the country through expensive advertisements is credited to the CMs of Sindh and Punjab, who have raised it to an art form. Experiments here include cabinets full of ministers wanted on charges of corruption and proverbially unscrupulous party-changers. Partyless elections at local level that are unabashedly won and run by parties too are an innovation of this country. The re-election of the President by the existing assemblies is expected to be a watershed in political history.
Killing nationalist leaders, ?disappearing? people illegally, arresting political leaders who dare to resist, holding women of those who resist violations of rights as hostages, suppressing the media, hounding intellectuals who dare to expose the ?milbus? phenomenon, selling the family silver to favourites for a pittance, grabbing land in Balochistan to enrich the elite and letting loose armed goons on unarmed people are all innovations that have been tested here to evolve a new strain of GMD.
The practice of political alchemy by the rulers to transform truly useless policies into political gold has had devastating consequences. The list is long and mournful, and the most disturbing factor is that these bizarre experiments with the fate of people continue unabatedly and each new disaster is applauded by the sycophants as an unprecedented success.
The rulers have never bothered about the wishes of the people but strive to please the US as it has sustained them. The US has always unreservedly applauded these experiments as it is interested in a ?democracy? which can cohabit with its interests.
They prefer a GMD and democrats of their choice. If that ?democrat? is fighting the unholy ?war on terrorism? for them, he is given more latitude because they are the patenting authority for all forms of democracies, and if they say his version of democracy is kosher, then mere mortals like us cannot challenge it.
If the US says that Augusto Pinochet, Sharon, Olmert, Maliki, Musharraf, Karzai, Zia, Hosni Mubarak, Batista, Papa Doc Duvalier, Somoza, Lol Nol, Diem, General Martinez, General Doe, Mobutu, General Branco, Reza Shah, Suharto, Haile Selassie are all democrats incarnate and have promoted and sustained democracy in their respective countries, then we have to willy nilly accept its superior judgement on the issue.
The saddest and most tragic chapter of this saga of GMD is that these absurd attempts at social bio-engineering have not only always miserably failed but have also resulted in extensive and untold sufferings for those on whom this absurdity has been practised. The years that they have had to suffer these botched attempts are the ?lost years?, and it should be remembered that ?failed states? are the cumulative effect of these ?lost years?.
The fate of the people here has been similar to that of those unfortunates who suffered horrible experiments at the hands of Dr. Josef Mengele. The experiments here have been as devastating for the body politic as they were for his victims. The scientists here have been exhorted on by the likes of the Sher Afgans, Arbab Rahims, Pervaiz Elahis, and Saif-ur-Rehmans, Altaf Gauhars, Jams and Jellies of Lasbela, etc. They also have been well backed up OT attendants like the MQM goons who implement surgical procedures without compunction as they did on May 12th.
The people have shown their resentment at the gross inefficiencies, rampant corruption, malignant cronyism, brazen neglect, obsequious abdication of sovereignty, utter disregard and brutal violations of their inalienable human rights. The disillusionment of the people with this social and political bio-engineering is total, and they want this tinkering with their fates in the guise of ?national interest? to stop once and for all; they have had enough ?lost years? already. They want an end to the politics of deception and charlatanry as practised by both the politicians and the army.
The writer has been associated with the Baloch national struggle |
