The Long March To The 60th Year!

As the fateful day approaches, there is much ado about the freedom movement with the struggles of yore back in the limelight and people from all walks of life seem to be gripped of only one thing only. Every TV channel and news daily, which apparently are aliens to all this for the 352 days of the year, suddenly bring it alive from August the 1st.
Government sponsored media seemingly never tire from counting the achievements n credentials and contributions of the establishments of past and present, while for the rest, the list of our miseries n turmoil of the past 60 years, courtesy government, only seem to get longer still.
Amidst all this, we seriously need to cogitate about whatever we have achieved and mull over the tasks left unfinished. What we require at this stage is to introspect, to reflect upon the path we embarked on 60 years back, the halts we took during our journey and where we find ourselves today, and to decide our future course.
It all began, when the All India Muslim League demanded a separate homeland for Muslims in the historic Pakistan Resolution of 1940.It took a mere seven years (mere when compared to other worldwide freedom struggles from colonialism) to attain that. It became possible not only because of Mount batten's extraordinary push at the accelerator, but also because of the zeal and zest, determination and ‘not any more’ attitude that our leadership exhibited then. The likes of Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Iqbal, Rehmat Ali and others, influenced the Muslim masses and they had a magnet like quality wherever they went. Not that the leaders of today don’t attract audiences, but their focus is more on their own bank balances and the power and pelf that they stand to gain.
Now it won’t be wrong to say that we are marching towards another freedom struggle. It happened in 1947, its got to happen in 2007. And the similarities end there. The difference is that earlier it was to seek from foreigners, 60 years down the line it’s to be sought from our own nationals.
We took pride in the incorruptibility and sagacity of Jinnah, astuteness of Liaquat, strength of Iqbal and the unflinching faith and support of Fatima Jinnah. They were rarely found missing at a key juncture. Now we have leaders, boasting about restoring democracy and supremacy of law, sitting in London, AbuDhabi and New York. Leaders who pledge to eradicate poverty, are ironically looting us of hundreds of millions of dollars. Just imagine what all we could have done for the welfare of the poor here with all those millions of dollars stacked in the foreign accounts of our leaders. Leaders who shout from the roof tops of the need of an independent judiciary and rule of constitution, never hesitate to overrule the former and amend the latter to serve their vested interests.


In fact, the way our political establishment works is uncannily similar to how things are played out in our cricket establishment. One-upmanship and corruption rule the roost in both! Also, both establishments have had their share of good and talented skippers and pure opportunists. We saw the commitment of our first skipper, Governor General Mohd.Ali Jinnah, during his short-lived tenure. If not for his unfortunate demise, he would have steered the nation in the right way. Then, as if the trauma of losing the captain so early wasn’t enough to mortify the souls of the team members and its spectators in millions, we lost our vice-captain, the prime minister. Jinnah died of devotion to Pakistan and its cause, Liaquat died at the hands of an assassin. You call it politically-motivated terrorism, ah, really? I thought it only started after 9/11.The seeds of discord were sown so early, and we are reaping the fruits of dejection for years now.

We then saw governments dismissed (deprived of Test status) and assemblies dissolved (players banned) during the 1950s, the early phase of which should have been ideally devoted to team building. But instead our team was left crippled and disillusioned. This soon came to characterize our body polity: governments came and went doing precious nothing for the people. Looked like Iskander Mirza, did actually deemed himself a captain, dropping a player, every now and then, if the new player didn’t find himself at ease with the procedures and protocols set by him.
We also witnessed the first ever army chief being invited to complete the cabinet. This was as inapt as calling a rugby player to fill in a batsman’s place.
Subsequently, fed up of the democratic game, people welcomed Ayub Khan’s move to take over the captaincy in October 1958, forcing Mirza to retiring in London. Little did they know how dangerous and mockingly obscene it will be recollected as in the history of our game?
Ending the ‘only government felt and celebrated’ and a decade of development, the captaincy fell into the hands of another rugby (army) player.. Promising a fresh start to the game and the crucial toss in 120/90 days, Yahya Khan took charge from where Ayub had left, only to prove that he too was nothing but a chip off the old block.
An imbecilic, insensitive and barbaric approach, lacking in strategic planning towards the East Pakistan players, led to the rupture of our country, which forced some of our eastern wing players to seek help from their Indian counterparts.

Not crying much over the spilt milk, the game progressed. We experienced another spell of democracy in the political game of the 1970s. With Z.A.Bhutto gaining as much popularity as Viv Richards and Steve Waugh did in their times, it looked like he would win the series with his mere presence. That proved to be a wishful thinking, for fate had something else in store for us. It was like saying, ‘ab itna seh liya, to thora aur seh lo.’ Another rugby player (dictator) was thrust upon us by our ‘never so kind’ destiny. It was when Zia ul Haq executed well, the ‘operation fairplay’, and became yet another captain from outside.
Then, on 4th of April 1979, Bhutto probably became the only ousted player, in the recorded history of the game (political history of the world) to be banned from ever playing again. Forever perpetuated under ‘grave-arrest.’
Eight months later, the ‘Afghan Miracle’ occurred, and we are never get out of its spell even today!. From the spread of drugs to the easy availability of guns, from the pushto-speaking relatives on both sides of Pak-Afghan border to the Mujahideens, and from the widely perceived ‘Talibanization’ of the region to the religious extremism we witnessed recently in the Lal Masjid saga – it can all be traced back to the inexperience and wishful thinking of our captain then.
They say all is well that ends well. And the sad, tragic end of Zia, meant that it was not the end of military intervention in Pakistan’s political game. Someone in the barracks was waiting for his turn.

Again, there was some relief for the crowd (nation), when the genuine cricketers (politicians), went in to bat in August 1988. Our first ever female captain only came to lose form and authority at the same time and within a few years into her tenure. The next captain, Nawaz Sharif, also couldn’t bat long. And again, the daughter of east and the darling of west got her place back in the team. Just when things looked settling, she got out caught behind and took her long walk back to the pavilion (New York). Sharif won another captaincy contract. By now the gentleman’s game has come to resemble a musical chair contest, with the music gleefully orchestrated by the US.

As mentioned earlier, the end of Zia wasn’t sudden and unexpected, and so that ‘someone’ who was awaiting his chance’ sensed an opportunity to set the legacy right, thus we were once again made mute spectators to yet another military intervention from Musharraf. While Sharif was batting, Musharraf manoeuvred the field-positions from miles up in the air, and the game witnessed a dramatic ‘run-out’.

Since then it’s been the General and the General alone, call it a one-man game, or make of it what you will.

Musharraf’s eight year long adventurous tenure is marked by turbulences. Having played many exciting and decisive matches, victorious in some and disdainfully defeated in others, he has become rather head-strong and views himself as indispensable for Pakistan.
The forced disappearances of one too many citizens, the astronomical amounts of capital allocated to defence, the ever-increasing number of rich and prosperous among the various files and ranks in the army, the unconditional and unapologetic alliance with the US, the insensitive approach towards the purists and fundamentalists, the self-serving moves against the Chief Justice and the recently failed unholy indenture with the clerics of Lal Masjid, and last but surely not the least, the much speculated ‘match-fixing’ with Mohtarma coupled with some other atrocious shots only led to the dipping of the pointer in his popularity graph. If the so-called deal is finalized, it will once again, and this time much more enduringly and purposefully ignite people’s betrayed feelings and we’d be in for mass struggle and much cataclysmic civil strife, which is only likely to add insult to injury, what with the loads of troubles that Pakistan already faces. Add to that, Musharraf’s forthcoming, stage-manged re-election from the present assemblies. It’s nothing but an insensitive attempt to play fiddle when the whole stadium is burning! For, the people don’t want him in uniform or otherwise.
What Benazir Bhutto intends to do would not only belie her party’s agenda but will not give much strength to Musharraf’s cause either. One doubts if it’s anything but her ulterior motives that are behind this.
If Musharraf doesn’t want a shameful end like that of Ayub and Yahya, or a much worse, a tragic end like Bhutto’s or Zia’s, he should sensibly retire unhurt and take his walk back to the barracks. Even his age does not favor him; most Pakistani rulers died or were ousted at the age of 64 – which coincidentally is the age of Musharraf in 2007. And anyways, holding two offices for eight years will get to him sooner than later.

The army has dominated Pakistan’s political game for most of its duration, and has thus given the institution a new definition. The players in uniform have benefited extensively – from young soldiers to retired generals; each has had more than his share. All this time, the US has been playing the role of the non-playing captain, just like in tennis, calling the shots from Washington. It’s high time we took charge and had some say in the way the game is run.

Appropriately, the political weather has changed in Pakistan. It’s a period of political awakening, and one can sense a revolution in the near future. The way the public in general and activists and media men in particular have reacted against the ruling elites, it won’t be wrong to anticipate a dramatic outcome at the end, which, God willing, should result in a pure democratic setup, with supremacy of constitution and rule of law. It would be self-injurious to retreat at such a turning point. The nation should not let the rulers make a mockery of them once again; rather capitalize on the long-required united front against the top dogs and the big cheese.

The only sad part is that we’ll have to choose either the opposition or the ruling party. It is much like making a choice between devil and the deep sea . For, there’s hardly an honest soul in sight.
We’ve been a wreck for 60 years. While 60 years is a long time in the case of human beings, it is not so in the case of a nation’s history. A human being becomes senile at this stage, while a country goes though its childhood. For Pakistan, it’s a childhood wasted. We stand diametrically opposite to where Jinnah had envisioned us. Uncertainty, extremism, illiteracy, poverty, corruption and other inconceivable ills have crippled us severely and left us precariously and regrettably incompetent. Seeing, that we don’t even stand near to the greatest of nations, where he thought we’d be, he’d be turning in his grave rather excruciatingly. Sixty years after independence, the nation can best be described as a blindfolded bull, which every morning is taken by its owner to plough the vast fields, only to return and find itself in the same position in the evening where it earlier stood at dawn.
Let us pledge that we’ll never allow ourselves to be reduced to the plight of this bull, and that we’ll contribute in whatever little way we can to the progress of the land and the success of our freedom, so hard-earned by our forefathers. For once let’s give them a chance to smile in the heavens and be proud of us. Let’s join hands to make our nation strong and vibrant. Let’s build the wreck together!!