The other day, a noted Army general recalled a conversation with a senior retired colleague in the Punjab, during which a piece of key advice was proffered: never retire. It is a telling commentary on society. Those sitting on the chair are the recipients of bouquets. Once unseated, they bear the brunt of brickbats.
It was revealing to see all living US Presidents assembled together at the funeral of the 41st US President, George Bush. In striking contrast, when President Ayub died during April 1974, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was mentored by Ayub, did not attend his funeral. When Ayub was in his pomp, he was compared with Charles de Gaulle of France. Out of power, he was called “Ayub kuta.”
Yahya Khan was the subject of much flattery while in power, a senior bureaucrat going so far as to say: “when Yahya speaks, pearls of wisdom come out of his mouth.” But, in the wake of the Dacca debacle, he was scapegoated and died unwept and unsung.
Bhutto in power was called the Quaid-e-Awam and “Fakhre Asia;” out of power, only to be hung.
Zia was called “Mard-e-Momin” and, after his fiery death, is now commonly blamed as the root cause of prevailing national ills.
For years, Zardari was hounded for his perceived venality but once enthroned as the President, he was exemplified as the “beauty of democracy.” The military hierarchy, which despised him, felt few qualms in making the U-turn to accept and salute him as its Supreme Commander.
Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz cannot even enter Pakistan. The unfolding Sharif family scenario is sickeningly familiar. Now the masses are being given the lollipop of “Naya Pakistan.” Acolytes are eager and willing to swallow this “New” opioid.
Thus continues the pendulum swing between adulation and humiliation. In his 1958 letter to then President Iskander Mirza, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto wrote: “When the history of our country is written by objective historians, your name will be placed even before that of Mr. Jinnah.”
Ignominy followed Iskander Mirza.
Indefinite is this pattern and, so too, is the dwindling leverage of those burdened with moral compass.
As for the people, to cite George Orwell: “The people will believe what the media tells them to believe.”
The media is in the forefront of sowing discord, exacerbating divisions, and stirring antagonism. Meanwhile, the rate race is on to break up Punjab, unmindful of it being a subversive precursor for a larger breakup.
Discredited now is the fascist concept of a “New Man.” The impracticality implicit in such a Utopian undertaking was miscalculated. It turned out to be a dud once it collided with the hard rocks of reality. The easier route is to be seduced by slogans, bypassing the essential and deeper probe into character. Mediocre misfits flourish when the right person is not put before the right problem.
The 2017 Houston hurricane flooded thousands of cars. Many of these “flood cars” were polished, repackaged, and sold to unsuspecting buyers only for them to later find, on closer examining, that beneath the shiny exterior, there was rust and rot inside. Buyer beware.
