Saturday, November 24, 2007
A Time for Thanksgiving
The fourth Thursday of November is set aside in the United States as the day of thanksgiving. American families get back together more on this day than on any other day of the year, including Christmas. Thirtynine million Americans were estimated to have traveled over fifty miles away from their homes for such get-togethers this Thanksgiving.
This is also the day when people with podiums pontificate on what we ought to be thankful for. I have a great deal to be thankful for, but am particularly thankful this year that I am not a citizen of Pakistan. To explain why, let me put myself in the shoes of an ordinary Pakistani citizen and presume to speak for him; speaking for “her” would be beyond my empathetic reach.
I dream of living in a democratic and economically thriving Pakistan. Numerous surveys and reports have shown that the overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens have the same dream.
I dream of living in a peaceful and tolerant Pakistan. Most of my fellow citizens share this dream as well.
Along with most other Pakistanis, I want a judiciary on which I can depend and of which I can be proud.
I know and firmly believe that terrorism, against anyone, is immoral and unethical. Unfortunately, a minority of my fellow citizens don’t share this belief, not to its fullest extent. Even more unfortunately, my country’s current dictator has been a champion of the selective use of terrorism as a military strategy.
What can and should I do, other than dream of things that recede relentlessly?
To which leader or institution do I turn to turn my country into a true democracy? I did turn to the judiciary, but it has now been exterminated. Puppets have no motive power of their own, they can only be turned around by their master.
I could turn to two presumptive leaders of our march to democracy. However, I am neither totally naive, nor stricken with Alzheimer’s dreaded disease. I know and remember what they did when we gave them the chance not that long ago. The horizon is bleak.
But, that is not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem, perhaps our only real problem, is the sole institution to have played a key and uninterrupted role in the history of our country, the military. It was initially led by chiefs who were trained in the very same academies as those of our neighbour, India. They had the same vision, ethics, discipline and concept of their role in society.
They led us into battle with courage and dignity. It didn’t really matter whether we lost or won against a mightier foe, we were proud of our men in uniform. Perhaps it was this pride that made us take the wrong turn. We should have kept our military at the frontier, fighting foes without, not let them turn their might against the citizens within. We thought that it was merely a temporary solution, one that would pave the way to a far more desirable and permanent solution. We failed to realize that once the military has tasted such power, it will not relinquish it, never voluntarily, rarely completely.
It didn’t help that battles for geopolitical power, in which we were but pawns, made our generals very attractive indeed to the grandmasters. They were rich and we wanted their support and, of course, money. Sustained military rule requires a great deal of money, which is why standing armies were so small historically. So, we and our neighbour picked our geopolitical alignments; our saving grace was that we didn’t profess to be non-aligned. Our neighbour’s everlasting grace is that it has kept its military in its rightful place.
We trapped ourselves and I can’t see a clear way out of it. I know that we must put our military back where it belongs, but how? Our Catch 22 is that the only effective institution we have to lead us to democracy is the military! How do we find military leaders to lead a coup solely to relinquish military power? Is there any country that will help us in this?
In all our years, only one democracy has evinced any interest in us. Their interest has always been self-serving and misguided, as numerous other democracies have repeatedly pointed out. We have, however, yet to see any signs of altruism from these critics. An oddly named assemblage of 53 nations has just suspended our membership. Suspension by this motley group - 52 of whose members share a single common feature, that of having had their wealth exploited by the founding member - isn’t likely to bother our generals overmuch. All our other “friends” are theocratic dictatorships that abhor the very concepts of democracy and tolerance.
Our democratic friend, always a great friend of our generals, now wants to be friendly toward the “people of Pakistan”. We are to rank above the generals, it wants to be for us, not merely against someone else. Imagine that! Perhaps its newfound commitment to our people is real. But, will it survive another terrorist attack on the West? On such slender threads does our future hang.
I would much rather be giving thanks than hanging my head in despair, but what else could you do, if you were in my shoes?
This is also the day when people with podiums pontificate on what we ought to be thankful for. I have a great deal to be thankful for, but am particularly thankful this year that I am not a citizen of Pakistan. To explain why, let me put myself in the shoes of an ordinary Pakistani citizen and presume to speak for him; speaking for “her” would be beyond my empathetic reach.
I dream of living in a democratic and economically thriving Pakistan. Numerous surveys and reports have shown that the overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens have the same dream.
I dream of living in a peaceful and tolerant Pakistan. Most of my fellow citizens share this dream as well.
Along with most other Pakistanis, I want a judiciary on which I can depend and of which I can be proud.
I know and firmly believe that terrorism, against anyone, is immoral and unethical. Unfortunately, a minority of my fellow citizens don’t share this belief, not to its fullest extent. Even more unfortunately, my country’s current dictator has been a champion of the selective use of terrorism as a military strategy.
What can and should I do, other than dream of things that recede relentlessly?
To which leader or institution do I turn to turn my country into a true democracy? I did turn to the judiciary, but it has now been exterminated. Puppets have no motive power of their own, they can only be turned around by their master.
I could turn to two presumptive leaders of our march to democracy. However, I am neither totally naive, nor stricken with Alzheimer’s dreaded disease. I know and remember what they did when we gave them the chance not that long ago. The horizon is bleak.
But, that is not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem, perhaps our only real problem, is the sole institution to have played a key and uninterrupted role in the history of our country, the military. It was initially led by chiefs who were trained in the very same academies as those of our neighbour, India. They had the same vision, ethics, discipline and concept of their role in society.
They led us into battle with courage and dignity. It didn’t really matter whether we lost or won against a mightier foe, we were proud of our men in uniform. Perhaps it was this pride that made us take the wrong turn. We should have kept our military at the frontier, fighting foes without, not let them turn their might against the citizens within. We thought that it was merely a temporary solution, one that would pave the way to a far more desirable and permanent solution. We failed to realize that once the military has tasted such power, it will not relinquish it, never voluntarily, rarely completely.
It didn’t help that battles for geopolitical power, in which we were but pawns, made our generals very attractive indeed to the grandmasters. They were rich and we wanted their support and, of course, money. Sustained military rule requires a great deal of money, which is why standing armies were so small historically. So, we and our neighbour picked our geopolitical alignments; our saving grace was that we didn’t profess to be non-aligned. Our neighbour’s everlasting grace is that it has kept its military in its rightful place.
We trapped ourselves and I can’t see a clear way out of it. I know that we must put our military back where it belongs, but how? Our Catch 22 is that the only effective institution we have to lead us to democracy is the military! How do we find military leaders to lead a coup solely to relinquish military power? Is there any country that will help us in this?
In all our years, only one democracy has evinced any interest in us. Their interest has always been self-serving and misguided, as numerous other democracies have repeatedly pointed out. We have, however, yet to see any signs of altruism from these critics. An oddly named assemblage of 53 nations has just suspended our membership. Suspension by this motley group - 52 of whose members share a single common feature, that of having had their wealth exploited by the founding member - isn’t likely to bother our generals overmuch. All our other “friends” are theocratic dictatorships that abhor the very concepts of democracy and tolerance.
Our democratic friend, always a great friend of our generals, now wants to be friendly toward the “people of Pakistan”. We are to rank above the generals, it wants to be for us, not merely against someone else. Imagine that! Perhaps its newfound commitment to our people is real. But, will it survive another terrorist attack on the West? On such slender threads does our future hang.
I would much rather be giving thanks than hanging my head in despair, but what else could you do, if you were in my shoes?
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