By Lt Gen (R) Tariq Khan
I was not going to comment on what all has happened, taking satisfaction in that it simply happened. Yet seeing the chattering classes justifying this brazen aberration of theft and mis-rule, as a citizen I thought I should throw in my 2 cents too. I am expecting a violent response but then should we all be silenced by the vulgar rhetoric of thieves and their supporters?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us ……”It appears Charles Dickens was commenting on our political confusion today”
So in this mass of contradictions and controversy, they claim innocence, like the maulvi with halwa sticking to his beard, they say we don’t know who ate the halwa. Well you did and it is as obvious as day. The debate on how to change Pakistan has been an ongoing one; ‘give democracy a chance’, some said, but what then does one think is democracy?
A government of the thieves, by the thieves for the thieves? Equating democracy with Nawaz Sharif even though it was obviously and evidently one of the sorriest farce witnessed in the name of governance anywhere in the world. Others said, ‘let accountability be across the board’ hoping to dilute the case where Nawaz Sharif could be conveniently forgotten and lost in the multitudes of the many corrupt.
It’s what we are best at: confuse the issue, complicate the matter so that it is obscured and the facts confounded in mystery, conspiracies and propaganda. There have been hilarious arguments in favour of Nawaz Sharif like ‘So who is not corrupt in this country?’ or better still, ‘development will suffer’. Some are not satisfied with the charge he is accused of – it’s not dramatic enough.
Their PM, obtaining a work permit in another country, does not offend them; ‘he never collected his salary’, they argue; an irrelevant argument, when obtaining a work permit itself was the crime. However, they ignore the criminal charges still waiting to unfold, i.e. perjury, obstruction of justice, forgery, fraud, lying to the assembly, lying to the public on TV, grand theft etc. etc.
They are indifferent to the corruption charges now referred to NAB; the list is phenomenal and one does not know how one could have missed it. Will this be a beginning to root out corruption? I say yes, it could be, and I hope it is, but if people have a different opinion, they must tell us how they would propose to go about it. It is not enough to come up with asinine arguments such as well let’s gets Zardari; why not and I hope in time we will.
Let’s get the generals too; of course, we must, but how do these matters get resolved by overlooking the matter that lies before us. Why should punishing one criminal be inclusive of all other criminals; that till we do not try all concurrently we should try none? With such an argument does one even want to end corruption at all? Some say it’s selective; but has anyone restricted the process to the Sharif’s?
A man who has been removed by a president, an Army Chief and now the Judiciary, who never completed his term three times running and must obviously have something intrinsically wrong with his structure and I for one, would not like to be governed, ruled and administered by a thief; any thief. I am sorry that Zardari, Mr. 10% is still free and I hope he too is put in the dock just like anybody else involved in theft and deceit.
These jokers have taken this country and its people as their fiefdom and personal property to do what they please and take what they wish. It is time for the people to stand up and show some self-respect and pride and I have found no better way than what the five judges of the Court have shown us and the JIT demonstrated. They claim that development would stop. Let the references unfold and see what they would confirm; kickbacks and sweetheart deals with commissions being given under the table. Why were the CPEC projects so secret, why were they not transparent?
CPEC was not a PML(N) initiative and was thought up well before their arrival but that did not stop them from taking all the credit for it as well as all the commissions that came their way. With industry closing down, imports at an all-time high and exports at the lowest level, foreign loans over $ 80 billion, circular debt worse than ever, I don’t understand how one can say that development would suffer with these crooks removed from the scene.
The stock exchange has expressed its sentiment by going up, instead of going down when Nawaz was shown the door. The propaganda mills are working overtime, churning out propaganda, conspiracies and lies. The foreign press has been paid to malign the Army and the judiciary to save Nawaz. Christine Fair leads the pack with Tarek Fateh, Caroline Gall, Bruce Reidal and Hussain Haqqani closely following her in deceit and dishonesty as they weave a web of lies with wild accusations.
India has not defended Kulbashan Yadev as it has Nawaz Sharif. ‘Our investment has been wasted’, they lament. The Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, a two bit unknown entity, bends over backwards to show his loyalty to Nawaz Sharif. It’s either Nawaz or Modi, he contends, and will not settle for anything lesser, says this serf. Meanwhile the Establishment and the Judiciary are being singled out for special treatment. “It is a conspiracy an international one at that too”.
They whine, and say keep saying it loud enough and repeat it long enough, hoping the stink sticks on somewhere at least. The Establishment, the Establishment they bleat!!! Sarcastic and cynical innuendoes; “hand the country over to the Establishment!” they rant, after all we civilians are all guilty!!!
What an argument, trying to make this into a civil-military conflict rather than what it is i.e. grand larceny. And then was it the Establishment that led them on to the Model Town murders, was it the Establishment that encouraged them to lie, cheat and steal, were the Panama companies set up by the Establishment, did they own the Mayfair Flats, did they arrange for the Iqama or were they responsible for the Hudaibiya Scandal?
Did they initiate the Dawn Leaks? Did anyone need the establishment to indict Nawaz on charges of fraud, forgery and perjury or was he himself enough to do the damage as a self-demolition unit as he fumbled on the road in search of propriety? We have no government and so there is no counter narrative. We need a narrative that reflects the reality of the situation, the truth and the facts. It can only be done through the social media.
These treacherous traitors and cheats must not be allowed to overwhelm the real picture with the false perceptions they are projecting. Traitors, they are, though this may sound like a cliché to some; but how can one deny that what they did was always for themselves and never the people or the State and that like now, they would be willing to sell us out for their own well being to the first passer-by.
Like a snake that sees the end before it writhes and squirms, spewing its venom; sometimes crying for sympathy and at other times pretending it still has the bite; hoping it can survive the moment in wait for some saviour, like a prince from the deserts of Qatar. Look how they defecate on their own doorstep as they so blatantly violate the decorum and dignity of the very Assembly that people entrusted them with.
Look how they belittle the superior courts while singing praises about democracy, look how they contradict every rule, every regulation and every protocol. Are these the jokers that represent us? People, like the skeptical cuckolded husband, ask, what happened – who did it? Well here it is in black and white; please read it, digest it, understand it and live with it:’
