They left this world. Their images, empty chairs, and misdeeds stayed. The scars of injuries they inflicted on the nation stayed in the pages of books, and the memories of men and women. The vacuum left by them was filled by others – really not much different from them. Pattern was the same with an added apathy towards public concerns. The human acquisitive traits were more pronounced; the grab of resources was more widespread; the rule of law, autocracy; human rights violations and suppression of press and interference in judiciary was worse than before. They stayed, ruled the roost, accumulated wealth, earned infamy, and flew to their eternal abodes. What they left behind in this land could not travel along with them. Their good or bad deeds were already recorded in the accountability court of the Creator. They went with a piece of cloth shrouding their lifeless body.
Mortality prevailed; they lost; they hurt Pakistan but could not take away its vitality. Their ambitions were buried in the same pit along with their mortal remains. They left images of mauled democracy, abrogated constitutions, abuse of law, human rights violations, inequality, deprivation, criminal negligence of the people’s basic needs. Strong images of autocracy, dictatorial decisions, and ruthlessness, an audacious sense of impunity, aversion to rule of law, representative governance were associated with their persons. They left behind broken promises, repulsive plethora of lies, travesty and shame. These images are on the screen of history - recorded and preserved. Everyone can see them, write about them, analyze them and infer results. These images cannot be buried under layers of falsity.
The country is there; the nation is there; our resilient people are there keeping the rhythm of life, struggle, battling with poverty, deprivation, ignorance and disease. They are disappointed and disenchanted with the broken promises. They never despair; abandon hope or resilience. They believe in the destiny of this nation. The hard labour to earn two meals leaves its scar on their faces; they see the callousness of the ruling class through the theatric societal stratification; they have a growing disgust for the ostentatious way of living of the so called elite – but do not flinch or crack. They have anger and anguish in their heart over social injustice and economic inequity perpetuated by this callous class of rich. Nobody knows when this keg powder gets a spark and burns everything destroying citadels of these rulers and their collaborators.
The patience of the people is being tried since decades neglecting the history; the failure in nation-building, saving the Quaid’s Pakistan, keeping the spirit of the federation intact and respecting the autonomy of the federating units, facilitating the natural growth of local languages and culture. We mistook the voluntary willingness of diverse people, culturally distinct sub nations, historic geographical entities to join Pakistan’s federation based on the principles enunciated in the Pakistan Resolution of 1940. We lost the original Pakistan; we faced disgrace and humiliation but never paused to adopt a course correction. We are made of special clay.
We are adamantly following our treaded path with our aversion to the rule of law, constitutional and inclusive governance or democracy. We do not trust our people; we do not believe in free and fair elections to let genuine leaders emerge with the people’s trust and confidence; we indulge in political gerrymandering, and electoral engineering to bring forward pliant, amenable, docile and willing puppets by disingenuous tactics and ploys. People have lost confidence in such elections. These mock elections have empowered Wadera, Chaudhry, Khan and Sardar who gather their peasants and herd them to the polling stations for vote. Our people, with all their traditional wit, have nicknamed such candidates as ‘the bull of the big Chaudhry’.
The country is there; the nation is there; our resilient people are there keeping the rhythm of life, struggle, battling with poverty, deprivation, ignorance and disease. They never despair; abandon hope or resilience. They believe in the destiny of this nation.
The governments formed as a consequence of such managed elections never inspire public support - rather face public apathy. It is ominous that all the affluent countries in the west are facing public protests over domestic and global issues while there is a deafening silence in our country when it has been listed as one of the four poorest countries in the World Bank’s poverty index. Is it public satisfaction with the present way of living, or resignation and a crippling fear or acute hopelessness and despair? Anyhow, it is ominous for a nation gripped by a numbing fear or apathy.
The civilian partners in the hybrid rule are forced to play the second fiddle in the country’s domestic matters, and important global affairs to the chock and chagrin of the democratic world. We have been focused more on what is taking place in the world at the cost of our domestic problems. The inflation has drastically reduced the purchasing capacity of the people adding to the growth of poverty. People are forced to cut the quantity and quality of their food on the table and suffer from mal-nutrition. The number of stunted children is on the rise. Public sector institutions have been on a steep decline with glaring instances of negligence, and corrupt practices growing sharply. Our infants are burnt in the premier health facility in the capital city under the nose of our rulers; a fallen roof of a dilapidated structure housing a school takes the life of dozens of innocent children. Foreign girls are raped by young men whose elders are holding important positions in the governing clique.
The commercialization of education and health has directly affected the people from the bottom to the upper half of the societal pyramid. The cost of private educational institutions and the private hospitals are much beyond their reach. The public tertiary health facilities are dauntingly overcrowded. The lack of accountability and the growing sense of impunity has rendered our administrative machinery unresponsive and callous. Notwithstanding this disappointing state of affairs, a few good souls have done wonderfully well expanding the public tertiary health facilities in the country.
The Shaukat Khanam Cancer Hospitals in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi by Shaukat Khanam Trust established by Imran Khan, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant in Karachi run by Dr. Adeeb ul Rizvi with full-fledged branches in Sukkur and Larkana (under construction), The sprawling tertiary hospital under DOW Medical University, Trauma Centres in Karachi, and Larkana and Sindh Institute of Advanced Endoscopy and Gastro-enterology in Karachi established by Dr. Saeed Quraishi during his tenure as the Vice chancellor of the University are heartening examples of professional dedication, and commitment to their nation. The country will remember them with tributes recorded in golden words. The nation has duly acknowledged their invaluable contribution.