Faheem Amir

The people of Pakistan are passing through very interesting and testing times, as many unexpected, bitter and tragic things are happening in our "Land of the Pure".

The prolonged and unscheduled load shedding has made the poor people angry and they are protesting against the PPP-led government across the country, especially in the cities of the Punjab. The power shortfall has crossed 7,000MW. The incompetent PPP-led government has not been able to form any tangible plan to fill this shortage and the people are facing more than 20 hours of power outage in rural, and more than 18 hours in urban areas of the Punjab.

The Punjab government is using this issue to gain the sympathies of the dejected, frustrated and hungry people. By exploiting this issue, the Punjab government is trying to conceal its own bad performance, corruption and scandals like the Sasti Roti Scheme, Danish School project and laptops, etc. Even Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, on May 10, joined a crowd protesting against the prolonged power outages in Lahore and threatened to lead a Long March towards Islamabad if load shedding in the province was not controlled.

The PML-Q has also threatened to quit the coalition over the load shedding issue. On May 10, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q threatened to part ways if the government did not resolve the load shedding issue in the Upper House. All these parties have no plan to combat this daunting problem. They are just using this issue for getting the people's support in the coming elections.
President Zardari has ordered to set up a central control room in the Water and Power Ministry to end unscheduled power cuts. Keeping in view the bad performance of the PPP, nobody can say positive things about the performance of this control room in the near future.

At present, the PPP-led government is in dire need to increase electricity generation. The electricity generation can be increased by providing required fuel to the power producers, which costs almost Rs. 400 billion. The government has decided to release Rs. 70 billion immediately to the power companies and issue Term Finance Certificates (TFC) of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) worth Rs. 82 billion in an attempt to resolve the growing circular debt issue of the power sector. Rs. 152 billion raised to address a problem of Rs. 400 billion debt is not a long-term solution and this step shows that the government only wants to appease the people till election day. It is not a long-term solution to this grave problem, which has reduced the country's exports because of the closure of many industries. Unemployment has increased. Many parents are forcing their children to beg. Around 180,000 children are living in parks and streets across the country. Many parents have committed suicide after killing their children, due to poverty and other social pressures in Pakistan. According to the World Food Programme "the number of those suffering from the food crisis has escalated from 60 to 77 million in Pakistan. Nearly half of the 740,000 children dying each year in Pakistan are victims of malnutrition. A new report from Save the Children discloses that 35 per cent of the deaths of children under the age of five happen due to malnutrition in Pakistan.

Local insecurity and apprehensions on the part of foreign investors have made our economy very fragile and weak. It is very tragic that our government is not addressing the energy issue on a war footing.

Our class-based education system is very poor and there is no check on the conditions of school buildings. The tragic killing of five school children in Narowal, due to the collapse of the school's roof, show the pathetic situation of our educational buildings.

The recent revelations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on errors in school textbooks are also very sad and shocking. The government textbooks are filled with grammatical errors and distorted versions of history. According to these textbooks, "9/11 occurred in 2011. The next general elections in Pakistan will take place in 2008".

The afore-mentioned two examples show the pathetic situation of our education system.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has decided to halt its humanitarian works after the killing of its official Dr. Khalil Rasjed Dale, who was kidnapped four months before his dead body was dumped in Quetta recently.

Relations with America are strained after the Salala attacks. The NATO supply lines have not yet been opened. America and NATO are tightening the screws on Pakistan.

A US Congressional committee, on May 10, passed a bill that imposes conditions on Pakistan for receiving American economic and military aid, which will depend on Islamabad's action regarding terrorists, the menace of improvised explosive devices and the re-opening of the NATO supply routes.

The Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2013, which determines the defence budget for the fiscal year 2013, was approved by the powerful House Armed Services Committee following a marathon debate. The action clears the way for consideration of the bill by the full House, scheduled for next week.

"The bill places appropriate conditions on aid to Pakistan. It is imperative that Pakistan support our counter-terrorism efforts and work for interdiction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," US House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith said.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested, on May 11, that Pakistan could miss out on important talks on the future of Afghanistan if it fails to reopen supply routes in time to secure a place at a NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21.

These developments are very dangerous for Pakistan, that is already wrestling with a myriad of economic, political, and social issues.

The Daily Times writes in its editorial: "The inherent contradictions in the mismatched partnership only cratered wider with time. While Pakistan received aid and favours from the US, certain sections of its establishment continued with their undercover assistance to the US-hating militants inside and outside Pakistan. Being the weaker, unwilling partner in an undesirable compromise, the best option is not to even touch the hand that feeds your economic, developmental and military packages. One wrong move, and here there are plenty, and the pound of flesh is exacted - publicly and humiliatingly."

In these very troubling times, the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) has released the detailed judgement against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the "contempt case". This judgement has given a new life to the PML-N, as it is trying to use this issue to enhance its popularity among the people. Many other parties like the PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami are also using this issue to get popularity in the country. The PM has challenged the PML-N to bring a "no confidence motion" against him in the National Assembly. Many analysts believe that this verdict will create instability in the country.

Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi writes: "The PPP-led federal government is on the defensive and engaged in yet another struggle for survival. The PML-N may not succeed in knocking out the PPP-led federal government in the near future but tension has escalated in the political system due to unrestrained war of words between the PPP and the PML-N. Other political parties like the PTI and the Jamaat-i-Islami are attempting to project themselves as the third alternative and target both the PPP and the PML-N for their criticism, blaming them for all the current problems in Pakistan. The intensified political wrangling threatens the long-term prospects of stable civilian rule. If this confrontation persists, the non-elected state institutions like the military and the superior judiciary are expected to expand their respective domains".

Keeping all these developments aside, one thing is sure that Justice Asif Saeed Khosa's note "Pity the Nation" has exposed the true nature of our political leaders, who feel no shame to plunder the country in the name of Islam and patriotism.

In the context of the contempt case, Justice Khosa also quoted some words of Khalil Gibran that paint a picture which unfortunately appears quite familiar:
"Pity the Nation. Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion. Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press. Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful. Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.

"Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking. Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting, and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again. Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle. Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation."

Justice Khosa further wrote: "With an apology to Khalil Gibran, and with reference to the present context, I may add as follows: Pity the nation that achieves nationhood in the name of a religion but pays little heed to truth, righteousness and accountability which are the essence of every religion.

"Pity the nation that proclaims democracy as its polity but restricts it to queuing up for casting of ballots only and discourages democratic values. Pity the nation that measures honour with success and respect with authority, that despises sublime and cherishes mundane, that treats a criminal as a hero and considers civility as weakness and that deems a sage a fool and venerates the wicked.

"Pity the nation that adopts a Constitution but allows political interests to outweigh constitutional diktat. Pity the nation that demands justice for all but is agitated when justice hurts its political loyalty. Pity the nation whose servants treat their solemn oaths as nothing more than a formality before entering upon an office. Pity the nation that elects a leader as a redeemer but expects him to bend every law to favour his benefactors.

"Pity the nation whose leaders seek martyrdom through disobeying the law than giving sacrifices for the glory of law and who see no shame in crime.
"Pity the nation that is led by those who laugh at the law little realizing that the law shall have the last laugh. Pity the nation that launches a movement for rule of law but cries foul when the law is applied against its bigwig, that reads judicial verdicts through political glasses and that permits skills of advocacy to be practiced more vigorously outside the courtroom than inside.

"Pity the nation that punishes its weak and poor but is shy of bringing its high and mighty to book. Pity the nation that clamours for equality before law but has selective justice close to its heart. Pity the nation that thinks from its heart and not from its head.

"Indeed, pity the nation that does not discern villainy from nobility."
He further writes: "The respondent is our elected representative and our Prime Minister and in his conviction lies our collective damnation. This surely calls for serious introspection. I believe that the proposed judgment authored by my learned brother Nasir-ul-Mulk, J. is a step towards the right direction as it kindles a flame of hope for a future for our nation which may establish a just and fair order, an order wherein the law rules and all citizens are equal before the law."

This is a masterpiece from Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, which speaks about the feelings of the poor people of Pakistan.

-Cuttingedge