Why don’t we learn to live with all this?My friend Pervaiz Rashid, for better or worse information supremo of a government whose muddle-headedness becomes more evident by the day, says that talks have been initiated with the Taliban. Ch Nisar, most visible and talkative face of government, says talks with the Taliban are a complex process and whatever happens the nation will be taken into confidence – shorthand for saying there is nothing to report. Meanwhile, near Miramshah a roadside bomb kills nine military personnel. More are injured.

So the question that comes to mind: should any of these jokers be taken seriously? This government’s position on the terrorism issue, in plain Urdu or English can anyone kindly explain it?

Those with some memory of the past are not surprised, having few illusions about the leadership voted to power for the third time by the far-seeing electorate of Punjab. But even those not in the know, the heralds proclaiming the birth of a new dawn, are feeling a bit cheated. This deaf and dumb show, which is what it is turning out to be, is not what they were expecting.

And this is just the beginning. Another six months and who can tell how high the tides of cynicism will flow. Needless to say, our problems, from terrorism to the economy, are daunting. Even clarifying our thinking about these problems is a hard enough task. Does this leave any scope for talking nonsense?

The Karakorum Highway is in a pretty bad state and parts of it are now utterly insecure. Yet there is no end to the fable of an economic corridor from Kashgar to Gwadar. And the talk of bullet trains – quite apart from being realistic or not, shows your utter contempt for the intelligence of your compatriots. For it shows that you think you can take them for a ride.

Let’s not even mention other things: ending power cuts in so many months; breaking the begging bowl; controlling inflation. Agreed, election talk can be pretty wild, especially in lands where the poetic tradition is strong. But once in government, responsibility actually on your shoulders, talk should become more realistic, and the temptation of taking the awam to be idiots is best avoided.

Does a single day pass without Ch Nisar opening his mouth and holding forth on something or the other? Does it all add up? Has it led to anything that can be dignified by the name of performance? Agreed again that problems are many and performance in these circumstances is not easy. But is it asking for too much that when there is nothing to say, you say nothing? Being in love with your own voice…must evidence of it be provided every day?

What makes it all the more bewildering is the fact that Nisar is amongst the more shining of this government’s pillars. If this is the state of the brightest what is there left to say of the others?

Tall claims are one thing, part and parcel of the truths governments like to believe in. But meaningless claims, with no sense to them….they kindle the flames of wrath. Every now and then Shahbaz Sharif says he is going to end ‘thana’ culture, the all-embracing Urdu expression for police corruption and brutality. He said this in 2008 when he became chief minister. He said the same in 1997 when he became chief minister for the first time. He is saying the same in 2013. If he hasn’t been able to eradicate anything of the sort in this time span he is not going to do it now. Is he under the impression that anyone believes him when he waxes lyrical about ‘thana’ culture?

Thanas are out of anyone’s control, the police past reforming, not only in Punjab but across the land, not simply because the problem is deep-rooted but because everyone who comes has different priorities. District-level politicians are only happy when they get accommodating district police officers. Chief ministers, whatever their protestations, like heel-clicking inspectors general. Everyone speaks of an impartial, God-fearing police force. No one wants an impartial, God-fearing police force.

If police ‘encounters’ are a regular occurrence in Lahore, what becomes of the rule of law in the province in general? If 2000 policemen are not enough to meet the security needs of the Sharif family, what Islam and what Islamic equity do we talk about? Whenever the CM moves in Lahore a thousand policemen of the Flying Squad are lined up for his route protection and they stay there, standing on the roads, until he is safely in bed. And this is the 21st century and we talk of economic corridors from the Himalayas to the sea.

It’s just not the police. Take any department and things are the same: lordships holding forth on the situation in Quetta and Karachi but with no time for the pace of judicial work in their own territories. Is there any lower court in Pakistan, from Gilgit to Karachi, where you can get a certified copy of a judicial order without greasing the palms of the reader of the concerned judge or magistrate? And then we hear the catchphrase so beloved of the judiciary: justice for all. Indeed.

These past few days I haven’t been able to open my morning newspapers without seeing a photo of the Commander 10 Corps cutting the ribbon of a ‘Pindi Defence Housing Authority project. And we say we are in a state of war. 10 Corps’ area of responsibility is from ‘Pindi to the Siachen Glacier. Any fool could be forgiven for thinking this was a full-time job. But I suppose in the higher pursuit of national security it must be mixed up with real estate, which is what, cutting all the flim-flam, defence housing authorities basically are.

Militaries are into business, the Egyptian army for one. Do we want that to be our model? But even the Egyptian army hasn’t discovered housing authorities on this scale. This is a Pakistani first, an indigenous invention, our ingenuity in this sphere bested by no one else.

What I am trying to say is that the sickness we can call the Pakistani malaise is now spread from top to bottom, everyone being on the take according to his position and capacity – MD of a corporation and a Grade Four employee, different jobs but similar eye on the ball, apni aukaat ke mutabiq. So when we say we are weak in economics that is only partially correct because this too is a form of activity, if not the highest activity of all.

We must then arrive at some conclusion. All this talk, with which newspaper columns are full, of reforming the country, is just that, poppycock – at a par with the pledge to eradicate ‘thana’ culture. So why don’t we stop moaning and whining and learn to take things easy? Why don’t we recognise our reality for what it is and then learn to go along with it?

There are so many other societies far more gone than us. But even as they wallow in their misery they pay homage to Bacchus and know how to dance – look merely at the African sense of rhythm. We alone of societies down and out, not only wallow in our misery but are self-righteous into the bargain and call ourselves (if you please) a Fortress of Islam. It is this combination, this mixture of opposites, which is so hard to swallow.

Email: winlust@yahoo.com

http://e.thenews.com.pk/9-3-2013/page6.asp