Your Highness! The analogy is clear. Like the cricket team, eleven excellent men, but a leadership gone to seed. Pakistan is producing Nobel Prize winners, high achievers and we even bagged two Oscars. There are many unsung heroes quietly achieving their goals and much, much more. Yet, as a nation, we are failing, for no other reason than our leadership is faulty, and needs to change. The cricket team was a fiasco, and if those matches had been played on local grounds, a lynching would have occured.
The PML-N leadership should take note of the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi. He gave more to the Libyan people than any other leader, Libyan or otherwise. Health, education, social welfare from cradle to the grave. More than any Western citizen could hope for. Yet when the time came, he was hunted down, tortured and butchered with the contempt only an Arab mob can demonstrate.
And so one should not rely on red buses or orange trains. But heed the voice of the people. The corruption spiral is growing, and the scams becoming more glaring. Surpassing Zardari for blatantcy and more outrageous than even his Jiyalas could imagine. For how long can the law be evaded, or this level of corruption be tolerated? The reckoning is due, the fury is building up. Even the authorities like NAB are unsure of whether they will be allowed to apply the law, in all its might, or abide by the time honoured Muk Mukaa so prevalent in political corridors. It is already clear that only two institutions are free from pressure: the Supreme Court, and the Army. It remains to be seen if NAB can do its duty fairly. The media is too savvy to allow any more “accommodation” or judicial latitude. The public will not stand for any more tomfoolery. The Sharifs cannot hide behind the fig leaf of the constitution or democracy. Everybody understands the exercise of power, and who wields it. The limits are also known. The proverbial slip by the incumbent is awaited. One can only pray that the next man in does not bring with him the vicious streak common to the Arab.
The COAS is assiduously courted by the local politicians, and the external powers. The many trips of the Army chief have been duly noted by all. The approval of his performance by the foreign leaders is already on record and his input is sought at all levels. All this has been attained by his performance. Of course, the status of the institution he heads is indisputable, as is the country’s strategic geographic location. Pakistan being at the axis of the Arab-Iran power struggle is extremely relevant, and needs very careful action without disturbing the equilibrium prevailing in the region, where the US, Israeli and Indian forces are all exerting their influence and money. The effect on Pakistani interests cannot be underestimated. On the other hand, the maximum advantage should be taken, by careful manoeuvring, to promote Pakistan’s security interests.
The bigger danger is the opportunity being created for a Young Turk to emerge as a saviour, and read the immortal lines “mere aziz hum watano.” This line is usually followed by a severe shake up of the society and unnecessary bloodshed. The Sharifs would be well advised to cut their ambitious bus/train services, and get on with correcting the existing faults in the system, rather than engage the country in cleverly glamourised bus routes. The public knows when it is being taken for a ride.
While the Sharifs are playing with their buses and trains, they are missing the big opportunity of bridging the gap between the Arab states and Iran. The resulting benefits would spread economic gains throughout the region. These are the huge openings available to Pakistan, and would that there was a Bhutto to seize the moment. Unfortunately, Sharif the Elder is engrossed in his toys and trips and cannot see the larger picture.
The Iranians and the Indians will ensure that they cement their relationship, keeping Pakistan out. The capture of a senior Indian spy in Gwadar is evidence of the Indian interest in the region. Does Islamabad not realize the unfolding scenario, and the high stakes involved? The Indians are destabilizing Pakistani security, and keeping us busy defending the Pathankot red herrings. Pakistan is letting the big opportunity slip through its hands. It is not often that a country is afforded the luxury of being positioned as the gateway to the worlds vital oil route. And our leadership is too blind to see the opportunity or the responsibility.
Gwadar is a sentinel at the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, the whole of Pakistan’s southern littoral stretching from Gwadar to Karachi has both military and economic significance. When this aspect is concatenated with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will run from Gwadar to Central Asia and China, the whole strategic picture becomes clear. Pakistan needs to be acutely vigilant and focus on guarding Pakistan’s strategic interests. But, unfortunately, Pakistan’s political leadership is less than reassuring. In fact, Pakistan’s political leaders, incumbent or otherwise, are inept, obtuse, corrupt, venal, egocentric and with their acts of commission or omission, bordering on the treasonous.
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