The blame-game.

Byline: Zaheer Bhatti

THE national psyche has been dealt such telling blows by every segment of the Pakistani society with misplaced priorities and perceptions that a situation of uncertainty has started to lurk. The political leadership, the Armed Forces and the Agencies commonly referred to as the Establishment, Judiciary, Civil bureaucracy, traders and industrialists and the civil society representatives have all contributed to the malaise; astutely joined now by the media which was beginning to coin itself as the fourth pillar of the State behind Parliament, the Judiciary, and the Executive which unfortunately has lost its effectiveness by succumbing to political exploitation.

It has become a monotonous refrain to blame external forces for all the ills within without realizing that Societies become vulnerable when social justice becomes distant and the leadership ignores the rights of the electorate failing to rise above self, in contrast to the same country thwarting enemy designs against the State in its 1965 cowardly enemy attack because leaders at that time were selfless and united. Successive governments blame the past for ills inherited by the new set-up whereas putting the country back on track from where past rulers leave it is precisely the challenge for the new leadership. This is why politicians supposedly choose to contest and claim support of the people who vote them into power, but the never ending blame game has come to be the hallmark of Pakistan today, which has to be shunned if Pakistan is to move forward.

While it appeared to be a step in the right direction to require a UN probe into the Benazir murder, it turned out to be an eyewash as the then Ruling PPP rather than nab her murderers remained busy cashing on her martyrdom and that of her father which they still continue to do; the case petering down to the release of even the confessing facilitators by the Courts of law for want of effective prosecution. The political leadership in Pakistan which until now has been playing musical chairs apparently gunning for each other but actually fending for themselves scratching each other's back under the smokescreen of the current sham democracy are senselessly foul-mouthing against the Judiciary besides each other, little realizing that they are giving the enemies of Pakistan a perfect playing field to make further ingresses to neutralize the gains made by country's Armed Forces.

Yousaf Reza Geelani when Prime Minister had seriously compromised his own position as the elected Chief Executive in suggesting that the issue of Musharraf's Impeachment be decided between Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, but worst still Zardari tried to pass the buck on to reservations among coalition partners who promptly refuted the allegation declaring that they would vote for the proceedings should such a Resolution be tabled. The fact is that politicians of all ilk not only bailed Musharraf out with a State send-off but eventually when charged, allowed him to flee the country as a reward for illegally handing over hundreds of Pakistanis to the US for crumbs of Dollars, besides Aftab Sherpao allegedly surrendering thousands more as lately revealed by Chairman NAB.

In the blame game, knowing Musharraf's style of governance where nothing moved without his approval it was amusing for him to say that Shaukat Aziz was responsible for the economic disasters of his time and not himself, as are several opportunist Q-Leaguers who had tried to stand tall over their misdemeanors of eight years under Musharraf, readmitted to PML(N) but now finding fault with its leadership which they are made to believe was vanishing from the scene, and therefore yet again changing wards.

Centralised power regardless of whether it is civilian rule or dictatorship has become the antithesis of governance in Pakistan besides perpetuation of family fiefdoms. Like Bhutto like anyone, Asif Zardari from day one as President of the country sounded like Musharraf in practically assuming the role of the Prime Minister despite ostensibly shedding his powers via the 18th Amendment; Nawaz Sharif's craving for absolute power being no different as he reveals his increasing streak of intolerance in continuing to blame key national institutions of misdemeanor against him and playing the martyr.

Imran Khan's bold initiative to make an example of turncoats and horse-traders in the context of the Senate elections which has exposed his Government in KPK to a no confidence move as a possible consequence, the media and the opposition while endorsing Khan's move have not missed blaming him for starting the rot by helping Zadari's game in Balochistan and resorting to the same horse-trading in getting Ch. Sarwar elected to the Senate from Punjab. The present Government which keeps daring the country's judiciary to take action against the absconding General needs to put itself in the dock for allowing him to leave the country. It can no longer fool the public on the issue because it is not the judiciary but the Government itself which must get Musharraf, Hussain Haqqani and Altaf Hussain back through Interpol and have them tried, prosecuted and made an example of.

Instead of hedging behind the blame game, this country needs to throw up a courageous, far-sighted and selfless leadership like Imam Khomeini of Iran and Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey who derive strength from the people they have delivered to, and not those relying on paid advertising to recount accomplishments rather than let them be seen on the ground and broken as genuine news by the media; a leadership which has the ability to protect national interests with a global outreach and thwart adversaries looking to impair Pakistan's development and neutralise Pakistan's nuclear capability and seeking unconditional compliance of their diktats. Sadly, politicians like Raza Rabbani, Ch Nisar and Javed Hashmi who do not mince words and speak out their mind without fear or favour and have the courage to look at their political adversaries as well as enemies of Pakistan squarely in the eye, are becoming a rare commodity in the country.

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Publication:	Pakistan Observer (Islamabad, Pakistan)
Geographic Code:	9PAKI
Date:	Apr 22, 2018
Words:	1055
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