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October 18, 2002
Sohni Dharti Allah Rakkhey
Would October 10, 2002 mark a watershed in the checkered history of Pakistan? Would the teeming masses forming the country’s electorate, who went to the polls with renewed enthusiasm last Thursday, witness a wholesome change on the political front? Would they see a partial, if not the full, fulfillment of their long cherished dreams? Would a fresh exercise in running a democratic dispensation be crowned with success or furnish fresh proof of adventurous experimentation? Would schools, hospitals, IT centers and R & D institutions dot the Pakistan landscape in the coming five years? These questions come to mind as one ponders the results of the October 10 elections.
Hope sustains life and provides momentum to all human strivings. Therefore, hope must form the basis of any predictions which lovers of Pakistan may like to make for the future.
Let us view the outcome of the October 10 elections on an optimistic note. First, General Musharraf’s reforms have ensured the emergence of new faces and eliminated a number of politicians who had engaged in plunder and loot by turn. One remembers the days when the routine response to charges of corruption was to try and prove that the predecessor had been guilty of even greater corruption! A case in point is Mr. Nawaz Sharif who cried himself hoarse accusing Benazir of corruption during his 1997 election campaign, spent millions of dollars of the poor country’s revenues in gathering incriminating evidence against her when he won that election, and then refused to contest the October 10, 2002 elections on the basis of sympathy for her! The message he is sending out is that it is okay to plunder and loot the country as long as you can persuade simple and politically blind hero-worshippers to vote for you. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours!
It is also gratifying that the foreign observer groups monitoring the elections have testified that they were fair and free with no evidence of shady interference on the part of the administration. This gives the lie to charges of pre-poll rigging which some arm-chair politicians had wasted their energies upon, instead of working hard, putting together attractive manifestoes, and storming the country - something which Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto had done in 1970. Even an ex-sportsman like Imran Khan had started crying ‘foul’ before the match had started! What is more, some of the political stalwarts who supported Muharraf’s reforms have been routed at the polls. This is convincing evidence of the exercise of fair play at the polls, as was the disqualification of Gohar Ayub, a member of the so-called ‘King’s Party’, a name coined to describe anyone who saw the wisdom of Musharraf’s reforms.
The most outstanding and surprising feature of the elections is the emergence of the MMA - a conglomerate of the religious parties - that bagged an impressive number of seats - 45, to be precise. Kazi Hussain Ahmad’s enunciation of his group’s views in chaste, flawless English seems to hint at the forward-looking stance of Pakistan’s religious groups that banded together to form the MMA coalition. It was gratifying to note that he would introduce legislation for land reforms and the abolition of big jaagirdaris. This would be a step in the right direction. The abolition of feudalism, the root cause of all evil in Pakistan and perhaps the main reason for the country lagging behind India on the democratic path, has been long overdue.
Given the fact that Islam is a progressive religion - conservative Europe shied away from it when it made its debut in the seventh century - it is sanguinely hoped that Kazi Sahib et al. would present the peaceful face of Islam while presenting their perspective on various issues in the assembly, and that their views would be different from the fundamentalist, biased harangue of the type of Falwell and Robertson. Islam and the West have a lot in common and both are on a coalition rather than a collision course. If Muslims venerate Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) and Moses (Peace Be Upon Him) as prophets of God - Allah - there is little reason to pass disparagement on Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). One expects the MMA to act responsibly and support wholeheartedly General Musharraf’s efforts of making the madrassas seats of learning of all sciences as they were in the pristine periods of Muslims. The madrassas should offer courses in physical sciences, biosciences, English literature, and mathematics besides imparting religious education. Muslims must nurture the creative impulse as they did in the earlier centuries. George Sarton’s History of Sciences chronicles the achievements of the world’s leading innovators and Muslim names adorn the first few pages of the monumental work. Let us make a new beginning in the exciting field of Research and Development. Let Kazi Sahib and his colleagues furnish fresh evidence of our innate propensity to nurture the creative impulse.
With no single party commanding a clear majority, indications are that the hung Parliament would see the formation of coalition groups at the helm to run the country. The situation may not appear an ideal one but it would surely ensure that a single party enjoying absolute majority would not ride roughshod over accepted norms of good governance. The workable arrangement that is likely to emerge could lead to a consensus in the house on major issues blighting the country. One also hopes that the PML-Q, PPPP and PML-N would demonstrate a greater degree of responsibility in airing party views on national issues. It is also expected that the MQM, ANP and other prominent groups would act likewise. One thing is for sure: as long as Pervez Musharraf, who led a team of ministers and governors with transparently clean hands for three years remains at the helm, he would not let the wanton ‘plunder and loot by turn’ adventurism to continue. However, the General must try to obtain parliamentary consensus on his recent constitutional amendments that created quite a few ripples.
Pakistan today is at the crossroads. How the newly elected parliamentarians acquit themselves of their responsibility would decide the future of the country. An ocean and a continent away one could only wish and pray:
Sohni dharti Allah rakkhey qadam, qadam abad
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