Daily Times

Patriotism is on sale in Pakistan. According to the latest survey conducted by the national armed forces, the only reliable representatives of public opinion, most Pakistanis have displayed interest in sharing secrets of their motherland at a fair price. They are also amenable to work for foreign spy agencies in return for appropriate compensation.

Furthermore, the study finds early signs of disloyalty are far more prevalent in society than the earlier estimates and has infected all segments of the population. It has corrupted the bureaucracy, influenced the judiciary and penetrated civil society. It has particularly gained strength in Balochistan and the tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, continuing to soar in the rural areas of Sindh as well. In addition, it suggests that the historically immune areas of central and northern Punjab are not completely impregnable anymore, and perfidy is even penetrating the Potohar districts. It concludes there is only one exception to the rule: Pakistan fortunately is still blessed with a group of dedicated and selfless individuals working tirelessly for her success: the military elite.

According to the study, among all the disloyal Pakistanis, professional politicians were the most despicable. They were dangerously deceptive and clearly disingenuous. Without any exception, they were all selfish, narcissistic and ostentatious. Contrary to their election slogans, they did not demonstrate any concern for improvement in the quality of lives of the people and demonstrated a stern indifference about their security. These characteristics were in clear contrast to traits displayed by loyal and patriotic officers who invariably demonstrated simplicity and dependability. They have always come forward to take on the challenge and lead the country to steer her out of her predicaments. On many occasions in the past, these officers having proved their competency are prepared to sacrifice in the future as well.

These findings are consistent with the previous surveys conducted by the same organisation over decades and reinforces the poll results of the national referendums of 1984 and 2002, in which 98 percent of the people had put their trust in the hands of the respective chief of the army staffs in the presidency.

Nonetheless, there is some element of surprise in the polls and doctors have been downgraded to the second most unpatriotic professionals by the people, just a notch above the treacherous politicians. Traditionally, the police department has held a strong grip on unpopularity and has kept the number two spot for a long time, but this time they were disappointed by their performance. While they have helped the bureaucracy and the judiciary to stay away from the people’s abomination, they could not protect the physicians from public repugnance and therefore a dark horse, Dr Shakeel Afridi, beat them.

It is true that many physicians abscond from the country soon after their graduation. They pursue their careers in the west and provide care to ‘infidels’ (disregarding their faith and conforming to their ‘new’ oath of hypocrisy) and stay away from the limelight in Pakistan. There are some among them who do not flee; they stay here and serve the nation. They also try to adhere to the social conventions and accordingly fall behind in the list of the most hateful Pakistanis, but people like Dr Shakeel Afridi have let them down. Physicians feel embarrassed and are taken aback by the duplicity of Dr Afridi. In this state of shock, they are questioning their professionalism, introspecting about their moral standards and wondering about the fate of a person who does not possess the noble and kind nature of a good human being. They are struggling to understand the concept of a traitor in their ranks who does not believe in the sanctity of suicide or the spirituality of training camps to promote jihad and the nobility of the improvised explosive device.

At a certain level, these results are perplexing and can even be considered self-contradictory if they are not put into the proper context of the Afghan war. For that reason, we should always reckon the deceptive nature of the foreign policy and read the numbers carefully after examining the complexity of the relationship of the partners. Therefore, it is noted in the survey on matters of foreign policy that a vast majority of people align themselves with the ideology of the Council to Defend Pakistan. They believe the council identifies the real threats to the nation and provides a simple, realistic and faith-based solution to all of them in a single sweep: the Taliban. Thus, most of the Pakistanis have voted in favour of a strong punishment for Dr Afridi who helped the United States to identify and kill Osama bin Laden (OBL) in Abbottabad. But, they also believe that OBL was not living in Pakistan in the first place and the whole operation was fraudulent. They are convinced that OBL has been dead for years in Afghanistan or he has been kept as a captive by the United States or he is still alive in Somalia.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com