I am tempted to quote the following passage from the great French philosopher Rousseau in order to drive home the point that Pakistan is on the threshold of a public revolution. He says, “Are not all advantages in our society reserved for the rich and the powerful? Are not all lucrative employments held by them alone? Are not the public authorities entirely at their service? If an influential man defrauds his creditors or commits other villainies, can he not count on impunity before the law? If he is guilty of violence or murder, is not everything hushed up and after six months no longer referred to? But if this same man is robbed the whole police is at once set in motion and woe betide the innocent upon whom suspicion falls! Should this rich man have to pass through a dangerous place, he is provided with a large escort. If the axle of his carriage breaks, all fly to assist him. If there is a noise at his door, a word from him and all is silence. If the crowd incommodes him, a sign and all are scattered. If he finds a carter in his way, his servants rain blows upon him. All these conveniences cost him nothing, since the rich are entitled to enjoy them without expending their own wealth on such trifles.”
Every word written by Rousseau applies to the situation in our beloved Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Our society is vertically divided between the privileged and unprivileged class. The privileged class has all the opportunities in the country. All doors are opened to them. Public authorities such as the police and the bureaucracy are entirely at their service. They take huge loans from national banks and get them written off illegally. The proverbial long arm of the law does not dare to move against this privileged class in the country that has thrown Pakistan into an utter chaos.
This privileged class can break the law with impunity. If the people belonging to this higher class are involved in murder or other heinous crimes, the law comes to their rescue and the issues are hushed up. Our rulers do not move without escorts of dozens of expensive vehicles and hundreds of policemen and paramilitary personnel. The prime minister of the country was recently shown on a TV channel with over 100 escort vehicles.
Surprisingly, all these conveniences as described by Rousseau do not cost this corrupt and oppressive ruling privileged class anything. It is the common people who have to work hard and pay for the lavish expenses of their masters with their sweat and blood.
The similarity in the circumstances makes us believe that a public revolution may come in the country soon. But France had a French nation and unfortunately Pakistan is a conglomerate of many ethnic nationalities at loggerheads with each other. The concept of Pakistani nationhood was never allowed to take root in the country. Even if it exists, as some would vigorously claim, it exists in an amorphous form.
Pakistan needs a Pakistani nation welded in the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood. The people of Pakistan will have to shed the prejudices of caste, colour, ethnicity and provincialism if they want to attain their rightful position in the world. As long as they do not break these heavy chains, a revolution will remain a fallacy. Otherwise it is a reality knocking at our doors.
(Concluded)
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