Daily Times

‘Blame it on Rio’ was the title of a movie where a lot of uncalled for events take place between the major characters of the movie but the blame is always laid on the place called Rio de Janeiro. A similar state of affairs exists in our political corridors; every time something goes out of control, the safest and easiest way out is to blame it on the invisible hand — be it Israel, India and of course the ever available, the US. Karachi has now become the land of the lawless where all types of systems, people and processes have produced identical results, i.e. more killings, more burnings, more destruction, more losses. The government has literally no answer or solution to these problems so should they take the responsibility of this mess? That is not possible as they are above the law and above recrimination. Thus the easiest way out is to blame those about whom we can do little. This time our interior minister, having run out of blaming RAW of India and CIA of the US, has gone back to our old faithful foe, Israel.

The enigma of ‘what, who, when’ Karachi will be restored to normality was further confounded when the interior minister said that the carnage in Karachi is imported from Israel both through weapons and also target killers. This statement highlights two major facts. One, that the cause of these strikes is not sponsored by local parties, which includes the MQM, ANP and PPP and secondly, since it is manufactured and imported through Israel the inability to counter it is justified by the fact that with such mighty foreign forces in play it is very difficult for the government machinery to have an answer for it. Thus with utmost ease the minister has absolved himself and all the erring parties of all responsibility. The interior minister has become the most popular talk of the town due to his embarrassingly ridiculous remarks. One cannot help but admire his complete aplomb at being ridiculed in the media and yet steadfastly sticking to his norm of creating bigger faux pas with the same effortless ease.

However, the attitude of the interior minister is so reflective of evading the reality, denying the truth and shirking the responsibility approach our leadership practices with honed skill. The reason for the deterioration in all that needs to be governed is this malaise of irresponsibility and immaturity. The fact that the problem within is not being addressed is the root cause of the problem becoming exponential in its scale and size. Why Karachi has become a genie out of a bottle is that most stakeholders involved are a partner in crime. Thus it is very difficult for them to blame each other as they may open up a Pandora box that is equally damaging to each one of them. Therefore, the safest bet is to blame it on the untouchable, Israel.

The trait of all failed leaders and institutions is their inability to admit to their problems and then take responsibility of solving them. The ‘foreign hand’ theory has been so old and antiquated that the mere mention of it raises mocking eyebrows even before the statement is out. Even if it is a foreign hand, it cannot deliver without the local hand helping them with intelligence and connivance. The tradition of blaming the US for misusing our facilities and the IMF for spiking inflation are chants that have only added to the frustration of a public who is so caught up with the crisis of day to day survival that it literally needs an excuse to vent out pent up anger. The anti-American sentiments that are displayed in every survey are never going to make any difference to the American policies. The public must realise that the Americans are only doing what is being allowed to them by the owners of this territory. The Americans have no love lost for the Chinese and are constantly complaining about their human rights record but they would never dare to venture there without the consent of the people ruling the country. In both Raymond Davis case and the drone attacks, they are very open about the fact that the Pakistani government has given their consent for this territorial encroachment. The Pakistani government has in the recent past asked the Americans to share their intelligence and intentions but the Americans have a very candid reply to that by saying that since the government supports some terrorist groups, it cannot be trusted to carry out these operations on their own. The Abbottabad incident was a case in point where it was quite difficult for most sane people to believe that Osama’s presence could have gone unnoticed for so long by our forces operating at a stone’s distance from his compound.

If we see the rise of the Southeast Asian tigers, i.e. Malaysia, Singapore, etc, the key to their progress was the ability to take responsibility of their own problems and work on them with complete dedication to go ahead in the competitive race of educating their workforce and developing their economy. They lived within their means and reduced undue dependence on aid and American assistance either in the form of structural adjustment programmes or fixing up their fiscal and monetary policies. Mahathir’s famous refusal to peg the ringgit to the dollar in the 90s was an act of courage that signified in no uncertain terms that the country would make independent decisions and bear the responsibility of the consequences. The problem with our leaders has been to lay the blame for their own non-performance on anybody and everybody. The favourite downloading site for their blame is the previous government. If that does not serve the purpose, bad luck like floods and earthquakes can always be targeted. If, unfortunately for them, none of these natural disasters have befallen during their rule then the foreign hand does a hand for them. Unfortunately, with a mindset that is unfocused on corrections in themselves, success and progress is naturally limited. The major challenge is not to change the systems and structure but to change the mindsets of our political leaders whose inability to accept their own role in creating political damage to their careers and the country have cost them not only exiles from the country but tragically the sustainability and credibility of the country itself. Changing the world inevitably starts with changing the mindsets.

The writer is a consultant and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com