Daily Times

A friend of mine recently called me up from the US to chat. Having read my latest column in this newspaper, he complained — sort of — that I was not sufficiently hard-hitting and I should aggressively attack the ‘sinister’ Pakistani ‘deep state’. Frankly, I have been reading much about this deep state thing so I decided to try and figure out what exactly this deep state might be and more importantly what ordinary Pakistanis thought of it.

My first source of information about what the average Pakistani thinks is my driver. So as I set off on my daily ‘rounds’ I asked him about the deep state. Of course I translated it into Punjabi and called it the ‘doongee sarkar’ or deep government. It took me a while to explain to him the concept of a hidden establishment that supposedly runs the country. His response was enlightening. He asked, does this mean that Zardari is not really responsible for load shedding, the high price of lentils, sugar, vegetables, wheat flour, and petrol, and for the floods that happened last year?

While I was still mulling over my driver’s response I arrived at the DVD shop where I buy the latest Hollywood movies and boxed sci-fi series. The young man who sells me this stuff seemed to be a reasonably ‘with it’ chap so I thought I might as well ask him about the ‘deep state’. When I mentioned deep state, the young man’s eyes lit up, he ran to a corner of his shop, dragged the step ladder and pulled down two boxed sets of DVDs from the topmost shelf, wiped the dust off them and placed them triumphantly in front of me. Lo and behold I saw two years of Star Trek’s Deep Space-9 in front of me. Not having the heart to disappoint him I quietly accepted the DVD sets and thought that an evening or two watching Captain Benjamin Sisko, Odo the shape shifter and the other motley inhabitants of DS-9 would not be all bad.

Next I arrived at the local ‘supermarket’ where I planned to pick up some toiletries. I ran into a rather well appointed and seemingly well educated young woman who was busy checking the shelves. For a moment I thought that she might provide me with some ideas about the deep state. But before involving her in a political discussion I thought it might be worthwhile to get on first base. So I asked her if the store had any hairstyling mousse. The blank look she gave me in response was a bit startling. At this point I decided that educated looks notwithstanding it would not be a good idea to involve the young woman in any discussion about anything ‘deep’. I could just imagine her getting perturbed and asking all the young men lolling around in the store to defend her ‘honour’ and as a consequence poor me getting thrashed. So I rapidly exited the store sans any hairstyling mousse.

My next stop was at a friend’s office for my weekly ‘free lunch’. Here important members of the financial community and a usual smattering of hangers-on were hanging around. Finally there was a group that could offer some insight into the deep state. I started the conversation by making a few inane remarks about the recent political problems facing Pakistan and the deep state that was making them worse. Soon all those present became involved in the discussion and the responses varied from the amused observation that it was all just a product of the vivid imagination of conspiracy theorists to premonitions of impending doom. Thinking of their latest model German sedans parked in the parking area outside, I realised that the people around me probably represented segments of the deep state if it did exist.

My last obligatory stop on the way home was predictably at the local fruit-seller. After all, what better lubricant for intellectual pursuits on a load shedded summer evening than a couple of decent iced mangoes chased down with some cold sweet sherbet. The fruit-seller is a portly luxuriantly bearded man in his 50s with a prayer mark on his forehead. Just as I was going to ask him about the deep state I noticed a collection box sitting on his cash register with the name of a new incarnation of an outlawed religious group. At this point I realised that a political discussion with him would jeopardise my source of reliably good fruit and possibly my personal health. So I decided that discretion was clearly the better part of valour and collected my fruit and went on home.

Finally at home, air-conditioner on, and the computer monitor ablink, I decided to put my thoughts in order. First, it is clear at least to me that Pakistan has been ruled by a very visible cabal, coterie, or whatever since the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, our first prime minister, made up of senior and retired bureaucrats, the army brass, politicians mostly of the hereditary sort and what in the old days were called the religious divines. This group ran Pakistan except during the ZAB interregnum and the second coming of Nawaz Sharif. And that the army brass was the ascendant component of this group after 1958.

The other conclusion I came to was that most of those moaning and groaning about the deep state were once the beneficiaries of this same ‘entity’ and are now protesting, violently or otherwise because they have either been disowned or else are out of favour. But an important change is afoot. From the original ‘gang of four’, the group is now expanding to include business tycoons, the higher judiciary that finally woke up from 50 years of slumber and the newly ‘empowered’ media. The important thing about this deep state then is that there is nothing deep or hidden about it.

The writer has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com