Daily Times

December, despite its dampening chill and frost, reignites the torrid memories of the surrender and splintering of Pakistan wrought by its long drawn army dictatorship that descended on October 8, 1958. Its onset now, however, seems to be passing into oblivion as no political organisation presently seems to be stirring for its remembrance and condemnation. Another army putsch headed by Mush, in the same month, 40 years later, was, however, quite vehemently resented by several circles, particularly by the N League. A resolution condemning the Musharraf coup was passed by the Punjab Assembly. Some TV channels transmitted special programmes parsing the events leading to the fateful night of this onslaught. The condemnation of July 5, marking the darkest decade of the nation’s straitjacket dictatorship, is similarly confined for condemnation on that particular date. The periodic fury against dictatorship in a larger part of the political pundits is indeed a stimulating testament to the emerging determination of denial and defiance against dictatorship. Yet the feeling has to be morphed into a more mature and manifest democratic demeanour of our politicians, and appropriate steps have to be taken to have it ingrained into the psyche and ethos of the larger public, particularly our youth and posterity. This becomes imperative because if democracy somehow endures the intractably devilish odds against it, then the newer generations will never know the sorrows, suffering and struggle of their ancestors ravaged by repeated dictatorships. Thus, while we strive to sustain and improve a democratic ethos and institutions, we must also initiate a string of new institutions to explore the ravages wrought by various dictatorships and preserve and present them as the inheritance of our repeated and weird victimisation, a valiant defiance, resistance, intermittent success and a memento of precaution.

Founding a Museum of Dictatorship for this purpose thus becomes a paramount responsibility, particularly for those who suffered and sacrificed but still lit the torch and the trail. To make it more effective and accessible to the largest and remotest audience, it would be even better to turn it into the most modern, emerging version of dioramas depicting state of the art interactive and online facilities. Dioramas have now long left their original orbit of illustrative instruments for scientific curiosities and concepts to become a fascinating source of stimulating learning, documentation, preservation, presentation and permeation of historical settings, events and analyses, catapulting visitors into a time traveller’s rapture and tactile pleasure. The dioramas of the American history series, for instance, have sprung up in scores of cities. Every state depicts its own struggle and heritage. At the civil war diorama, visitors can feel the immense courage and suffering of the Union soldiers wrapped in rags in the bewildering snow and blizzards. The sprawling topographic scenes, ensuing combat strategies, blaring bugles, baritone commands, artillery barrage, infantry assaults, triumphant strides, defeat and destruction of the infrastructure can be explicitly experienced. Norway’s Resistance Museum in Oslo unfolds the Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945, complete with the tools and tactics of the invasion and activities of the underground resistance.

The diorama of dictatorship can similarly document the strategies of the generals to spread discontent against elected representatives, divide and malign various parties, manoeuvre takeover calls, inchoate parleys, preparations and pouncing of the brigades to dislodge prime ministers. There can be sections dedicated to the stick and carrot stratagem to elicit and promote support by the Elected Bodies Disqualification Ordinance (EBDO), indictments for trumpeted corruption, fraud and misdemeanour, and honouring and sanctifying the condemned by raising them to ministerial and lucrative slots. Also present are creating and patronising the extremist obscurantist lobbies sworn against democracy, dissent, pluralism, elections and evolution in human thought. Separate sections actually would have to be designed for each dictator. Zia’s galleries can take observers to a medieval authoritarian atmosphere reeking with the divine regency of the rulers, draconian codes, public executions and stripped torsos tied to whipping stands. The witch-hunt and humiliation of democrats, human rights activists, teachers, nurses, labour leaders and journalists similarly would be another challenging theme. Reincarnating the firing at Colony Textile Mills, weird flogging of eminent veteran journalists, the summary military courts’ proceedings, press warnings and blank pages and columns of the manacled press, massive expulsions, transfers and terminations of undesired ‘infected’ teachers, nurses and other professionals would all be a painstaking pursuit. The role of religious parties in spying, connivance and unabashed cooperation to crush dissent could similarly constitute another contrasting and instructive theme. The montage of maddening mullah breeding and pampering programmes, funds funnelled into fundamentalist fantasies, the mushroom growth of seminaries spiralling into the Taliban movement and the terrorism currently tearing the very foundations and aspirations of the nation could be another eye-opening section. The galleries related to the incubation and growth of terrorism in hatcheries of dictatorship and tactics of terrorism could actually turn into one of the world’s first most wondrous and risqué tourist and research magnet.

The section highlighting judicial history, which may be called the ‘corridor of judicial juggleries’, could be recast as yet another remarkable reminder of the role of the superior judiciary under dictatorship. The induction of some familiar towering figures by dictators at the lower judicial tiers, their unflinching loyalties, ascent to higher cadres and eventual transformation as the celestial guardians to guide and chastise democratic functioning could be blended with the bewildering saga of recanted and defiled oaths. It could similarly sum up the story of rising disenchantment against dictatorship, the strained judge-general nexus, the subsequent judicial defiance, dismissals and the massive movement by the lawyers and the political parties for the restoration of the judiciary. Yet the struggle, stoicism, sacrifices and strategies of the political parties in dislodging the dictators would be the most scintillating memento of this dioramic venture. Some help in sculpting this strand can be solicited from the European museums of resistance and the holocaust. Portraying a really lucid and precise state of the presently gathering gloom, the spreading shadows of another dictatorship and comparative projections of the possible progress and stability that could have been achieved through uninterrupted democratic governance, would be even more daunting. But despite these preventive odds of ingenuity, innovation, research, skill, design, presentation and sponsorship, the dire need merits a new resolve at the turn of the year.

The writer is an academic and freelance columnist. He can be reached at habibpbu@yahoo.com