Daily Times

“The ordinary lunatic is generally a harmless, isolated case. Since everyone sees that something is wrong with him, he is quickly taken care of. But, the unconscious infections of groups of so-called normal people are more subtle and far more dangerous.” – C. G. Jung

Watching the two clips featuring the venomous outpourings of Captain (retd) Safdar, forwarded to me a million times over since last evening, has made me numb. This son-in-law of the former Prime Minister is decidedly a lunatic.

If one wants a lesson in the art of incitement, this is it: one, a speech on the floor of the Parliament saying that he would move a resolution to ban the recruitment of Ahmadis in the military and bureaucracy, and the other showing him leading a motley procession of degenerates down the stairs, shouting slogans in praise of murderer Qadri – the one who had assassinated the former governor Salman Taseer in broad daylight and who was later hanged for the heinous crime.

While the sloganeering can be handled by the relevant agencies/organisations, why was this lunatic allowed to puke venom on the floor of the Parliament?

Where was the speaker, and has he ordered an enquiry into the malevolent conduct of this degenerate son-in-law of a disgraced former Prime Minister?

Worse still, the PML-N and its leadership have been mum about the violent outbursts. One is, therefore, constrained to conclude that they are in agreement with the contents of his speech and the slogans that he was raising so vociferously.

I have been writing about the Sharif family’s strategy in dealing with a host of cases they are facing in the courts of law encompassing two different fronts. On the political front, it is one of assaulting the institutions of the military and the judiciary, and, on the legal front, it is one of trying to delay the proceedings as long as possible by ensuring that one or more members of the family do not show up in the courtroom. Incitement to sectarian violence for currying support at the grassroots level appears to have been incorporated as a key component of their rebranded political strategy.

Pakistan is already a hopelessly divided country along multiple fault lines: religious, ethnic, sectarian, cultural, linguistic, social, political, and a host of the rest. Anyone with even a trifle consideration for the good of the country would not even think in terms of dividing it further along the existent fractures, or creating new ones.

It would be interesting to trace the history of these fault lines which date back to as far ago as 1949 when the Constituent Assembly of the newly-born state had adopted the Objectives Resolution which is now the integral preamble of Pakistan’s constitution. I fail to understand the logic behind this step even before the blueprint of a yet-to-be-framed constitution had been unveiled.

This was done in criminal contravention of the Quaid’s guidelines, which he had laid out with his trademark clarity and purposefulness, in his historic August 11 address to the Constituent Assembly: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State…We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens, and equal citizens, of one State”.

I am also reminded of the speech the leader of the opposition in the Constituent Assembly delivered in his plea to desist from adopting an inherently divisive piece of legislation. Chandra Chattopadhyay said: “I say, give up this division of the people into Muslims and non-Muslims and let us call ourselves one nation. Let us call ourselves one people – people of Pakistan”.

He went on to plead that he be allowed to retain the privilege of being a Pakistani like all others: “Let us form ourselves as members of one nation. Let us eliminate the complexes of majority and minority. Let us treat citizens of Pakistan as members of one family and frame such a constitution as may not break this tie so that all communities may stand shoulder to shoulder on equal footing in time of need and danger. I do not consider myself as a member of the minority community. I consider myself as one of seventy million Pakistanis. Let me have the honour to retain that privilege”.

That was not to be. The Objectives Resolution was duly adopted forcing the state to wear the apparel of discrimination. Consequently, it has not been able to come good on the enshrining principles of its founding father, Quaid-e-Azam, or the pleadings of adherents of all other religions who loved Pakistan just as dearly as Muslims did. The division of the Subcontinent was followed in quick succession by the division of a nation. Pakistan was denuded of its innocence in infancy.

The follow-up legislations including depriving the Ahmadies of their right to call themselves Muslims was enacted, of all people, by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Dictator Zia did the rest.

The state has since been hijacked by the sponsors of regression and terror. The traditional as well as the not-so-traditional religious mafias have been unleashing their narrative of hate, venom and rank obscurantism with impunity. In spite of their rejection by the electorate repeatedly in no uncertain terms, these mafias have continued using religion as a political instrument to win votes.

It was this same mindset that had initially succeeded in having the Objectives Resolution included as preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan – an aberration that forced the state to differentiate among its own people on the basis of their faith, caste, colour, creed and such other things which, as proclaimed by the Quaid, were not a matter for the state to regulate. This laid the foundations of excessive indulgence in religiosity, the making of the radicalised mindset and a host of attendant ills which have bloodied the founding principles of the state.

But this current madness is not without a method. In order to politicise the cases registered against them, the Sharifs are playing a dangerous game. They are bent on affronting the institutions of the military and judiciary by raking up the demon of religion. The objective is to create conditions of chaos in the country, thus, forcing one or the other institution to intervene. This would then become their rationale to justify their hate campaign which they have unleashed through their slimy lieutenants whose tongues are tied to their pockets. Stuffing those would provide the ammunition to their lips to move and their pens to scribble.

Pakistan has long been stripped of its sanity. This latest injection of venom would deprive it of the prospect of even a faint and painful recovery. It is taking a step too far. The state must respond effectively and urgently before the poison permeates the entire body and gets to the brain.

Dead meat stinks!

Published in Daily Times, October 12^th 2017.