Daily Times

Subjugation, whether physical or mental, has devastating effects. The subjugated become neither dead nor alive. It can be characterised as ‘slave syndrome’. The agony of ‘slave syndrome’ is perpetual despair and never-ending suffering. It is much worse than death. Death of an individual or annihilation of a nation gives deliverance — a relief from anguish and pain — but subjugation is unremitting punishment.

History of subjugation and resistance presents vital lessons for humanity. Economic subjugation leads to political subjugation. It is the worst malady. It creates helplessness and complete submission. Resistance, on the contrary, kindles the hope of life — regaining of freedom being its prime goal. The subjugators after end of colonial era regained control indirectly through a band of sycophants and cronies, who in the name of self-rule started exploiting their own people. Cronies serve foreign masters and prove to be even worse rulers. This is the tragedy of most of the post-colonial states. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto elaborated it masterly in his book, Myth of Independence.

Neo-colonial subjugators operate through cronies in politics and local agents in business. Pakistan is an apt case-study of this phenomenon. The country after independence in 1947 was soon subjugated, as from day one the rulers vowed allegiance to the United States. Except Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — many even doubt it — every ruler was taking command from the US. The men in uniform, having US backing, started controlling all organs of the state from the very beginning directly or through their lackeys in politics and civil bureaucracy. The role of political elite in the post-independent ‘security state’ of Pakistan has been shamelessly anti-people. Calling themselves ‘leaders’, they have been serving neo-colonialists with great zeal—(see work of Hassan N. Gardezi, Neocolonial Alliances and Crisis of Pakistan).

In Pakistan, politicians and high-ranking officials take great pride being part of the ‘invitees’ list’ of the US, EU, Saudi Arabia, UK etc embassies in Islamabad. In our land of the pure, even religious parties, claiming to be anti-USA, feel annoyed if not invited in such parities. In private, they beg before Washington: ‘Deal with us alone as we have leverage to bring Taliban on terms with you’. Perhaps, they do not know that the US created these monsters and still has close liaison with them. A secret memo of the US State Department, published some years back in a leading New York newspaper, revealed that no political figure in Pakistan has ever turned down an invitation of US Embassy in Pakistan to attend a private party where alcohol is served. ‘In private they criticise us and in such parties ask for personal favours’, the document stated.

Frequently we watch the media showing meetings between US ‘dignitaries’ with our military leadership without the presence of foreign office officials though agenda is not military cooperation. Then we ask who is in control of foreign policy! The US in the past established one-to-one, General-to-General contacts — frequent meetings between General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and General David Petraeus. Davis Petraeus in 2016 debunked Donald Trump for accusing us of ‘deceit’, yet Trump repeated the same allegations through a tweet on New Year eve and then on January 4, 2018 suspended almost entire military aid. It proves that that they still treat us as like a colony. The fault is entirely ours and not theirs. Beggars cannot be choosers. In the past, and still, we take pride in taking aid and borrowing money from them. We are convinced that only they have prescriptions for our ills. We never tried to realise that root cause of many of our problems is this ‘slave syndrome’. It is the main reason for our failure to become an independent polity and self-reliant economy.

The main cause of our economic and political subjugation is cronyism

United States, claiming to be the champion of democracy and freedom, is in fact, behind today’s chaotic world where might is right. The powerful that matter in the global politics want perpetuation of their control through hand-picked cronies and lackeys in different countries. They back only those who promote their interests. For us, they have now Saudi Arabia to decide who is to rule us. The recent visit of Nawaz and Shahbaz and their close confidants, rather than Prime Minister and his team, confirm the perpetuation of subjugation and ‘slave syndrome’.

In the past, whoever joined hands with Musharraf was exonerated from all cases. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was used to twist the arms of opponents. In the late hours of October 5, 2007, just a few hours before the presidential elections, he extended general clemency to those looters of national wealth and criminals who promised to support him. Close to elections 2018, Washington-Saudi-approved subservient were invited to tell those who matter in land: ‘these are our choice’. Nawaz Sharif, ousted three-times-elected prime minister, has again demonstrated the support of Uncle Sam via Saudi royalty. Not only he and Shahbaz have a proven track-record of serving them but also targeting the military leadership alleging their support to Hafiz Saeed and others for countering Indian threat. Their established loyalty is important for the US in its new great game in the region aimed at containment of China.

The main cause of our economic and political subjugation is cronyism. Nawaz-Shahbaz duo, to avoid accountability, needs the support of Washington, which is now available via Saudi Arabia alone. During their long rules in the centre and largest province of Pakistan, they ensured perpetuation of inefficient, corrupt and repressive institutions, especially police and revenue departments, to keep the common people dependent on them and this is key to get their votes. The self-aggrandisement of rulers — military and civil alike — has reduced nuclear-Pakistan to a state-in-perpetual-crisis and subjugated. Dependence on the US and others testifies to the fact that stability can never be achieved by toeing the policies of the aggressor — getting some bucks for being part of their ‘war’.

If Pakistan is not to sink into further and greater chaos, corrective actions must be taken on war footings. The starting point is the clear recognition of the role of the state and action against all militants — many of these are proxies of the US. The enforcement of the laws is required to protect the public from cheats and racketeers rather than reinforcing the system which encourages them.

It needs to be highlighted that justice system does not work in isolation. Its establishment requires a bold and clean leadership which restrains the ballooning state and proclaims this unpalatable truth, and sets standards for the rest of the citizenry. The day the people reject through votes, the accountability of those who are darlings of foreign masters will begin. This alone can end our subjugation that is the root cause of present humiliation at the hands of the US and others.

The writer, Advocate Supreme Court, is Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Email: ikram@huzaimaikram.com; Twitter: @drikramulhaq

Published in Daily Times, January 7^th 2018.