Daily Times

With strong traditions of servant leadership, Pakistan started off well till the serpents took control. The country needs servant not serpent leaders that we have today. An in-depth analysis of the situation is required to come out of this mess. Perhaps Ghulam Muhammad (Gamma) the third Governor General of the country was the first serpent leader of the new land.

He then introduced political instability to extend his grip over power. Despite serious physical disability he refused to step down and had to be forced out by Iskander Mirza with the support of Ayub Khan, the Commander in Chief. Both of whom then carried the traditions of serpent leadership.

From Jinnah to Gamma, the transition from servant to serpent leadership was completed. Khawaja Nazimuddin as second GG and PM performed his duties to the best of his abilities. In 1953, Khawaja Sahib was sent packing. Serpents are known for their sting not service to the people, which is why humans keep away from them. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the masses could not even exercise this option as these deadly mammals had entered the corridors of power to control their destiny.

Those who manipulate our electoral processes to impose a serpent leadership have to be punished and weeded out for political cleansing to take place

In India, two movies were made with the title of ‘Nagin’ (Female Snake). In 1954, it was Hameed Butt’s classic that did roaring business. But Sahib then moved to Pakistan with his lovely wife, Uzra Butt. The second version was released in 1976 and captured the box office.

It is the story of deadly snakes who appear as humans and then cause their destruction through the venom they carry.

In order to move back to servant leadership, it is important to understand some basic concepts. For team building the role of the leader is of paramount importance. Positive psychology results in life satisfaction which then leads to organisation based self-esteem (OBSE). Leaders can transform organisations into formidable entities. While servant leaders build, the serpents destroy their surroundings.

Servant leadership can only emerge through its own merit; it can neither be imposed nor created by vested groups. In Pakistan, there have been several attempts to create leadership which have proven to be disastrous. All such leaders have proven to be serpents, whose personal assets have grown manifold at the cost of the nation.

Nomination papers for the next elections should have a column to compare the wealth of the candidates from the first election to the present one. Wrong entries should result in disqualification. Those who won the elections in 1946 were servant leaders who selflessly served the new country they had created. The first martial law in 1958 packed their bags. Ayub Khan’s EBDO (Elected Bodies Disqualification Ordinance) proved to be deadly.

It was both unnecessary and needless. The ‘aliens’ assumed a role for which they had no background or experience. Serpent leadership was the direct outcome of this misadventure. Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, the outstanding leader of the freedom movement, presented his own defence in the tribunal. In his opening words he said, “In a country where a Lt Colonel presides over the trial of the PM is bound to disintegrate”. After thirteen years, Quaid’s Pakistan was dismembered; his prophecy came true.

After the free and fair elections of 1970, another round of servant leadership started, which did not last long though. The genuinely elected government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto brought people to the corridors of power. The colonial establishment was pushed to serve not rule; those who resisted were weeded out. The police force was the first to react. They went on strike in Punjab and Frontier (KP) provinces. The two young governor’s (Khar, Sherpao) called their bluff and served an ultimatum for them to return or face termination. They returned to work much before the deadline.

Sheikh Rashid (Baba-e-Socialism) introduced the ‘Generic Medicine’ scheme that brought the prices down to affordable levels. India decided to introduce this scheme 46 years later. Unfortunately, the serpents who took control of the country in July 1977 withdrew this people friendly scheme. The 1973 Constitution recognised the right to education, which was amended by the serpents to remove the time deadline.

As a nation, we have struggled for the last forty years (1977-2017) to restore servant leadership, but the serpents have prevailed by manipulating the electoral process.

Without a free and fair election, merit will not prevail, and serpent leaders will continue to dominate the political arena. Interesting terminologies like Khalai and Zamini Makhlooq (Space Aliens, Earthly Inhabitants) have been introduced. Indeed, the earth belongs to the earthly beings, not the space aliens, but they are better off without the serpents amongst them. Pakistan needs servants to serve them for which there has to be a foolproof mechanism.

Those who manipulate our electoral processes to impose serpent leadership have to be punished and weeded out for political cleansing to take place. While we elect our servant leaders as we did in 1946, 1970, the aliens have to return to their own space. The days of ‘Nagin’ are over. Once that happens, I promise to visit the grave of Hameed Butt in Rawalpindi to offer Fatiha for his soul to rest in peace.

The writer is ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation;Email: fmaliks@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, June 11^th 2018.