Daily Times

In Toronto, this Pakistani-Kenyan-Canadian lady said, “It is not only the fruit. We also pay for our sweet memories.” Pakistani mangoes are always scarce. If you love mangoes as most Pakistanis do, you must book them in advance. You are ear-to-ear grinning if you could grab the last packet of nan khatai. The shelf is almost always empty. It is beyond price. The name Pakistan sells like hotcakes here.

Most Pakistani-Canadians are well educated. They remain genuinely concerned with the social and political conditions back home. We all love Pakistan. Their nostalgia is overwhelming. Their concern is much more grave. They are at a loss to understand why a free and powerful judiciary cannot act on its own on many issues that develop into political turmoil? Why on earth Tahir-ul-Qadri is rushing to Europe for justice?

Military seems to be doing an excellent job in Karachi and in the war against terror. Government claims that civil-military leadership is working hand in glove together. Still there is an uncanny and uneasy perception gulf that separates the two. Who is proactive and who is diffident, no one can tell. An odd Rana Sanaullah slams the Rangers for acting against a political party. The interior minister insists on prolonging the Rangers’ act in Karachi. Two leaders of the same political party are not in sync. How do you expect them to be on the same page with the regimented mindset of the military leadership? The war of words continues unabated on social media. There are narratives and counter narratives, speculations and reckless suggestions. Pakistan appears to be a rudderless ship. It can take any direction. The uncertainty is alarming. We have yet to determine the line that separates political exigencies from national aims and objectives.

The majority of the Pakistanis in Canada has quickly adapted to the culture of a truly free society. They know the rights of a citizen granted in the constitution. They do not take nonsense from any quarter. They challenge a policeman’s judgment in the court even if it means his word against yours and still hope for justice, which more often than not supports the truth. They know that the top priority of a democratic government is concern for people. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, practically ensures that the message is sent across loud and clear. On all important occasions he is there, at the church, the mosque, the gurdwara or the temple. He breaks fast with Muslims during Ramadan. And he is a down to earth Canadian citizen. How can leaders from both sides of the isle in Pakistan remain so indifferent to miseries of their people?

We can get away with murder in the name of law and order. Excesses of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) get hardly noticed. The judges in the words of the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court remain corrupt and still flourish. The system of justice has gone completely haywire. One media wiz kid equates the situation in Kashmir with that in Balochistan and laughs it away. Freedom of expression often seems to be at tangent to national interest. The human rights gurus are pitilessly selective. Karachi, the commercial hub of the country, is immersed in Babylonian anarchy. Shemozzle propounds and waywardness persists both at the conceptual level and in details. Can Pakistan boast of a national purpose, the reason for its existence or a national policy defining the parameters that enable us to behave like saner beings in our lives?

Some friends invited me to attend the ‘Defence Day Celebrations’ being held by the Pakistan Armed Forces Association of Canada on September 10. There were to be over 700 people in attendance. They are veterans joined by the civil society elite from all walks of life. Dr Arshi is a medic from Karachi. Ms Zohar Zuberi is a writer, poetess and a prominent social and political figure, and Akbar Naqvi is a poet and an author. He was one of the founding members of the Pakistan Communist Party and now a proud father. His one son is the Attorney General, the other an MP (former interior minister). All of them would join a few former soldiers, sailors and flyers.

Colonel Tariq Shafi dug out press clippings of the 1965 war from The Australian, The Holland Evening Sentinel and The Guardian, all profusely praising Pakistani military with headlines like “Pakistan Rattles India.” Individual perceptions, ultra nationalism and pure emotionalism notwithstanding, these people do not suffer from any ambiguity, doubt or hypocrisy. Doubts that clutter Pakistani minds, civilian and even some former military men, who consider this ultra nationalism utterly outdated.

While travelling, the GPS warns you of the slow traffic ahead. The road sign reads, “Lane closed for construction, your tax dollars at work.” This invokes a sense of participation. My mind wanders back to Pakistan. Houses of the prime minister, the president, the governors and the chief ministers, to mention a few, and the private palaces declared as ‘the official residences,’ none of us ever thought of placing a signboard on each of these mansions, “Your millions of tax rupees are being sunk here everyday.”

A Yugoslav retired engineer said that his French colleague was sent in 1962 on a study tour to Canada to learn about a developing country. A team of South Korean experts was also sent the same year to Pakistan to see the model of a developing country. Canada by all counts is a first world country today. Comparison is futile.

All dictators, military and civil, all looters of our wealth and all usurpers of our rights that human beings all over the world cherish could be trashed provided we know what ails us. The ominous clouds that surround our poor existence have silver linings too. A scrupulous media despite the fact that some of its bigwigs are known to have sold their souls and a powerful judiciary can safely deliver Pakistan out of the woods. The Quran, human history and all the wise men tell us that justice is a sine qua non of human life. A just Pakistan holds the promise of a stable democracy, good governance, peace and a sense of wellbeing. With justice, all else is bound to fall in place in due course of time.

The writer has served Pakistan Army as a Major General