- It is by altering the manner of thinking that we can change the course of history
“The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
George Orwell
There is growing perception that the society is fast espousing the narrative of falsehood. With each passing day, one has witnessed it losing out on both its capacity to speak the truth and its courage to resist the tirade of disinformation. The reasons are many which can be traced in studying the cycle of its regression.
The history of this nation makes for unworthy reading. There is nothing ennobling to cite through decades that we have been an independent country. The times appear mired in efforts to force others into multifaceted bondage– a tradition that we inherited from the British when they had colonised this part of the world and ruled here as the lords and masters. They instituted many mechanisms to force people into subjugation.
Reversal of fortunes is not secured by the use of the gun or the sword. It is by altering the manner of thinking that the course of history can be changed. We are fortunate to be witnessing this rare phenomenon
Upon their departure, instead of designing a system that would be suited for governing an independent country, we not only persisted with the colonising policies we had inherited, we perpetuated them at multiple tiers. The bureaucracy called the shots in the governmental echelons, the feudal lords ran riot in the rural sector and those who had the opportunity exploited the simplicity of the people to raise the structures of their financial empires. No effort was ever made to train leaderships or set up institutions to instil the virtues of justice, transparency and accountability. Instead, the word of the masters was law onto itself. So, in effect, the colonial rulers were replaced by local thugs. They ruled with utter disdain for the needs of the poor and exercised their brutal power without a shade of compassion.
This accentuated the division between the privileged and the impoverished classes. While the former had their coffers overflowing with illicit billions, it is the poor who had even the last morsels snatched from their mouths. Their lives deteriorated with the passage of time and, alongside seeing their hopes disappearing, they were also stripped of their self-esteem. They were reduced to being beggars in a country they thought would bring their salvation.
In order to continue their dominance in the face of growing awareness, the ruling mafias took to sowing seeds of discontent among the people along religious, ethnic, sectarian and such other lines. With no facilities of education and learning available, people became victims of this vile tactic and the energies which should have been invested in uprooting the mafias were wasted fighting among themselves. This is the tragedy that shattered the dream of the evolving of a welfare state to respond to the needs of its people justly and equitably. Instead, a sinister culture was promoted where some became more equal than others.
As a consequence, the society was divided at multiple levels to serve the interests of one beneficiary elite or the other. They hoisted their own mini-fiefdoms managed by cronies who would defend and promote their interests. Over time, these divisions penetrated the institutions which had come up along the way. So deep were the roots of the mafias and so vast the spread of their dole-outs that the institutions and the system alike were taken hostage by their anointed charlatans to do as would be their command. The state virtually collapsed in the face of this onslaught.
Another feature that evolved with time was the daring with which these mafias operated at various tiers of the governmental and institutional structure. There was no fear and no shame in their indulgences or their public protestations. Media emerged as a crafty weapon in the hands of these criminals which they exploited to optimum effect. Instead of sifting the right from wrong and promoting a culture of justice, the anchors became their agents, blatantly confusing matters to the detriment of the legitimacy of institutions and the writ of the state.
To reap financial dividends, they aligned themselves with political mafias. All one need to do is to sit in front of the television screen, which I must concede may be a torture of indescribable proportions, and watch their enactment of news and events along fictitious, fabricated and fictional lines. While the massive corruption of the Sharifs, Zardaris and their vast coterie of associates must be proved in a court of law, even an alleged minor slip of Prime Minister Imran Khan is projected as crime at face value. The induction of military personnel like Lieut Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum Khan as Senator, Lieut Gen (retd)Qadir Baloch as Minister and Lieut Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua as National Security Advisor by the previous government reflected good civil-military relations, but the appointment of Lieut Gen (retd) Asim Bajwa as SAPM is portrayed as military’s interference in the affairs of the government. The decision not to make public innumerable reports of committees and commissions by the previous governments was never even debated while the decision of the present government to release the findings of all such commissions, irrespective of who is targeted or blamed for any wrongdoing, is subjected to scathing criticism on one false pretext or the other.
Given the ground realities, the level of transparency which has been built into the system over a very short period of time is almost unbelievable, but this is not a subject worthy of discussion. Massive corruption that afflicted the BISP programme is condoned, but renaming it as a state project is targeted as an act of vengeance. This is how deep the roots of incorrigible hypocrisy have penetrated and how money-infested is the sense of professionalism of these so-called manipulators of the written and spoken word. Long is the list of their counts of indictment, but penetrative and powerful is the repertoire of their reach to escape the clutches of law.
The component of compassion never ever entered the annals of governance in the past. That is understandable because it did not figure in the thinking of the political rulers. The fact that it is an integral component of the policies of the present Prime Minister is not digested by these legions of sharks ballooned on gratifications of the crassest kind.
Unfortunately, the symptoms of this thinking are visible across the entire national spectrum. There is perceptible moral collapse that typifies the working of the society and its institutions. This is a natural consequence of feeding on corruption with no fear of law. Rectifying this syndrome is a long haul. One thought that the pillars of the state would become partners in this task and do their bit in expediting this silent revolution. That is not forthcoming. On the contrary, there is a pernicious resistance to the effort which renders the task even more difficult.
But, it is not impossible. It can happen and it must because therein lies the salvation of the people who are dependent on the state’s support for their meagre survival. It is only a caring and compassionate leadership that would take that into account while formulating policies and putting instruments in place for implementation.
Reversal of fortunes is not secured by the use of the gun or the sword. It is by altering the manner of thinking that the course of history can be changed. We are fortunate to be witnessing this rare phenomenon.
