The year was probably 1998 or
1997…It was a small headline on the back page of Roznama Jahng. Those of us who
are familiar with the daily Urdu newspaper (it is counter part of Globe and Mail
in Canada). I still remember the news because on the breakfast table my father
had passed it as a joke. “Sufi Muhammed claims that if the
government does not instate sharia law in Pakistan, he will attack Islamabad.”
During those days, left wing cause was dying its own death in Pakistan. The 8
years of democracy with inept rulers and corrupt civilian structure had resulted
in a different kind of mind set. People were more concerned about the threats on
borders, economics, jobs , law and order situations than the “Mullahs” bashing
the West and the State. There was a real war on the borders of Pakistan with no
definite definition of conflict. The nation had stepped into the club of nuclear
nations with development indexes near to any African developing nation. The army
was busy playing games with our cousins on the border. Once in a while tuning
Zee news or Doordarshan you could see the stalwart Indian minister, using anti
Pakistan language on national TV making you wonder if the threats were real or
fake.
Nuclear bombs can never be a deterrent to looming wars. We were fed from the
propaganda machine that if the mountain of Chagi would have not died in the dust
of the nuclear blast, India would have attacked Pakistan, imposing a rule, which
was the chief cause of partition.
Pakistan, stepped into another age. The democratic government was replaced by a
military regime. Now the game was played in a different way. Left versus Right
was no longer an issue in Pakistan. The conservative forces were replaced by the
new liberal culture introduced by the new masters. Head scarves on the national
TV were replaced by the modern cut shalwar kameez. The media was now talking in
a different language. A gift nevertheless a military regime gave to the nation,
a tongue to talk and a voice to rise.
By the time I left Pakistan, Jhang in a paper version seems like a luxury.
Taliban were a reality in the neighboring Afghanistan but then Afghanistan is a
war ridden area. They never had a real army after the soviet invasion. Afghans
by far are more right wing as compared to Pakistan. In all the general elections
(except the one in 2004 in musharraf’s regime) religious parties were unable to
win any seats in the parliament. Jammat Islami always have less than 3 or 4
seats in the national assembly. The main stream opinion about the religious
zealots, was a mixture of sympathy and anger. Every time Qzi Hussain Ahmed rose
the voice of long march there were few to follow him as a leader. The Jammat
politics was limited to harassing students in the engineering universities and
other public institutions.
Taliban were an unheard phenomenon. The main slogans of the right wing parties
never crossed more than the notion to hate India and Kashmir cause. They all
recognized the civil institutes, the modern day Pakistan with its struggle with
democracy, the education of women (jammat islami has its own women wing).
And in this mess, sufi Muhammed had been raising his voice for the last 10
years. I am sure most of the Pakistanis as my father had laughed on his
ambitions, appearing as small tabloid news in mainstream newspapers. We have
engineering schools, our doctors still win good residency spots in major
industrial nations, and we can boast a noble prize in physics. We have a
civilian structure, with Supreme Court and a trained army. Sufi Muhammed is a
joke to any sane Pakistani, who knows that 30% of the nation GDP is spent on
keeping the troops.
And then the news in 2009, which has given me goose bumps. Where is the army who
claims to protect the national nuclear assets? Who is still in war in Siachin
and Kashmir.
If they can fight the 7th largest army of the world, 3 times in 60 years, why
are they unable to fight these goons with local made machine guns and opium
money?
Yes.. It is A dilemma of my age that sufi Mohammed is no more a joke. I wonder
about all the news fed by media in last 15 years...The threat is clear, our own
demons are haunting us. We should remember that these tribals had captured half
of the Kashmir in 1947 without any help. It is all coming back to us as a
nation.. it is a naked reality of a dream that went wrong!
by sarah zahid