Of Caretakers and Undertakers
ON Benazir Bhutto 's bandwagon these days, there is a man who used to promise the people that he would hang Zulfikar Ali Bhutto upside down on the Kohala Bridge . This is the man who was chiefly responsible for the breakdown of the PNA-PPP talks in 1977.
Then right next to her is a man under whose caretaker premiership she lost the 1990 elections. She appears now to have absolved him of all charges of wrongdoing. But her accusation that the 1990 elections were rigged remains. Mighty sensible politics, this.
Not far behind her is a man who used to serve an intelligence agency while a member of Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 's cabinet. By his side is a man who leads a sectarian outfit, which means that she approves of sectarian politics.
Watching from the sidelines is a frail old man who spearheaded-or was one of the spearheads-of the PNA movement in 1977. Strange bedpersons, these, you might say. Everything is fair in love and war, they say. Not everything, because if you are stupid, you will lose both in love and in war.
Let me digress here a little bit. Around a month ago, Dawn carried an interesting item from its Observer News S ervice on Italian politicians written by David, that Italian politicians were a serious case for treatment. He gave a summary of the "official shrink" of the Chamber of Deputies who was sacked because he had made embarrassing revelations about his parliamentary patients, without naming them of course. Dr. Piero Rocchini , whose official title was "Health Consultant for Clinical Psychology to the Chamber of Deputies." He treated around 200 deputies between 1983 and 1992. Among his findings was the one that "the Italian politician's party is another substitute that creates an unhealthy, infantile dependency among its adherent: Italians tend to enter politics because they are unable or unfit to attain success in any other professional activity."
Again, according to Rocchini, more than a million Italians were making their living directly out of politics, and that more than 70 percent of the parliamentarians entered politics for the sole purpose of making money, and 85 percent Italians were of the view that most deputies were dishonest.
In his latest book, The Neurosis of Power , Rocchini comes to the conclusion that psychological problems begin for the politicians when they slowly realise that "they represent no-one except their own unhappy selves."
Now, aren't Rocchini's findings equally valid here in our own country? Why are Asghar Khan , Nasrullah Khan, Mustafa Khar, Jatoi , and B. B. and the lot in politics? Because they have nothing else to do, or because there is nothing else that they can do. For instance, Asghar Khan is a trained professional who, after retirement, could have written books on the Pakistan Air Force and on aerial warfare. Or he could have gone into research and done some work on the changing requirements of air defence. He didn't do that so he had time on his hands. So why not politics? And politics was. This applies to the rest of them. The emptiness of their personal lives drives them into the "service of the people."
There is one thing to be said about power and the pursuit of power. If you are in power, you are a very busy person. If you are in pursuit of power, you are even busier.
Look at this long march business, for example. It is keeping a lot of people extremely busy. If an already sluggish economy comes to a standstill in the process so what? If unemployment rises because of the uncertain political situation, so what? If the Punjab and Sindh are devastated by the floods, so what? We in the PDA , the NDA , the IDA , et. al., are all struggling for the rights of the people.
But I ask you one thing. Why this frenzied desire to do Mian Nawaz Sharif in? Because he is a man on the go? He is a professional. Yes, making money is a profession and one of the toughest. In another three years, he will change the very character of Pakistani politics. He shall have broken the feudal stranglehold over the political power structure and the waderas and the pirs shall become irrelevant. Or almost. Not that Mian Sahib does not have wadera support, but his main thrust is on the industrial front, towards modernisation. The Jinnah Terminal at the Karachi Airport is one example of a good job well done at commendable speed. The motorway project is moving ahead with work going on round the clock. A terminal like the one at Karachi is proposed for Lahore and the Opposition agitation is not bringing work to a halt. That is what the Opposition wants above all to happen. No work, chaos and turmoil. While the work goes on, the Mian continues to add to his vote bank and will become an exceedingly difficult man to defeat in 1995. The opposition knows it. Hence its febrile "marches" and the hell with the consequences.
Today, B. B. travels by train and truck with her father's undertakers and her own caretaker. He took good care of her, didn't he? Fossilised relics from our political ice age are sticking to her like leeches and the Mohtarima understands not.
If I were Mian Nawaz Sharif , I would let B. B. and her men be. Let them go where they want to go. Let them continue to dissipate their energies and let the Prime Minister keep working on the economic front. Unhindered processions are peaceful processions. Trouble begins when the police move in. Let them spend money on marches and rallies so that they have little left when the general elections are held.
Unfortunately, the PM is responding for the long marches with hop-step-and-jump. He is hopping from Mansehra to Chakwal to Muzaffarabad . Whereas, he should be at the helm in Islamabad . The 1968-69 agitation led to martial law because it brought the country to a standstill. The same happened in 1977 and earlier in 1958. The "uncles" around B. B. are using her to pave the way for yet another military takeover. Will that do her any good? I hold no brief for Mr. Nawaz Sharif but I hold none for martial law, either.
In the name of Allah , Mohtarima, beware of the undertakers and the caretaker.
Friday, November 27, 1992
