If ethnic and sectarian strife were not enough to go with terrorism, we are now facing religious strife. One is under no illusion that this is not being deliberately fomented to aggravate the deteriorating law and order situation, slipping beyond the control of the civilian law and enforcement authorities (LEAs) into anarchy, the creeping kind. Venerable 92 year old Col SG Mehdi reminded me the quotes of the Quaid, “The religious minorities will have protection with regards to their religion, faith, life and culture. They will be citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste and creed”, and further, “you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan”. After the Ahmadis, the Shias faced the wrath of those anointing themselves as the “defenders of the faith” (as they deem the faith is) and now the poor Christians are on the chopping block, not to forget Hazaras being targetted as a community for ethnic and sectarian reasons both. Religious strife, sectarian violence, ethnic mayhem, mindless terrorism, where and when will it all end?
A captain and second lieutenant stood out cheerfully brave in the Chor desert in December 1971, fighting for their country and willing to die for it. Being “Ahmadis” they left the Army a few years later as Majors. One is proud that these courageous sons of the soil are still my friends 42 years later, notwithstanding their shortened career they still swear by the uniform they wore and the country they boldly defended, and later again in Balochistan in 1973. Majors (Retd) Naseer Ahmad Tariq and Hanif Butt (aka Singawala) were outstanding soldiers, where were the defenders of the faith (and their warped version) when these two were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice? And Capt (later Lt Col) Javed Jalal, given up for dead with 27 bullets in his body, or Maj (later Maj Gen) Julian Peter, wounded commanding the rifle company next to Maj Akram Shaheed Nishan-i-Haider, refusing evacuation and fighting on till Eastern Command surrendered on Dec 16, 1971? My friend Col Nelson Wilson’s brother Michael, crushed to death by a tank in a leaguer? One of the few Nishan-i-Haiders awarded in 1971 went to Lance Naik Mehfuz of 15 Punjab, the unit Col Cyril Leonan was commanding in battle. Late Group Capt. Cecil Chaudhry more than deserved his Sitara-i-Jurat (SJ) in 1971 for pressing home his low-level attacks on Indian air bases despite heavy ground fire. Or my instructor in Infantry School Col Peters standing his ground on principle to ensure my top placing despite being almost the junior most in a course of 350 officers in 1967? Other than religion, nothing is more sacred to Pakistan than our nuclear assets, explain Brig (Retd) Simon Sharaf, Rector of St Mary’s College, Rawalpindi and an esteemed colleague in the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association (PESA), being trusted by GHQ to help craft our nuclear policy? One can go on and on!
Sisters Mary Leo and Joan of Arc supervised my early schooling in “Our Lady of Fatima Convent” in Comilla. To quote the “Dedication” remembering Sister Leo in my book “The Gathering Gloom”, “One vivid memory is of sundays when the nuns went to church, and left the three of us who were then boarders, Sajjad, Lutfunnesa Chaudhry (Rhea) and myself fidgeting at the back as six and seven year olds are bound to. Three sundays later we had an Imam outside the church to teach Quranic injunctions to the three of us. Sister Leo never made it to a senior position in the Catholic hierarchy because she probably did not show the “requisite drive” to make good christians out of the natives. This Texan always did what she felt was right, and instilled in us the same spirit, to aspire for the truth no matter what, and if that meant inculcating us to be good muslims and learn Islamic teachings, so be it. Of the six in her class, five completed their college education in the US on “merit scholarships” courtesy of Sister Leo, none became a christian”. I left to join Lawrence College, Ghora gali, and probably because I did not have the merit the others had, joined the Pakistan Army. Except during 1971 and barring some very despicable exceptions of the most obnoxious kind, I never regretted my time among the finest soldiers in the world.
Consider the Idiom Definition, “If you have the courage of your convictions, then you are brave enough to do what you feel is right despite any pressure for you to do something different”. Leaders must take action as may be necessary to protect the Minorities, only possible if they fully realize their responsibilities and live upto it, that is if they have courage to go with conviction. David Seabury says “Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not”. Those that raise their hand on the weak and helpless are nothing but animals and cowards.
Outrightly abhorrent and atrocious, that Badami Bagh happened under the watch of those probably best placed to lead the Coalition in the next Federal Govt is very shameful. If the Sharifs cannot select on merit competent police officers capable of minding their own front yard in Lahore, what can one expect from them ruling the country replacing Zardari’s lot? Leaders must show commitment not only to adhere to but enforce the rule of law, merely indulging in rhetoric meant for public consumption is nonsense?
The sum of “Why fear the Ides of March” on March 15, 2012 is more true one year later, “Blatant nepotism and rampant corruption is weakening the country’s integrity and sovereignty, all signs are pointing to a dangerous slide into anarchy. Where is the constitutional mechanism in the type of democratic dispensation availing to rescue the country from the mercy of those looting it at will? Trying to keep the Constitution aloft, we are on a fail-safe timeline and would be lucky to exist as a country in the future, even as a Balkanized one! Those elected to uphold and implement the rule of law flout it with impunity. Despite rhetoric and drama heightening public frustration, the courts of law procrastinate endlessly, mired in a legal quagmire of technicalities. Given constitutional cover to secure their ill-gotten means, our rulers are openly brazen about their utter contempt for the rule of law”. The Election Commission of Pakistan has shown some spine insisting on the reformed nomination papers, this can bar a majority of present legislators but will the ECP implement this in practice?
Is it a surprise that the situation is deteriorating alarmingly? Enough that the fabric of the country may come apart at the seams and the Army could not hold together even if it was forced to? Posterity will record in golden letters that Pakistan’s two premier institutions, the legal and the loyal, outdid themselves in stoically preserving the letter of the Constitution while its spirit disintegrated around them alongwith the country.
Courtesy: The News
