Muhammad Hanif's Column:
Searching for a Chief in Sinking Pakistan
The Secretary General of the United Nations came to Pakistan last week to see the devastation caused by the floods. He said that he had never seen such destruction in his entire life and the damage done to Pakistan was unimaginable. Experts monitoring the food supply and the price of flour and dal in the world are shouting and knocking that a country like Pakistan, which was proud that no one sleeps hungry in our country, is now knocking at its door. Journalists reporting from flooded areas have been reporting for decades that the pets that have survived the disaster are running out of food.
Our rulers, the opposition and the media are sitting on the horn that if General Bajwa is given a small extension, the current political crisis might be solved. The debate is only on whether to give a little, to give the whole or to find a chief of your choice. It is an old habit of ours to find a chief of our choice in the Pakistani army, and after finding a chief of our choice, to be humiliated by him is an even older habit. Bhutto found Zia of his choice, he hanged Bhutto. Everyone will remember how much Nawaz Sharif did to Nawaz Sharif and what he did to Nawaz Sharif.
When it was Imran Khan's turn to choose the chief, the opposition was so intimidated that they conspired and sent Imran Khan home. The debate is still only on whether Imran Khan will choose the next chief or Imran Khan's enemies. There was no debate as to who would feed our hungry buffaloes and goats. General Bajwa, whose current debate revolves around whether or not to expand, says he too has a comprehensive environmental plan. I don't know why they hid it from the nation for six years. My knowledge about defense matters is zero. Candidates to become the next chief I don't even know their names, but I know that they cannot be more than five or seven.
Whoever the Prime Minister of Pakistan is, he will have to choose one of these five or seven. Even if Imran Khan becomes the Prime Minister tomorrow with 110% votes, he can't do that. Even Abrar-ul-Haq gets a little parade. Let's make him chief or Maulana Tariq Jameel. Salar agrees. (By the way, whosoever becomes a general, Maulana Tariq Jameel himself will give him the certificate of being a believer.) And those who are five or seven, it is not even possible that any of them may come out as a secret member of the Communist Party or hide in the house and listen to the great teacher Ghulam Ali Khan. Whoever you make will be strong, patriotic and even though I don't know the name,Neither caste nor experience but I can tell you right now on oath that he will be a professional soldier, who will have extensive experience in military affairs and who will have no interest in political affairs. Those who are in the government today were in the opposition, those who went to liberate the country were the rulers. They did not care to look at each other. When the problem of General Bajwa's extension came, he sat together and solved the problem in just 13 to 17 minutes. There was no natural calamity in the country at that time. Now we have to remind again and again that one-third of the country is submerged, millions of people are lying under the open sky on the roadsides.
0 Comments