Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The electronic media was busy airing the programmes highlighting the
significance of the day with reference to Hazrat Ali Murtaza (R.A.) and Allama
Mohammad Iqbal, when news of dismissal of 11 army officers was received. The
TV channels buzzed with breaking news and instant commentaries.
The news about such disciplinary actions is normally not released to media;
however the departure from the routine was necessitated by some pro-regime
quarters which resorted to uttering their favourite phrase of sacred cow.
Sheepdogs had started barking louder to keep the wolf at bay; thus a departure
from the routine.
The same day Prime Minister chaired a cabinet meeting that lasted for hours.
The news from GHQ forced the Nawaz Sharif to take some decisions for
countering the ever increasing pressure for accountability of the corrupt. The
decisions made were made known next day by Prime Minister in his address to the
nation.
His speech contained only one announcement pertaining to a letter to the
Chief Justice of Pakistan requesting him to constitute a commission; the rest was a
narration of pathetic tale of self-pity and pelting of curses at the establishment,
Imran Khan and media. Soon after the speech the contents of the letter written to
the CJP were released. The terms of reference were framed with the sole aim of
making the accomplishment of the assigned task difficult if not impossible.
The events in the wake of Panama Papers have made certain points very clear.
For instance, whenever demands of accountability echo, invariably the cries of
democracy in danger are raised; this implies that democracy and corruption are
synonymous to each other.
The defenders of the corruption-prone system come out with lame excuses
and when their arguments start falling apart one by one, they tell the critics to go
and knock the door of superior judiciary. The corrupt consider the judiciary as the
last line of defence. In any case the judiciary in a given society is meant for
preserving the status quo not for bringing a change.
The events also reflect that there is some kind of link with activities of RAW
and corruption in Pakistan. Nawaz regime despises any talk about the two from
any quarter especially by the establishment. Corruption and RAW seem to be the
blue-eyed of the civilian rulers more so for the incumbent rulers.
The news from GHQ about dismissal of senior army officers have failed to
make the desired impact. Instead, Nawaz Sharif has taken the posture of
confrontation. He has not been impressed by the case of the senior-most officer
dismissed which was quite similar to his own case. The dismissed General could
also claim that his hands were clean as his son was grown up and the General had
nothing to do with his Ferrari car accident.
Realizing that his case is quite weak to withstand the pressure from his
opponents, Nawaz Sharif has resorted to familiar tactics of wrestlers of Desi Kushti
(Indian wrestling). This has a lot to do with his marriage in the family of renowned
wrestlers. The tactics used is called zameen mull-na (to sprawl oneself on the floor
of akhharra).
This tactics is adopted to deny the opponent an out-right victory. When the
stronger finds it difficult to turn the weaker on to his shoulders; he keeps rubbing
his neck using the earth of the akhharra. It may be said that Nawaz Sharif might
succeed in denying the opponent out-right victory, but he would end up with
bruised neck.
24th April, 2016