by Saleem Rizvi
No matter how powerful and compelling the arguments may be, in the face of a predetermined and/or preconcluded decision, the outcome would remain the same; the outrageous slaughter of justice at the hands of its guardians. The notion of letting the strongest decide who shall survive raises many problems. Instead of using legal jargon, I thought a literary touch to this discussion may help enlighten souls better. The moral of the story implicitly covers the ongoing off-going deal making discussions between Benazir and Musharraf and its possible potential outcome. Consider the treatment of the problem offered by Don Marquis in Archy and Mehitabel 40-42 (1973):
A Spider and a Fly
I heard a spider and a fly arguing.
“wait” said the fly “do not eat me. I serve a great purpose in the world”
“you will have to show me” said the spider
“I scurry around gutters and sewers and garbage cans, said the fly and gather up the germs of typhoid influenza and pneumonia on my feet and wings then I carry these germs into the household of men and give them diseases all the people who have lived the right sort of life recover from the diseases and the old soaks who have weakened their systems with liquor and iniquity succumb it is my mission to help rid the world of these wicked persons I am a vessel of righteousness scattering seeds of justice and serving the noblest uses.”
“It is true” said the spider, “you are more useful in a plodding material sort of way than i am but I do not serve the utilitarian deities. I serve the Gods of beauty. Look at the gossamer webs. I weave they float in the sun like filaments of song if you get what i mean. I do not work at anything. I play all the time. I am busy with the stuff of enchantment and the materials of fairyland. My works transcend utility. I am the artist a Creator and a demi God. It is ridiculous to suppose that I should be denied the food I need in order to continue to create beauty. I tell you plainly mister fly it is all damned nonsense for that food to rear up on its hind legs and say it should not be eaten.”
“You have convinced me” said the fly, “Say no more” and shutting all his eyes he prepared himself of dinner and yet he said “I could have made out a case for myself too if I had had a better line of talk.”
“Of course you could have” said the spider clutching a sirloin from him, “but the end would have been just the same if neither of us had spoken at all.”
I am afraid that what the spider said is true and it gives me to think furiously upon the futility of literature.
Those interested in Aitzaz arguments in Dual office case , my check my blog, I am trying to cover this case as much as possible.
http://pejamistri.wordpress.com/
Aitzaz Ahsan said it the best yesterday in Karachi: “In order to have independent judiciary, we need independent judges”. I believe he hit the nail on the head.
While I agree with both of MQ’s predictions, it is hard to think of realistic alternatives.
Perhaps we need to take a deep breath and resign ourselves to the quantum priniciple that “nature will only proceed in small steps”. As a result, changes in Pakistani politics would be painfully slow in coming; hopefully they will, eventually, come.
I no longer expect any big changes in my own life time.
Archy & Mehitabel is brilliant. This particular story reminded me of a clip I once saw on Nat Geo where the narrator eerily remarked: “the male cub is cute and playful… but nature is not sentimental.”
Leads me to think that being animals we all live by the law of the jungle (including Mush-Benz) where our survival instincts will always override any sense of justice we might have… its “kill only to eat, or to keep from being eaten” all the way.
We’ve been listening since childhood. “Iss mulk ka to Allah hi Hafiz hai. Iss ka kuch nahin honay wala. Sara nizaam aisay hi chalta rahay gaa.”
Seems like the “nizam” has finally come of age. Filth & stench diffusing everywhere. BB and everyone wants a “smooth” transition to “democracy” fearing a bloody revolution that’d blow everyone away with them leading the pack.
We never tried revolution, did we? can we? I’m up for it.
Just realized this post might not be relevant. Well what the heck. This masterpiece needs to be shared.
Yousuf
Even though it is difficult to predict anything about Pakistan with any degree of certainty but I want to make two predictions:
In the next week or two the Supreme Court is, once again, going to invoke the “doctrine of necessity” and legitimize Musharraf’s recent “win” in the presidential election. (I hope I am proved wrong.)
To balance this decision the Court will rule, more categorically, in favor of Nawaz Sharif returning home and not being sent back. (I hope I am right on this one.)
Incidentally, have you noticed that the Chaudhry of Lahore in his extreme anxiety, bordering on panic, has even started smudging his ears while dying his hair?)