Adil Najam
I blog from Islamabad airport.
My flight to Karachi has been delayed, which means that my first meeting of the day will have to be canceled. But that is not what weighs heavy on my mind. What worries me today is all the talk of violence of one kind or another that seems to be all I have been hearing around me. My blood pressure seems to always sit on edge, but all the more so when all anyone can seem to talk about is violence.
The latest, of course, is the carefully leaked story about the attempted assassination plot of Gen. Musharraf by Sheikh Omar, the killer of journalist Daniel Pearl. Beyond relief that the plot was a failure, I do not wish to comment on this story. I have no reason to believe that the story is false, but it smells – no, stinks – so much of a planted leak that I would rather not give much more satisfaction to the “planters” than I already have.
Much more than that I worry about all the jingoism and and chest-beating I have been dished out on the “war clouds” with India.
Was is a horrible thing. And war with India would be very horrible, indeed. But I worry less about that because I do not think there will be war. This hype seems manufactured by TV talk show hosts on both sides of the border who seem to be having great fun (yes, I use the word advisedly) with their chest beating and naara baazi. What does worry me, however, is the fact that we are all so worked up about a war that is not happening and unlikely to happen, but so very content with the wars that are real, ongoing and killing Pakistanis every day. Everyone seems ready to thump their chests in hollow patriotism about the the tensions with India on the Eastern front, while the drones continue to pound our Western flank. Even more than that the Taliban’s war against Pakistan rages strong as ever. Nearly 2000 Pakistanis have been killed in in real war against Paksitan already, andonly this year. Why, I wonder why, are the real deaths of real Pakistanis ignored while foretold threats of the future amuse our sensibilities?
But this, too, has become routine. Denial it may be, but we can learn to tune out the noise.
What I cannot tune out right now is the noise around me earlier today as I entered the airport here in Islamabad. Its Hajj season so the place was teeming with people as the ‘welcoming delegations’ descended on the airport along with the returning Hajis. As I rushed in, a person a few feet from me brushed into another. Before one knew what had happened, they were exchanging punches. Not only them, but now three others were involved in what seemed to be a growing fistfight over nothing with most of the punches hitting the bystanders.
Naive that I am, I tried to break the fighting parties apart and ask for calm. In the process I got a few punches on myself, but more importantly I realized that everyone – including the growing throng of spectators – was now more mad at me for trying to break up the fight than at any of the fighters! And I thought that such reaction to those talking of peace happens only on blogs!
As I picked up by bags (and now aching shoulder) I wondered if maybe this ‘small’ and ‘individual’ violence in society is therapeutic. Maybe it is a way to deal with the larger insecurities and institutional violence around us. Or, maybe just maybe, it is systemic – an emblem of the larger violence within all of us. I certainly hope it is not the later. My faith in the goodness of ordinary people remains firm. But I wonder what all the violence and talk of violence around us is doing to us!
And, so, I sit here at the departure lounge. They just announced that my plane that had earlier been delayed two hours, is now delayed another two hours. The guy next to me announces that he is fried! So are the meetings that I was going to Karachi for. But that is not what gives me heartache right now. Yes, my shoulder still hurts from the punches I got. But what hurts much more and much more deeply in my head as well as my heart is the reminder that the violence we live with is not just in the headlines. The violence is all around us. Maybe, even within us.
Adil, I am sorry that you missed your earlier commitments on account of delayed flight at Isl airport. I enjoyed your talk at the T2F & wish a larger number of people heard your message so that dialogue becomes a preferred mode of communication than violence.
It is with sadness that i note comments where people of Pakistan origin deciding not to visit their families this holiday season. On the professional front, travel advisories have restricted travel to pakistan and it is hurting business. Our company is training a wealth of raw talent available in the country so that we do not have beg people in some of the more “mature” markets to transfer their expertise. As far as our work goes, it will take us a very small amount of time to raise our capabilities. It may be expensive in the short-term but our business can grow in a predictable fashion.
Some countries in the region want to portray us as a pariah state. I hope greater participation of civil society in Pakistan will go into an overdrive to make itself heard on all issues would project a better image of the country.
The so called war on terror is no more a war on terror. It wasn’t ever. Its a war between civilizations and cultures. War happens when a culture tries to dominate another culture and the retaliation is in the form what we are experiencing these days. The things considered as civilized for west, things which are norms in that area, things which are considered as cultured for them usually falls within severly punishable crimes in our culture.
I think Musharraf was the best bet for us. Some one kept standing for his country for almost a decade. In difficult times, as we are experiencing now, he used to defend his country and challenge the challenger or aggressor. Never backed off. He made a mistake and eventaully faced the consequences of whatever he did. I have firm belief in the fact lawyers movement was nothing but a tool used against general to get him of of the scene because he was resisting things against Pakistan. And Pakistanis, true to their mob mentality and rather then thinking and acting themselves, caught in the net.
We always prosper and progress in an autocratic rule and decline and nearly demise in a democratic rule. Musharraf was good for us. Look at decades of 50 and 60. Then look at 70. Again look at 80, 90’s and see difference in current decade. I am sure majority will see the difference.
Every society has its share of violent people. The problem in the case of Pakistan in my view is the lack of law and order. If the society provides you with options to settle your mutual problem in a civilized manner then that directly curtails the incidents of public violence. If this fight would have been in any other civilized country then you would have had security on the airport to take care of the situation and Adil sahib would not have to intervene.
I do not agree with the rhetoric that Imran Khan often takes but I thoroughly agree with the fundamental point of his politics that it is the lack of justice that is at the root of our problems. What we need is effective institutions for the enforcement of law and order and judicial system that can provide quick and cheap justice.
Poor you. I hope you are doing allright. You need a hot cup of really nice coffee and a slice of chocolate cake.
Apart from that- point taken- indeed the violence is within us.
When a society has tremendous gap between the rich and the poor, educated kala angrez and poor nauker, violence is a natural outcome. When the average networth of a Pakistan Army general is 8.5 million dollars and poor man does not have enough to eat and send his kid to school, violence becomes necessary. When most of our so called awami leaders are jagirdars, chauhdris, and makhdooms who treat their kisans as dirt and abuse their wives and daughters, violence will remain prevalent in our society.