I just returned from a month-long vacation to Pakistan last week . A lot is being said in the print and electronic media about the political situation in the country. I had a chance to witness some of the things first-hand.
There is a lot to write about. But we need to see the larger picture. It is emerging now bit by bit. Like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle gradually finding their places. It seems to me a lot like a takeover.
There is now a crisis situation everywhere and in every department. Corruption is at its worst and look set to get even worse. You need to bribe even to get legitimate petty jobs done in the government departments. Even in the courts!!
There seems to be no national dignity left. Only money makes the mare go. Look at our pathetic cricketers. I mean I'm not referring to their lowly performance but the way they are stooping so low and begging to be included in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The IPL organizers and the franchises then, probably as a result of (silent) national mandate rejected all of our players. Look at them and look at us!
No national dignity and no national pride. And no sense of responsibility. There is ample sugarcane harvest and plenty of sugar can be made available. But the sugar mill owners have created a situation of shortage and waiting for increase in the price to release their produce. And they can remain scot-free as most of them are influential politicians. Poor masses! They could be seen outside Utility Stores in long queues to get cheap sugar. Then there is severe power shortage. A severe water shortage. And list goes on.
So people are being made to suffer and to struggle to make ends meet. May be to prevent them fro analyzing the situation. And see what is happening in the political front. America is fast spreading its venomenous tentacles around our country. There is a sort of in-fighting among brothers in NWFP and the Tribal areas and our Armed Forces. There is going to be a similar situation soon in Balochistan. Karachi is being paralyzed financially and with it the country. Our politicians are just sitting there doing nothing, as if they are a part of the Great American Plan. There is Blackwater (with its new name) and Americans using our military and police bases (for what?) where not even the local military or police officials could be made to enter them! And now they plan to send 'experts' to Afghanistan and Pakistan to help in reorganization. Sounds ominous, isn't it?
Everyone in the street can talk for hours about the mythical 'American future map' of the region which shows a truncated Pakistan yet no one is noticing how they have started doing this. Of course this requires Mir Jaffers and Mir Sadiqs which are aplenty here!
Isn't it similar to what happened a few centuries ago when East India Company arrived in India. The rest, as we all know, is history!
