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“SOCIETY is
founded not on the ideals but on the nature of man…we may
define human nature as the fundamental tendencies and feelings
of mankind. The most basic tendencies we shall call
instincts….” say famous philosophers Will and Ariel Durant in
The Lessons of History (chapter v).
Out of the given six human instincts, to accomplish ‘nature of
man’, ‘Fight’ is a positive while ‘Flight’ is a negative
instinct according to the aforementioned authors. With the
reference of instinct of ‘Fight’ (to defend oneself),
‘initiative individual’ is a person who endeavors to defend
the whole society. That is why; he is also called a Hero.
In this backdrop, if we affirm “Unhappy is the land that needs
heroes”, as per the assertion of Galileo in a play The Life of
Galileo (scene 13) written by a German dramatist, Bertolt
Brecht, it means that we are challenging nature of man. A
human society devoid of production of heroes is like a barren
land having no positive instinct to flourish. Fortunately,
this is not the situation with my motherland, Pakistan---a
land of Jawan Sawar M. Hussein, Major Aziz Bhatti and Pilot
Officer Rashid Minhas. They, like several other known and
unknown, remained ‘initiative individuals’ to defend their
motherland even at the cost of their own lives. They did not
believe in ‘Flight’---the negative instinct.
To accept the notion of “Unhappy is the land that needs
heroes”, will be a great injustice to those who have been
working selflessly to serve Pakistan in this age of ‘Self’. It
is not the Lahore Resolution of 1940, a great gathering of
predecessors of Pakistanis, but every August 14th reminds us
the pledge towards our land i.e. to be ready to sacrifice our
lives, honour and property. It was the same pledge of
sacrifice coupled with the basic human ‘positive instinct’ of
defence that pushed Pakistanis unanimously to the decision of
acquisition of nuclear capability---at all costs.
In its essence, Pakistan’s nuclear bomb was less an ‘Islamic
Bomb’ to defend a ‘Muslim world’ than a ‘Pakistani bomb’ to
defend Pakistan’s borders. To put it in perspective, the USA
remained skeptical of winning the ‘Cold War’ in post-II world
war ‘silent crisis’. It could not find courage to challenge
openly even the India-USSR nexus by sending its 7th fleet to
help out Pakistan, despite all the military pacts and
agreements. Hence, it was not only the 1971 crisis but also
the 1974 nuclear test (Similing Buddah) of India that threw
Pakistan into a helpless position.
Even after the end of the Cold war in 1991 formally which
brought ‘Capitalism’ in the forefront and with a winning
claim, the concept of ‘market economy’ went in favour of India
as ‘a bigger market’, besides its strategic position vis-à-vis
China. The consequent USA’s tilt in India’s favour again
disfavored Pakistan and the latter was denied delivery of F-16
airplanes, on one pretext or another, for which the requisite
money had been paid.
At that juncture of history, Pakistanis were mindful of a
famous dialogue of what Socrates said to Aristippus (one of
his followers) quoted in Memorabilia by Xenophon (Book ii, Ch.
1, §12) “If, while living among mankind you shall think it
proper ‘neither to rule nor to be ruled’, I think you will
soon see that the stronger know how to treat the weaker as
slaves”.
‘To be weaker’ is a forerunner of ‘slave’. To that reference,
at least two people deserve appreciation. One the ‘Jawans’ who
stood alert and awoke on the borders and second a scientist,
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who worked day and night in a
laboratory to bring out something positive, as the both
categories did not believe in ‘Flight’. They were not ready to
be considered ‘weak’ not to say of ‘slave’.
The development of a nuclear weapon became fruitless without
an appropriate delivery system especially after the denial of
the due F-16 airplanes to Pakistan by the USA. Its substitute
was got in shape of missiles. Even if the claim stands true
that it was of North-Korean origin, a Pakistani is least
concerned about it. Delivery system was so important that even
a common Pakistani was murmuring to get it from any nook and
corner of the world by hook or by crook. The reason was not
the defiance of the world but the same human positive instinct
i.e. to defend with fight. It was the same instinct that
justifies the act of the USA of throwing of nuclear bombs on
two cities of Japan--- the devastation unprecedented hitherto
in human history of warfare.
While qualifying the stance of ‘Unhappy is the land that needs
heroes’, some writers quote a saying of an English philosopher
of 19th century, Herbert Spencer who said “Hero-worship is
strongest where there is least regard for human freedom”.
However, we must not, at the same time, overlook the famous
saying of Dr. Walter E. Weyl mentioned in The End of the War
(page 83) that “Democracy is a luxury; it can be maintained
only in a moderately secure and pacific world”. Whether the
concept can be applied to the whole world or one country, it
remained more applicable to Pakistan. That is, security on
borders and peace in society are the prerequisites to yield
the fruits of democracy. Moreover, peace in a society is
secondary to its security (defence). Hence, one of the reasons
of military ventures to run Pakistan as per its own parameters
can be visualized through the same glasses of ‘defence first
and democracy later’. However, now, there seems a merger of
the two i.e. ‘defence and democracy together’ as an evolved
formula purely in a Pakistani context.
Services of Dr. Qadeer Khan are multidimensional. He, besides
making the defence of Pakistan invincible, produced a team of
scientists who could redevelop the nuclear capability if it is
destroyed by any enemy attack, as happened in case of
Iraq---and now its resultant helplessness and humiliation.
Moreover, various educational and research institutes for
future generation of Pakistan are other contributions. Having
provided security and pride to Pakistanis, now he is
‘insecure’ and ‘pride-less’. He is being criticized in the
western media. However, President General Musharraf has
pardoned him after he read out a ‘confessional statement’ on
PTV.
To a Pakistani, pardoning means ‘responsibility of security’.
That is to say, it is duty of the President, now onward, to
stand in between the whole world and Dr. Qadeer. This is the
point where from commences a new era of hero-making. The
President is rightly poised for that. Like the President
George Bush, I also praise General Musharraf for the way he
applies his common sense. However, unlike George Bush I know
his Pakistani mind-set. While shouldering the ‘responsibility
of security’ of Dr. Qadeer, he may give ‘certain refusals’ to
Mr. Collin Powell in the forthcoming visit of the latter to
Islamabad. General Musharraf knows that while doing so he will
find Pakistani nation standing-by him shoulder-to-shoulder.
The reason is, Pakistan is not the land that only breeds
heroes but it is also grateful to its heroes. Pakistani
believes that the moment breeding of heroes stops, Pakistan
would be an unhappy land to live.
That is how, Andrea (an assistant of an ancient Italian
astronomer and physicist) was right when he said in the scene
13 of The Life of Galileo that ‘Unhappy is the land that
breeds no heroes!’ It is basically ‘time and space’ that
determines which part of a dialogue is true when and where.
The writer is a Lahore-based Medical Doctor and a freelance
columnist.
E-Mail:
qaisarrashid@yahoo.com
© 2004 Dr Qaisar Rashid
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