Governance by Hate
By Dr Zafar Altaf

USA is not my country and therefore I can only admire some of the things that I perceived when I used to go there. In the eighties and nineties I used to go there very frequently for official business.

One admired their general demeanor and the positive attitude that they had. One was accepted for whatever one was and no question asked.

I enquired from some of the friends that I made over their and they were of the opinion that by and large the majority of the visitors were excellent persons and they saw no difficulty in accepting them.

Since then they have lost out on a number of things that one admired and after 9/11 they have missed out on humanity as well.

Hate begets hate. The lessons of decency are different. The regulatory work is different from development work and the Americans understood the implications.

They were also not overtly worried if someone wanted to spend more time in the country. Since the 9/11 space has shrunk and there is no elbow room in that country.

The superpower that it is one wonders as to why we have got embroiled in what is their fight. We have always had that kind of support ever since the days of Dulles and the Seato/Cento pact not to mention the propping of the Zia regime during the Afghan war.

So it continues but the delirious affects on our society have been so serious that we have had to pay a much heavy price than the financial support that was given us. Fear that the Bush administration created has taken us to different paths.

All kinds of innuendos and Godfather support has been mentioned by all and sundry.

The other element of a non-serious society is that it takes away serious aspect of society and instead builds on aspects that would be like shifting sands.

What are the consequences of hate policies? First and foremost it allows bullies to come forward. Have a look at your society today and see if the physicals are not becoming more important than the intellectuals.

I promise you the world as I have the authority but what have you done to my little world where I could allow my children the right to play and be happy? I am afraid to let them out of my sight. How does my President and my PM travel to their offices?

If they are so upset at the law and order and if they have their tracks covered then surely there is something wrong in the kingdom of heaven. Public safety and any number of reasons can be given. For the articulate to modify the truth to his likings is not difficult.

They may not be lies. They in fact are never lies. What does happen that the omissions and commissions are so well-camouflaged that it is virtually impossible for the ordinary man to decipher wrong from right and imbecility from arrogance and truth.

I got this lesson the first time when the Russians were leaving Pakistan and Yahya Khan was the President and I was then at the District administration.

Unknown to us the very Democratic Government of Yahya Khan had the leaving Russians of the diplomatic corps plastered with dirty eggs and putrefied tomatoes.

One Russian lady looked at me and spoke in English and she accused the Pakistanis of stupidities.

Russia, remember, was still a power to be reckoned with. I was in the direct line of eye contact with the lady and I was flabbergasted. I tried to stop but have you ever tried to stop a mob that has been pumped up by the agencies.

Zia came and with him came the disadvantage of the Kalashnikov culture. Gun running was done by whom. You guess. We have seen law and order virtually slip away.

Policy makers think that the law and order will be looked after because reforms were carried out. Well one way to find out is to give yourself up to them and see how you get treated. Life can be very difficult for you.

Or try walk about Hazrat Omar [RA] style and allow yourself to be checked by the barrier police in Islamabad or any where. They spill hate and they vomit so that the spattering of hate goes a long way.

What is wrong with the M/cycle riders that they should be caught unnecessarily? Is it a crime that one should be riding a motor cycle? Creating this kind of fear and unnecessary production of criminals and hate in the society has to be condemned.

If your up-front law and order agent is this guy then God help this nation. God has been helping this nation but for how long? Pakistan has been organizationally a disaster. Why? The reasons are simple.

We have still not been able to differentiate between regulatory work and development work. How can the two coexist in one organizational structure? That is one of the basic reasons for the elimination of perfectly good worker.

No one has ever tried to reason between a regulating mind and a development mind. A regulatory mind is busy in creating hurdles and a development mind is busy in taking risks after all risk is a basic factor that has to be employed by development oriented person.

Can a police man be a development person?

There may be one or two exceptions but the fact remains that over a period of time, having dealt with or having created criminals they develop a mind set that is ipso facto based on suspicion. It is not their fault.

The system has made them what they are. Again they are only versed in catching sharabis [missing out on some powerful drunkards] and catching hold of the ordinary person. The other day they caught hold of a house worker who had in his possession some pants of Bhang [hemp].

I approached the policeman and he was wonderstruck telling me that if they catch criminal people like myself object. I then had to politely give him a rendition of the drunkards of Islamabad. They may also catch card players accusing them of gambling.

And I can go on as to how many inconsequential people they have arrested. The jails are full of them. God may help those that run fowl of them.

Let anyone go to the police station and ask to be treated fairly. How will they? They have nor been fairly treated themselves and they have been made servile to the vilest of the powerful. They survive because they have to and they are saluted.

The salary of a police constable is 4,000 rupees and the PM says that that is paradigm shift. May he fall in to the clutches of a policeman when he is no longer the PM.

What kind of a mind do you need for development purposes? The element of development requires that he uses his imagination and utilizes the risk factor.

The future is uncertain and the policy outcomes are not known; if you do not give him the necessary salutation and support the work of the republic will suffer. That is exactly what is happening.

The current lot is full of top policy bosses who are ‘as proposed’, or who filibuster the file and it finds a place in the drawer.

The federation deserves better appreciation of its human capital. It is not the function of human capital to be developed by giving them perks and geriatrics being re-employed.

Try and create minds that are eminent not prominent people. Prominence is a function of your status while the eminent is a man of letters. So take care as to what up you are up to.

There is much going if only we refuse to be poodle to the powerful-internally or internationally. Take care this country is ours. Those who claim to be the only citizens are insane.●

© 2006 Dr Zafar Altaf