I had written earlier that the letter ‘M’ seems to play a distinctly furtive role in our national lives. Consider memogate, Mansoor Ijaz, the military, the mullah, the month of March, the media, the minorities and now, a cherry on the ‘M’ factor cake, the Mehran Bank disbursement! Things are looking bad, as they are revealed with a lot of black smear on the faces of all involved. What a lot of money has been used for forging desired election results. It is not just the Chaudhrys who, according to Mian Nawaz Sharif, should apologise to the nation for propping up a military dictator, it is each and every one connected to cheating the people of this country of their rights who have to ask for forgiveness for their horrible deeds.
Despite the fact that it has been more than a decade since the disbursement, with many of the key players no longer alive, it is a blessing that the Mehran Bank case is now out in the open. It serves as an excellent case study of how not to do things and should be taught as such at the NDU and wherever else future generals, politicians and corporate executives get educated. Something also to be learnt out of all this is that history remembers people like General Waheed Kakar and Justice Salimuzzuman Siddiqui, who opted for doing the right thing in the wrong circumstances, in better words than it does those who sold us the doctrine of necessity. It is absolutely time that we stopped manipulating things to the advantage of the pliable and manoeuvrable. It happens at all levels. Take the press advertisements placed by the government and other organisations wanting this or that service in all the papers as an example. They ask for certain spelt out services, but 99 times out of 100 the result is already pre-fixed and the contract awarded to person or company of choice. The shame is that there is nothing that those deserving the contract on merit can do to prove this.
A silver lining around the grey clouds is the ECP response to Waheeda Shah, the slap-happy, no-longer MPA elect from Tando Adam Khan. People hardly expected her to be disqualified as she had won on the PPP ticket, but the strong message sent out by the ECP will serve as a deterrent to this sort of boorish behaviour during future elections. Ms Shah has also been banned from contesting for two years and a by-election has been ordered in her constituency. The police wallahs, who watched the slapping incident without batting an eyelid or moving a finger, have also been suspended. One is almost sympathetic towards them because they are the ones who, while things look like they are on way to changing, are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. It has always been safer for them to side with the powerful because their goose has been cooked often for failing to comply and heroic stands have, more often than not, cost them their jobs. This is quite a new phenomenon for them - being suspended for not aiding the helpless!
To come back to the millions spent on manoeuvring election results, more than meting out punishments, one wishes that Pakistan’s money could be re-channelised to providing better health and educational facilities to all Pakistanis. It is a country that waits to be rescued.
Postscript: Every year along with the rest of the world we celebrate the International Women’s Day with greater and greater zeal. The awareness of women’s rights and their role and contribution is emphasised and recognised. The political parties are also acknowledging their vote banks and this year, the last one before elections, the day was singled out by governments at both central and provincial levels to celebrate women. I attended two events in the capital city that were non-governmental, therefore on a smaller and warmer scale. One was a film showing of highlights of several documentaries made by Samar Minallah on underprivileged women of all our provinces. A committed filmmaker, as proven by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, has the ability to impact many and can use the tool of films to highlight and project both the negative and positive in society. Samar Minallah, in her unassuming and quiet way, is making a big contribution to this end.
The other one was an award ceremony by a local NGO to recognise five bright young girls, who had clearly displayed trail-blazing tendencies. The good thing was that four out of five were from areas where women do not normally have the opportunities to show their talents. There was Samina Baig from Gilgit, who had accomplished mountain climbing feats and had ambitions to climb Mount Everest and there was Sara Nasir who was an accomplished gold medalist for Judo and Karate and was from Kallar Syedan. There was an artist and there was a social worker who began her schooling in a taat school in the Seraiki belt. The most well known of them all was Malala Yousafzai from Swat. She came into the limelight when she spoke against the Taliban closing of girls’ schools in her valley at the age of 11. Her clarity of thought was so visible even then. Now at the age of 15, she has confidence that is enviable. As she said so poignantly in her remarks: “We only want rights that are equal to those of men in this country, not in excess of them. And let them rest assured that we will never throw acid on their faces, even if we disagree with them!”
n The writer is a public relations and event management professional based in Islamabad.
Email: tallatazim@yahoo.com