In 1402, before the deadly war of Ankara, the kings exchanged insulting correspondence: Timur, the Mongolian emperor wrote, “Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don’t seek to fight the elephants”. The reply of Bayezid, the Ottoman ruler was more shameful: he called Timur, “a dog” and threatened to gang rape his wives.
During the French Revolution, A princess, seeing a mob protesting, asked her attendants, “why are they shouting?” The attendant answered, “They are demanding bread and it is not available”. “Then why don’t they eat cake” came the naïve reply and became an immortal joke for the rich. Sometimes towing the same line, our leaders who have never tasted poverty look ridiculous when they speak for the poor. “Jab ziada barish hota hai tou ziada pani aata hai” (When it rains more, also more water comes) brought a smile to everybody’s face. How much havoc do the heavy rains bring? Do not dare ask the poor.
Winston Churchill is greatly admired by the English people for his statesmanship. They often forget that behind his desire for White Man supremacy, there was stark racism. On the gloomy Bengal famine in 1943, instead of extending help being the ruler of Bengal too, his reckless words added salt to the wounds, “They are the beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding the rabbits”. Three million people died in the famine because of his action or inaction!
Our history is replete with statements that cost the country very heavily. The Quaid declared during his first visit to Dhaka, “Urdu will be the only national language of Pakistan” and the word, though expressed in goodness, sowed the first seed of resentment among the Bengalis. Bhutto’s rhetoric, “Udhar tum idhar ham (You there and we here) became the first harvest of the same crop. Two brothers parted ways, and Pakistan disintegrated! Bhutto in his conceit of power uttered, “Yei kursi bohat mazboot hai” (This chair is very strong) and in the blink of an eye, his government was sent packing.
In 1998, the then PM, Nawaz Sharif announced that Pakistan had tested five nuclear devices. The announcement had far-reaching effects on Pakistan’s fragile economy—the US and world community, especially Japan and the West imposing economic sanctions. However, the worst was the government announcing the freezing of all foreign accounts. Since that day, people have lost faith in the government.
The desire to come into the limelight sometimes costs heavily and the nation bears the brunt. Not long ago, our Minister of Aviation Mr. Glulam Sarwar stunned everybody when on the floor of the parliament he disclosed that 30 percent of the pilots in the country held dubious licenses and fake qualifications. The overambitious minister thought his truth would declare him ‘the most honest person’. The comity of nations was quick to catch it and banned PIA operations all over the world. The incalculable damage had been done! It gave an irreparable financial loss to the national airlines. “The arrow from the bow and the words from the mouth never come back”.
Brutus, a great friend of Roman Julius Caesar, also joined the other senators in the stabbing spree and when asked to justify his action, he replied, “I love Caesar, but I love Rome more than Caesar”. We have seen the same thought still prevailing. All the wrong actions are taken ‘in the interest of the state’, though at the back end it is always in the personal interest.
“Pakistan First” was the most loved quote of Gen Pervez Musharraf. But, he even preferred to launch his book, ‘In the line of fire’ in the US for more attraction and gave the infamous NRO to perpetuate his rule. “The doctrine of necessity kept on haunting our political system and ‘governance’ for a long time. How much does this doctrine harm progress? Immeasurable!
We all tend to speak without thinking and many times regret it because it breaks the hearts and relationships. But those sitting on a higher pedestal of power must be cautious and calculable in words. In the heat of their oratory, the politicians speak against the judiciary and establishment and then face the music. Imran Khan threatened a junior member of the judiciary, and the case is still lingering against him, though he apologised and regretted it later in the court.
Similarly, Reham khan, his ex-wife levelled false allegations against Zulfi Bukhari for corruption and nepotism. Bad luck for Reham Khan that she levelled these allegations in the UK and Zulfi knowing their judiciary, dragged her into the court. So, on court orders, she then publicly apologised for her costly statement and agreed to pay Zulfi substantial damages for libel and legal costs. How Arshad Shareef, a young and smart journalist, paid for his reports, we know. Our hearts bleed for him. Azam Swati is running from one court to another for a mere tweet.
Our ex-PM Imran Khan used to say very often, “mein inhen nahi chorron ga” (I will not spare them). The rhetoric left the charm after some time when nothing happened. Other PMs or to-be PMs also do not lag in the same types of pomposity. The Holy Quran says, (meaning) “O you who believe! Why do you say that you do not do?”(Surah As-Saff). The politicians in power, to appease the public, often threaten public servants publicly. The Chief Minister of Sindh publicly threatened the IG Sindh, “mein IG ko dekh loon ga” (I will see the IG). I happened to be IGP. Lately, the Governor was seen sending a video message directly to all the SHOs of the province threatening them with his personal action for their inaction. Should he?
A recent statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, that Modi was the butcher of Gujrat was against the norms of diplomacy. Will this statement help? Yes, back home he may earn some applause but on the international pitch, it may not. A common politician may say this many times, but a foreign minister needs to speak a decent language.
Sometime back I saw the movie ‘Versailles’: The king of France Louis XIV (17th Century) is holding one to one talk with another king (probably of Spain) with whom his country is already at war. During talks, the Spanish king gets infuriated. Louis tells him, “The art of diplomacy demands keeping your nerves under control and never to lose temper during negotiations” Our foreign minister is young and needs to learn the price of costly statements and its effects borne by the nation.
In the international arena, there is no dearth of people who with their words combined with concrete actions motivate and take their nation from abysmal to glory. Lee Kuan Yew, the unparalleled Singapore leader told his nation, “Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards”. His every word was well crafted and speaks of his courage, “Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.”