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Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on July 31st, 2023
ASIA–PACIFIC, 24 Aug 2020
Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
17 Aug 2020 – British imperialism was not accidental but a planned scheme of things to perpetuate its cultural and political dominance over the weak and most vulnerable people of the globe. Its aims were no different in the Sub-Continent of India-Pakistan. The immediate focal aim was to destroy the existing culture of the established Mughal Empire and divide and rule the whole of India. Remember, imperialism was an unadulterated civilization on its own with massive possibilities and material possessions to control the masses.
The 1857 belligerent war on Mughal India and its occupation is referred to as “Mutiny” in imperial history. Bahdur Shah Zafar, the last emperor was arrested, his son’s head chopped off and exiled to be imprisoned in a garage in Rangoon, Burma. It is estimated that two millions Indians, mostly Muslims were killed by the invading British armies. It was the beginning of rethinking as how to expel the British and freedom to be restored to the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs and other minorities in India. You should know that truth explained in full clarity becomes indisputable. British imperialism took India from the Mughals and robbed their wealth, moral and spiritual cultural development of eight centuries.
Not much has changed of the legacy of British rule. For over 73 years, Indian and Pakistani people try to celebrate Independence Day, not in peace but with the missing objectivity of the national freedom movement. Both nations somehow lost the sense of political reality and are overburdened with a sickening mental microscope of unreality. Both are in desperate need of political change and reformation, not revolution to imagine the historic freedom from British imperialism. Plato made it clear that “thinking is man’s natural instrument for problem solving, and any problem could be solved by thought…”
Kashmir map-Plus Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir
Towards Thinking of Reasoned Political Change and Unthinking of Extremism and Occupation of Kashmir
Indian and Pakistani politicians remained buried in the past. For change and future-making, they urgently need people of new ideas, new vision and proactive intellect. At the outset, nobody appears to be rethinking – how to restore normal relationships between people and nations who lived together for centuries in the same sub-continent. Revolution is not the answer as it is a configuration of mostly passion and national emotions subject to transitory feelings, time and place. A reasoned thinking is often the sparking guideline for sustainable human relationships. Anarchy of absolutism or nationalism is as dangerous today as it was centuries earlier – causing the Two WW and killings and dehumanization of millions and millions across the globe. What is the way out to reason and rationality to deal with problem-solving and return to peace and tranquility between the warring societies? Kashmir is at the heart of conflicts between India and Pakistan which was left unresolved by the departing British colonialism.
The political leaders in India and Pakistan have no rational sense of their strengths and weaknesses. India is overwhelmingly claiming to be a Hindu nationalist regime under PM Narinder Modi. Its constitution and national freedom movement had the philosophical and political soul of secularism. Pakistan had the vision of an Islamic State. None of the two are connected to their originality of the freedom movement. None would show a sense of guilt for the disconnection and trivial policies and practices in their own affairs. The spirit of democracy, secularism and respect for equal rights is tormented by the leaders of the two nations. Both are nuclear nations and often remind the people of the world – what could go wrong when the nuclear option is miscalculated for one-sided peace as it happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Could men of knowledge and genius rise up against the obvious political odds and ignorance that wars could resolve the problem without catastrophic human destruction?
India and Pakistan are not ruled by the wisest or brightest politicians. The masses suffer by neglect and anarchy. Their public institutions lack human care, services and efficiency. Those who grab political power by extreme ideologies and hateful manipulation are men of political intrigue assuming power through exploitation of fellow human beings and impose their absurdity on human consciousness striving for survival.
Truth is One and the same unchanging as it was many centuries earlier. Contrary to historic India under the Mughal Empire, we are seeing in India, denial of human rights and freedom and prolonged captivity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir – a framework of extreme Hinduism ideology. The masses of Kashmir seek their rights to freedom, not forced captivity. What if they had the freedom to express their will, if they want freedom from India or want to join Pakistan? Historically, Kashmir was never a part of the British Raj but a separate entity and its geography and socio-economic lifelines run through Pakistan, not India. India after military confrontation with China will look for escape from reality to confront Pakistan. Kashmir is not a domestic issue of India or Pakistan. Conscientious Indian thinkers and people of conscience oppose the RSS Hinduism strategy and are adamant to these violations of human dignity and freedom.
Arundhati Roy, an international peace activist and author of the novels The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and My Seditious Heart, makes this candid observation (“The Silence is the Loudest Sound”, New York Times, 15 Aug 2019):
“Amid these vulgar celebrations the loudest sound, however, is the deathly silence from Kashmir’s patrolled, barricaded streets and its approximately seven million caged, humiliated people, stitched down by razor wire, spied on by drones, living under a complete communications blackout…. Today Kashmir is one of the most or perhaps the most densely militarized zone in the world. More than a half-million soldiers have been deployed to counter what the army itself admits is now just a handful of “terrorists.” If there were any doubt earlier it should be abundantly clear by now that their real enemy is the Kashmiri people. What India has done in Kashmir over the last 30 years is unforgivable. An estimated 70,000 people, civilians, militants and security forces have been killed in the conflict. Thousands have been “disappeared,” and tens of thousands have passed through torture chambers that dot the valley like a network of small-scale Abu Ghraibs….. The danger will come from many directions. The most powerful organization in India, the far-right Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the R.S.S., with more than 600,000 members including Narendra Modi and many of his ministers, has a trained “volunteer” militia, inspired by Mussolini’s Black Shirts. With each passing day, the R.S.S. tightens its grip on every institution of the Indian state. In truth, it has reached a point when it more or less is the state.”
Pakistan’s Masses Hope for Political Change and Future-Making
Since 1947, Pakistan for the first time fair public elections allowed new generation leadership under Imran Khan- a cricketer and outspoken supporter of rights of freedom for the ten millions people of Kashmir. He claims to be an ambassador for the besieged people of Jammu and Kashmir under Indian administration since 1947. Lack of dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and normalization of people to people relationship are multiplying temptations and increased frustration on both sides demanding new thinking for a reasoned and conscientious soul-searching. One wonders why Pakistani leaders could never think to hold an international conference on Kashmir. Does Pakistan have competent diplomats to argue for the rights of Kashmiri people in global forums? If Pakistani leaders could evolve a capacity of moral and intellectual values and educated and honest people of new generation could hold offices of political responsibility, it could make the difference in dealing with some of the compelling socio-economic and political issues.
For over 50 years, Pakistan had a junk history of Bhuttos, Zardari, Sharif and Musharaf- all thugs, wicked and indicted criminals to rule a moral sensitive nation of values and spiritual history. PM Imran Khan, the first elected leader after a long time, should focus on institutional development and recruit educated and intelligent people of new generation – people of ideas and vision rather than thumb lickers and “yes men” in his governing circle. So far, he does not seem to have any educated person of international integrity and strategic planning to uplift Pakistan from a non-productive political economy and governance to a status that could advance its originality of the freedom movement and a stronger and politically viable Pakistan. He needs to address the issues of missing public service, political accountability, law and order and justice. Pakistanis are waiting what they do not see a focused Plan for political reformation. If Pakistanis are intelligent enough they should start thinking – what is after Imran Khan?
The former political monsters are still free and one wonders when Zardari, Bhutoos and Sharif and Musharaf would face the firing squads for their crimes of stolen wealth and killings of people. They looted banks, time and opportunities for change, yet, they claim to have done nothing wrong. If he could enlist morally and intellectually able people to his governance, the issue of Kashmir could ably be presented in global settings and perhaps an exercise of referendum- plebiscite be practiced to ensure the encompassing reality for the deprived masses of Kashmir. Stupid clichés of freedom and casual allusion of political change and resolution of Kashmir will not make any difference on the ground. If Pakistani leaders have individual conscience and reality of the history to organize a Strategic Action PLAN, the issue of Kashmir could be amicably resolved. The essence of political change lies in being strong, not weak or divided in policies and practices.
Challenge – How to Become Effective Leaders?
Leaders create new leaders with vision and integrity to imagine the universal phenomenon of change and futuristic developments. Human happiness and progress move horizontally in peace-time, not in continuing warmongering and irrational threats to other people and nations. In situation of crises, responsible leaders provide assurances and comforts to the masses – would leaders of India and Pakistan come out of the psychologically neurosis box and see the enlightenment of the 21st century of informed humanity and honor the rights of self-determination of the people of Kashmir and let them decide their own future and freedom and once for all rewrite a history of peaceful co-existence and friendship?
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Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international relations-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest book: Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution: Approaches to Understand the Current Issues and Future-Making, Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 2017.
Tags: Conflict, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Solutions, Violent conflict
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 24 Aug 2020.
Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on July 30th, 2023
REMORSE.
Something tragic happened in our country in December 1971 as a result of which one of our two
arms (East wing) was separated.
Pakistan was created as a Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1947 by referendum with majority
votes coming from Bengal.
Although the people of East Wing played an important part in creation of Pakistan with their
majority votes, with the passage of time, East Pakistan had genuine grievances of being
neglected economically, politically and in all spheres of life, so much so that Sheikh Mujeebur
Rehman, the head of East Pakistan’s political party Awami League, at the end of his complaints
against grievances and injustices to East Pakistan, said: “Please behave like brothers, not like
rulers”.
In December 1971 general elections, which perhaps was the most transparent election in the
history of Pakistan, Sheiks Mujeeb-ur-Rehman’s Awami League swept the elections with
overwhelming majority. As a rule, following the elections, a National Assembly meeting was to
be called and the winner party had to form a new government. But the then west Pakistani
rulers continuously delayed and postponed to do so and finally abandoned it completely causing
wide range protests and uproar throughout East Pakistan. The intent of this was obviously to
deny Awami League its rights to form a new government.
If we did not like the people of East Pakistan why did we seek their votes in referendum in
favour of Pakistan? Is it not unfair and selfish to use their majority votes for creation of Pakistan
as a homeland for us and after completing the task to deny them even equal rights?
Then what happened? When they asked for justice and their legal and constitutional rights to
form a new government, they were brutally killed, innocent women raped, and their life and
property put to arson. Pakistan was made to provide a safe haven for muslims of India, but what
was happening was muslims against muslims.
Unfortunately, our the then rulers, for political gains and for lust of power, did no care even to put
the survival of our country at stake, and where we ended up is history. What happened in 1971
in our country is a blot, not only on our national history but also on the face of international
affairs.
We should be ashamed of ourselves for the heartless tyranny unleashed to our own brothers
and sisters, if our conscience is not yet dead. The guilt is great, and so is remorse. The
perpetrators were our forefathers. Nevertheless, we, the existing generation, have the feeling
that we owe them an apology. I think an official apology should be sent to them and diplomatic
relations with trade and cultural relations established between the two brother independent
nations.
Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on July 29th, 2023
By Mahboob Khawaja, PhD
Editor’s Note
How many times in how many nations must the people fail to get leaders who can balance caring for the people with the realities of survival? It seems that time after time, even when there is a revolution to right the ship, within a short time from months to a couple of years, we are tight back where we started – or worse.
Perhaps the problem is not the leaders, but the expectation that A leader can solve the problems we face. The problems of a society are complex and generally deeply rooted. They arise out of the structure of a society and the values, beliefs, and the way we interact (aka “culture”) that hold it together. These two pieces, structure and culture are symbiotic; reinforcing and recreating each other. The social structure (various institutions from family to religion, economy to government, etc.) arises out of the culture and creates a society that reflects and reinforces the culture. The culture will also tend to recreate the social structure that reinforces it. While culture may change rapidly, social structure changes more slowly and tends to reinforce the older, deeper values most.
Perhaps, if we want substantive change we must look to the imperialist’s toolbox. The methods of the imperialists supplant both social structure and culture with their own and brutally suppress the society they are attempting to conquer.
And this my friend is where DIVERSITY becomes critically important. So much of what we think, and therefore what we perceive, is invisible to us. People from outside are critical to good problem-solving – especially on this level. Diversity in this case is not just from within a society, but across societies. Why? because they are operating from a different cultural base. Frankly, and I have no scientific proof for this, I think that we probably need to look to indigenous societies. These peoples are disappearing almost as quickly as the land they need to survive is being gobbled up by capitalism.
The remaining tribal peoples have largely not been overtaken by global capitalism that is rooted in Western culture – primarily the United States. And frankly, the dominant culture of the United States is the worst of the worst for addressing the collapse of the Earth’s ecology or embracing the diversity of race, culture or religion/philosophy. The why of this claim seems self-evident but goes beyond this introduction in any event. Cultural diversity, particularly that of tribal peoples, is important because they are outside the conceptual box of First and Second world cultures. They do not share our assumptions of reality, how things work, or our relationship to each other and the Earth. These cultures vary from each other, but because they are outside OUR boxes they ask different questions, see problems differently, and can offer different solutions.
To save our various societies and the planet we need a change of hear and mind, and we need to build new institutions. I strongly suspect that among the key things that will need to be embraced are:
We must build something different as nations and as a world, not just change the players on the field.
“Thinking outside the box” by wiing it
Mahboob Khawaja, PhD
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Albert Einstein
Global institutions of peace, security, and conflict resolution are managed by people who lack a basic understanding of mankind, its role and vitality in global affairs, protection of human rights, and aspirations for a sustainable future-making. When a formidable action is needed to prevent violation of human rights, security, and even essential needs of survival, they bent on issuing phony statements and referring to the international law of humanitarian rights (which does not exist or nobody cares about), and show faces of solidarity for leading humanity in painful crises. They are deceptive as they breathe incompetence, greed, egoistic name and fame, and betray humanity. There is much evil and less goodness in 21st-century global affairs – an amassed collection of unthinkable junk history. Flamboyant expressions of besieged mankind that defy ignorance and hallmarks of modern civilized people.
There are seeds of unimaginable and destructive Western cultural absolutism that could destroy the sense of time and rational consciousness of living history. The ongoing war in Ukraine, violations of human rights, prejudice against people of color and murders of indigenous people in North America, social and moral injustice, and continuous warfare – all echo the degradation of human values and soul, exhibit intellectual disregard, universal unhappiness, horrors, societal chaos and socio-economic miseries of innumerable multitudes.
The politically wise elected leaders failed to foresee the formidable challenges coming from the 99% oppressed mankind across global frontiers. Most political leaders would claim intellectual integrity but false proclamations that go unnoticed of human sufferings, pains, and socioeconomic devastation cannot be assumed to be strategies of kindness in the struggle for sustainable political change and systematic elimination of terror and injustice.
We witness that human tragedy between Russia-Ukraine, across Western Europe, the North American streets, the Middle East, and elsewhere while human conscience is still intact. Politicians tend to opt for convenient compromises that deform political truth as transient and pliable but the truth is always ONE, not many, and this is what most contemporary leaders fail to comprehend. We, the People of the globe must learn from living history and think of a navigational change, or else we will experience a self-generated dehumanization curve – evidence of a tragic human abnormality across all the functional domains, from thinking to actions. To safeguard our future, We, the People of global Conscience must evolve a compass of credibility to check those who are exercising political power and are entrusted with people’s confidence for peace, societal harmony, and workable conflict resolutions.
The UNO was supposed to safeguard mankind from the “scourge of war”, but the UN Security Council- a progressive hope after WW2 is really a debating club for time-killing exercises and a manipulative global political powerhouse. The five self-appointed permanent members compete in fear of the others and sustainability propaganda to discuss the current issues. They are not interested in stopping the savagery of killings between Ukraine and Russia, going on for almost a year and a half, appalling human rights violations and dehumanization of the people of Palestine under Israeli occupation, freedom fighters in Kashmir against the Indian military control, millions of Rohingya people experience ethnic displacement from Myanmar, and destabilization of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and so on. There is nothing good coming out of the Security Council as a primary hub of global peace, security, and conflict management. The eloquent speakers tend to march on people’s passion for peace and harmony with artful sophistry and captivating eloquence of words without meaning and prompt action to protect the humanity.
The Western news media networks propel portraits of human degradation, historic injustice, and socio-economic vices as if political deception and prejudice were new things to political thinkers and rulers. How could we rethink to change the centuries-old dreadful human apparatus of brimstone, tormenting social inequalities, and torture inflicted by the contemporary so-called working democratic systems of political governance? The UNO and its inept leadership have no plan to safeguard mankind from the coming of a Third World War.
Those who grab political power through extreme ideologies and hateful manipulation are people of political intrigue assuming power through the exploitation of fellow human beings and imposing their absurdity on human consciousness striving for survival. Indian PM Narendra Modi recently visited the US to improve his dubious public image as a leader. He spoke of peace and terrorism while he is actively engaged in oppressing the minorities across India -Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, violations of women’s rights and rape, and waging a prolonged war against the people of Kashmir. Truth is One and the same as it was many centuries earlier.
Contrary to the historic India under Mughal Empire where ethnic diversities lived in harmony, we are seeing contemporary India denying equal human rights and freedom – a framework of extreme Hinduism ideology. The masses of Kashmir seek their right to freedom, not forced captivity. How strange, for over seventy years corrupt Pakistani politicians never thought to hold an international conference on Kashmir. Pakistanis are averse to critical thinking and criticism for political change. One-track military minds dominate the Pakistani so-called political landscape and people are struggling to restore a sense of normalcy and lost credibility to the nation’s survival. Unless there is a navigational change away from the military dictatorship to restore democracy, Pakistanis could end up losing their national freedom.
Could Ukraine and Russia meet at a conference table for an immediate ceasefire and peacemaking? NATO and the EU are not working in a logical framework to have a dialogue with Russia or to stop the killings and displacement of civilians across Ukraine. Would America and Israel determine the future of the war-torn Middle East? Several oil-producing Arab leaders are complicit in the failure of finding a peaceful resolution of the repression of Palestine – be it East Jerusalem or the annexation of the West Bank. These puppets are mindless beings not living with the Arab people but in palaces under the CIA’s management. Israeli and Palestinian both live in mutual fear and moral and intellectual decadence. Had they believed in Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad and their teachings as Prophets of God- all trying to unite mankind before God, they should have reached a peace deal.
The PLO lacks intelligent and effective leadership to counteract Netanyahu whereas the Israeli’s problem rests with the right-wing extreme leadership devoid of peace, morality, and human equality. PM Netanyahu is glued to the extreme right-wing parties planning to annex the West Bank of Palestine into Israeli territory. The settlements go on and wicked leaders simply call it against international law. As if Palestinians were not human beings but just digits and numbers. One would have hoped that thinking Israeli politicians will safeguard their own freedom and security and workout a peaceful settlement between the two nations. None of them could live in peace and harmony unless human rights, freedom and justice are respected by all the parties.
Despite many political and strategic odds, one cannot blame the Western industrialized nations for ignorance, human prejudice, and sociol-economic disparities. Why has nobody else challenged racial inequality and moral injustice? What did the Arabs or Muslims contribute to the changing pattern of global political affairs? Global humanity is a mix of all cultures and civilizations. The Arab-Muslim world failed to produce any leader with vision and intellectual integrity for the changing and complex global affairs of the 21st century. When Arab leaders had proactive vision and intellect and human values, they articulated a unique civilization tolerant of diversity and varied cultural ethnicity in Andalucía (Spain) and built upon the unity of faith to nurture peaceful co-existence and human development. If you list the historic scientific, educational, and technological discoveries and contributions of Muslim scholars, they are countless.
Do you know any other scientists or scholars whose textbooks were used continuously for five centuries in European medical schools? Or their scientific work translated into Latin, French, Deutch, English, and other languages spoken across the world. Husain Abdullah Bu Ali Sina – Ibne–Sina (Avicenna – “Canon of Medicine” and “Book of Healing”), and Zakariya Al-Razi (Russ), are both 10th-century scientists and scholars. The Europeans changed their names to Avicenna and Russ so that nobody would recognize them as Muslim scholars. It is noted that Ibne Sina (Avicenna) alone discovered and authenticated 36 pharmaceutical formulas being used to this day. Marai Rosa Menocal (A Golden Reign of Tolerance: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, 2003), explains: “The lessons of history, like the lessons of religion, sometimes neglect examples of tolerance. A thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula, an enlightened vision of Islam had created the most advanced culture in Europe….In Cordoba, the library housed some 400,000 volumes at a time when the largest library in Latin Christendom probably held no more than 400.”
Despite the sketchy illusions of freedom, democracy, human rights, liberty, and justice, we are encroached, stuffed, and at terrible risk of annihilation more by accident and error of judgment than a planned scheme of things by Man against Man. Often the extreme Western political propaganda inflames hatred against people of color and indigenous people, and Muslims are perceived as being “terrorists.” George Floyd’s voice continues to echo – “I cannot breathe…I cannot breathe” across the global human consciousness. Often false propaganda, deception, and prejudice are combined in a strategy to sell weapons and console the egoistic Arab leaders as allies of the Western military alliance. This political delusion is full of inherent inconsistencies. Gary Wills (What the Qur’an Meant and What It Matters. Viking, NY, 2017), a leading American scholar explains the reality in his new book:
Our enemy in this war is far less localizable than it was in the World War 2 or the Cold War. Terror is a tool, not a country. Declaring a war on it is less like normal warfare, country versus country, there is No VE Day or VJ Day in such wars… living with fear is corrosive…the less we know about the reality of Islam, the more we will fight shadows and false emanations from our apprehension. Ignorance is the natural ally of fear. It is time for us to learn about the real Islam beginning with its source book – The Qur’an.
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and is the author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Germany, 12/2019.
Tags: ignorance, social change
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Posted July 9, 2023 by Rowan Wolf in category “Activists“, “International Affairs“, “Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.“, “Militarism“, “Peace
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Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on July 13th, 2023
Pakistan Riddled with Multiple Crises
Asif Haroon Raja
Two-Party Rule & Military Rule
ZA Bhutto gave birth to PPP in 1967 and Nawaz Sharif (NS) to PML-N in 1990. NS was groomed and patronized by Gen Ziaul Haq. The 2nd democratic era witnessed the two mainstream national political parties, PPP and PML-N at loggerheads from 1988 onwards till Benazir Bhutto in self-imposed exile and exiled NS signed Charter of Democracy (CoD) in 2006 during Gen Musharraf’s rule, both pledging to let each other complete the mandated 5-year tenure and to clip the wings of the army and the judiciary. They didn’t consider doctoring the moral and social ailments which had decomposed democracy and decayed the institutions.
The lawyer’s movement in March 2007 forced Gen Musharraf to strike a power sharing deal with Benazir, issue NRO on Oct 5 to allow the two exiled leaders to return and take part in elections, impose emergency on Nov 3, shed off his uniform and hand over the baton of Army to his VCOAS Gen Ashfaq Kiani on Nov 27. He was blamed for the murder of Benazir on Dec 27. In the March 2008 elections, PPP formed its govt in the Centre and Sindh, and coalition govt in KP and Balochistan. PML-N under Shahbaz Sharif (SS) took over Punjab.
The CoD was put into practice, provinces granted greater autonomy through the 18th Amendment in the Constitution, and the PPP under Asif Ali Zardari completed its full tenure. CJP Iftikhar Ch sacked by Gen Musharraf was restored in March 2009. He introduced the concept of Suo Moto’s and judicial activism. It was owing to poor performance of the PPP which reduced its political strength to the Sindh-based party and gave space to the PTI which till then was in wilderness. SS’s good performance enabled PML-N to win 2013 elections with a two-thirds majority.
PML-N’s Rule (2013-2018)
During the five-year rule of PML-N from June 2013 to June 2018, it learnt lessons from its past follies, took advantage of its majority and managed to steady the rocking economy, overcame worst energy crisis, broke the back of rural and urban terrorism, formulated National Action Plan, established NACTA, lifted the GDP to 5.8 %, started the gigantic CPEC project attracting $ 46 billion China’s assistance, forged strategic relationship with China and further cemented ties with the Arab Gulf States.
Its performance could be much better had PTI under Imran Khan (IK), which had refused to accept 2013 elections results, not created one hurdle after another to impede development works. Even CPEC was delayed by one year. PML-N had to contend with judicial activism under CJP Saqib Nisar who disqualified NS for life on a flimsy charge and imprisoned him, his daughter Maryam and the leading lights of the party. The economic graph began to decline from 2017 onwards.
IK’s politics of defiance and aggression were given legal cover by the higher judiciary. In spite of PTI’s 126-day sit-in, violence, protest marches and high-pitched media war together with judicial prejudices, the badly bruised PML-N managed to complete its tenure under Khaqan Abbasi.
IK’s Rise to Power
IK was chosen as the future PM by a selected group of serving and retired army officers in 2011. The one-seater PTI received a quantum jump in the 2013 elections in which it won KP and became the second and 3rd largest party in Punjab and the Centre with a toehold in urban Sindh. The establishment used its tentacles to rig the elections in Punjab and enable the PTI to take over Punjab where it couldn’t secure a simple majority. The PML-N had secured more votes and seats than any other party. Bushra Bibi, wife of Khawar Maneka and mother of five, believing in Peeri-Mureedi, shrine-worship, spiritualism and sorcery got married to IK in Jan 2018 and had a role in election of IK as PM.
Gen Qamar Bajwa, Lt Gen Faz Hamid and CJP Saqib Nisar conspired to push aside populous PML-N and to hand over the reins of power to PTI under IK for next ten years, hoping that he would be able to cleanse Pakistan and make it prosperous. This manipulated change proved fatal for Pakistan’s future politics. Had the manipulators allowed Punjab with PML-N, federal govt and KP with PTI, Sindh with PPP and Baluchistan with a coalition govt, things might have proceeded smoothly.
PTI’s Rule (Aug 2018 – April 2022)
Finding itself short of the magical figures in the federal govt and in Punjab, perforce the PTI had to tie knots with MQM-P, PML-Q, BNP-M, BAP, GDA and independents, which handicapped the winning party. More than half of the cabinet members were electables from other parties and advisers from abroad. IK was made to believe that no sooner he was crowned, the people would readily pay taxes, the expats would fill the commercial banks with remittances and donations, and the looted amount of $ 200 billion stashed in foreign banks recovered. He and other party leaders were so intensely infatuated with these fanciful assumptions that they felt no need to make an economic plan. IK made tall promises of making Pakistan corruption-free within 90 days, providing one crore jobs to the jobless, 50 lacs homes to the homeless, cheap justice at the doorsteps of all and making Pakistan an ideal welfare state.
Intoxicated by the charisma and popularity of IK, and riding on the strong shoulders of the military, support of the Supreme Court (SC), the PTI leaders remained wholly focused on casting aspersions on the former regime. The military establishment being on one page with the ruling regime, emboldened IK to carry out witch hunting of his opponents with the help of NAB. Purpose was to frighten the PML-N MNAs and Punjab MPAs and force them to join the PTI, but the fort of PML-N remained intact.
Hardly any heed was paid to uplift the economy, or to carry out crucial reforms, or to gel the divided nation, or to lessen the pains of the poor and the tyrannized Kashmiris. IK remained heavily dependent upon the advice of his wife and appointed a goofy Usman Buzdar as CM Punjab at the behest of Bushra Bibi, known as Pinki Peerni. She meddled in postings of govt officials. Finance ministers, IG Punjab and other senior appointment holders in Punjab administration were changed frequently.
Downfall of PTI Regime
By 2019, all the wishful assumptions proved elusive and high hopes dashed. GDP dipped to zero percent and economic indicators went into negative. One reason was the IMF loan agreement of $6.5 billion, tied to stringent conditions. The other reasons were Covid Pandemic, poor governance, mismanagement, nepotism and reliance on dual nationality holders. Selective accountability gave reason to the PDM to team up and form PDM.
The PTI regime didn’t fare well on the diplomatic front as well. Apart from annoying the IMF by violating the terms of agreement, it irritated the US, China, and KSA and to top it all, the Army leadership.
It was a criminal act to freeze the game-changing CPEC to please the USA at the cost of upsetting Pakistan’s most trusted friend China. Whereas the bold response against Indian air intervention in Balakot in Feb 2019 raised the stature of IK, PAF and Army chiefs, adoption of a defensive posture after the illegal annexation of IOK by India on Aug 5, 2019, was another inexcusable act.
GHQ not only helped in battling the pandemic, but also made concerted efforts to boost the economy. 23 Brigs were posted to GHQ to extend a helping hand to the ministries and Gen Bajwa became the member of the national economic team. Some improvements were made in 2nd half of 2022. Bajwa’s repeated requests to change Buzdar were turned down by IK. Once Bajwa and his core team found that the PTI was neither prepared to listen to good advice nor was delivering, their relations cooled in 2021. The issue of posting out of DG ISI Faiz Hamid broke the proverbial back of the camel, and GHQ decided to become neutral.
Removal of the army’s crutches encouraged the fence sitters within the PTI to rebel, and the blackmailing allies to part ways. IK tried to induce Gen Bajwa by offering another extension, but he refused to meddle in politics. When the trust motion couldn’t be defeated, IK with the help of President Alvi dissolved the National Assembly (NA) on Apr 3 and all the 35 MNAs of PTI resigned. The SC reincarnated the NA on Apr 8, and the PDM members elected SS as the new PM on Apr 9.
PTI’s Riposte
PTI’s fall turned into a blessing in disguise for IK. His popularity graph that had declined considerably began to surge up significantly. Not reconciling to the loss of power, IK’s sole concern has been snap polls and return to power. In order to pressurize the govt to hold early elections, he held a series of huge public gatherings during which he bad mouthed the PDM leaders, Election Commissioner, Gen Bajwa and the ISI senior officers and gave them insulting names. His invectives and abuses and his call for Azadi march to attain real independence further ignited the emotions of his fans.
To maximize pressure, he undertook a long march from Peshawar on May 25 to storm Islamabad, but the assault was successfully thwarted by the police. His 2nd long march was launched from Lahore in Oct/Nov which was primarily aimed at preventing SS to appoint Lt Gen Asim Munir as the next army chief on Nov 29. His first choice was Lt Gen Faiz Hamid, but he had become highly controversial owing to his linkage with CJP Saqib Nisar, Bushra Bibi and the TTP.
When this offensive backfired, in desperation IK resorted to other highhanded tactics like Jail Bharo Tehreek and dissolving the Punjab and KP Assemblies and then pressing the govt and the SC to hold elections in the two provinces within 90 days. The SC directed the Election Commission (EC) to hold elections by May 14, which has been declined by the EC and the Parliament on account of lack of funds, security personnel and staff to conduct elections.
Role of PDM Regime
What is most striking and bewildering is that the bunch of thieves and goofs ruling the roost are showing extraordinary resilience to the political and judicial activism as well as multiple crises.
The unpopular PDM regime has braved the fierce onslaughts of PTI and rolled back the two long marches and smothered other offensive acts. And now they are defying the CJP and two other Supreme Court judges who in their view are highly partisan and aligned with the PTI.
Irrespective of the inglorious past and poor performance of the PDM leaders who are at the helm of affairs for one year, they are at least trying hard to salvage the sinking ship. The same cannot be said about the largest and most popular party PTI, which is hellbent to foment chaos, intensify instability, insecurity and uncertainty in order to suck the life out of the dwindling economy.
The so-called imported and good for nothing govt has not only prevented the default of Pakistan, but has also managed the state affairs under most trying conditions and without the crutches of the establishment. It has managed to fulfil all the demands of the IMF, procured loans from the KSA, UAE and China. The latter has committed $ 58 billion for the railway line which is part of CPEC. KSA is ready to invest $ 14 billion to install an oil refinery at Gwadar. Iran is in the loop of China and prospects of operationalization of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project lying in limbo since 2006 have brightened. It can be assumed that Iran will not undermine Gwadar Port. Russia has supplied wheat on cheap rates and the crude oil shipment is likely this month. Moscow has promised to build gas pipelines in Pakistan. Possibility of Russia and Afghanistan getting connected to CPEC cannot be ruled out.
Despite multifarious crises of grave nature, the hard pressed govt has ensured supply of gas and electricity to the consumers, started counter terrorism operations, distributed free wheat bags to the poorest segment, lowered prices of fuel, raised daily wages of labor class, provided some relief to the flood affected and kept Pakistan relevant in the world comity. But for the deliberate instability fanned by the PTI, the results could have been better.
Parliament-Judiciary Standoff
The Parliament – SC standoff has reached a dangerous stage since both sides have dug their heels. PTI’s xenophobia and judicial jingoism against the Parliament has further unified the PDM. One bill after another has been passed with speed by the parliament to cut the powers of CJP to size and possibly to disqualify him and two other judges with doubtful integrity.
SS and his coalition partners are determined to ensure the supremacy of the parliament. He felt so confident that he took the vote of confidence on 27 April and secured 180 votes. Last time in April 2022, he had secured 174 votes, two more than the magical figure of 172. The re-elected PM demanded a thorough probe by a parliamentary committee to dig out details of massive rigging in the 2018 elections, of which former CJP Saqib Nisar was a party.
Burning Issue and Dilemmas
The burning issue at hand is elections in Punjab and KP in May as desired by the apex court, Supreme Court Bar Counsel and the PTI, or simultaneous elections on one date in Oct wished by the PDM and Pakistan Bar Council. 14 May has become impossible. Mid-way will be found, although PML-N would like the elections in Oct to be able to provide relief to the people and create conditions conducive for the return of fugitive NS. The latter would like to return after the retirement of CJP Umar Bandial.
CJP Bandial is pushed for time since he and the president are retiring in mid Sept, the judges would go on summer vacations in mid June till mid Sept. Justice Faiz Essa who is pro-PDM and anti-PTI, and is also cross with Bandial, would take over as next CJP in Oct this year. Even if Bandial disqualifies the PM or the whole of the cabinet, Essa would restore them.
The PTI is anxious to hold snap polls since it fears the possibility of IK getting disqualified in foreign funding, or in the Toshakhana cases, which would render the party redundant. It is now keen to re-join the NA, desires dissolution of NA by May 14, or to restore dissolved assemblies of Punjab and KP. It has formed a committee to hold parleys with the government. Three rounds have taken place.
The numerous predicaments are the outcome of sustained politics of agitation and confrontation from 2011 onwards which scaled new heights after April 10, 2022. The deadly fight between the furious elephants is adding to the sufferings of the people groaning under the weight of high inflation, price hike, unemployment and poverty. The IMF working on an agenda is still playing cat and mouse game and has so far not released the much-sought $1.2 billion loan tranche.
The writer is a retired Brig Gen, war veteran, defence, security & political analyst, international columnist, author of five books, Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan & director Measac Research Centre. [email protected]
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Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on July 12th, 2023
\“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”Albert Einstein
How to Mirror the on-going Injustice and Insanity against Besieged Mankind?
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 12/2019.
Global institutions of peace, security and conflict resolution are managed by people who lack basic understanding of mankind, its role and vitality in global affairs, protection of human rights and aspirations for a sustainable future-making. When a formidable action is needed to prevent violation of human rights, security and even essential needs of survival, they bent on issuing phony statements and refer to international law of humanitarian rights (which does not exist or nobody cares about), and show faces of solidarity for leading humanity in painful crises. They are deceptive as they breathe incompetence, greed, egoistic name and fame and betray humanity. There is much evil and less goodness in the 21st century global affairs – amassed collection of unthinkable junk history. Flamboyant expressions of besieged mankind that defies ignorance and hallmarks of modern civilized people.
There are seeds of unimaginable and destructive Western cultural absolutism that could destroy the sense of time and rational consciousness of living history. The on-going war in Ukraine, violations of human rights, colored prejudice and indigenous killings in North America, social and moral injustice and continuous warfare – all echo degradation of human values and soul, exhibit intellectual discard, universal unhappiness, horrors, societal chaos and socio-economic miseries of innumerable multitude.
The politically wise and elected failed to foresee the formidable challenges coming from the 99% oppressed mankind across from global frontiers. Most political leaders would claim intellectual integrity but where else false proclamations go unnoticed of human sufferings, pains and socioeconomic devastation cannot be assumed to be the strategies of kindness in the struggle for sustainable political change and systematic reformation of terror and injustice.
We witness that human tragedy between Russia-Ukraine, across Western Europe, North American streets, the Middle East and elsewhere while human conscience is still intact. Politicians tend to opt for convenient compromise deforming political truth as transient and pliable but truth is always ONE, not many, and this is what most contemporary leaders failed to comprehend. We, the People of the globe must learn from living history and think of navigational change or else it is a self-generated dehumanization curve – an evidence of a tragic human abnormality across all the functional domains, from thinking to actions. To safeguard our future, We, the People of global Conscience must evolve a compass of credibility to check those who are exercising political power and are entrusted with people’s confidence for peace, societal harmony and workable conflict resolutions.
The UNO – in Search of Reinventing another Universal Organization
The UNO was supposed to safeguard mankind from the “scourge of war”, but the UN Security Council- a progressive hope after WW2 is really a debating club for time killing exercises and a manipulative global political powerhouse. The Five self-appointed permanent members compete in fear of the others and sustainability propaganda to discuss the current issues. They are not interested in stopping the savagery of killings between Ukraine and Russia, going on for almost year and half, appalling human rights violation and dehumanization of the people of Palestine under Israeli occupation, freedom fighters in Kashmir against the Indian military control, million of Rohinga people ethnic displacement from Myanmar, and destabilization of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and so on. There is nothing good coming out of the Security Council as a main hub of global peace, security and conflict management. The eloquent speakers tend to march on people’s passion for peace and harmony with artful sophistry and captivating eloquence of words without meaning and prompt action to protect humanity.
The Western news media networks propel portraits of human degradation, historic injustice and socio-economic vices as if political deception and prejudice were new things to political thinkers and rulers. How could we rethink to change the centuries old dreadful human apparatus of brimstone, tormenting social inequalities and torture inflicted by the contemporary so called working democratic systems of political governance? The UNO and its inept leadership has no plan to safeguard mankind from the coming of a Third World War.
Extreme ideologies undermine Peace and Human Unity for Sustainable Future
Those who grab political power by extreme ideologies and hateful manipulation are men of political intrigue assuming power through exploitation of fellow human beings and impose their absurdity on human consciousness striving for survival. Indian PM Narendra Modi recently visited the US to uplift his dubious public image as a leader. He spoke of peace and terrorism when he is actively engaged in oppressing the minorities across India -Sikh, Hindu, Muslims, Christians, violations of women rights and rape and waging a prolonged war against the people of Kashmir. Truth is One and the same unchanging as it was many centuries earlier.
Contrary to the historic India under Mughal Empire where ethnic diversities lived in harmony, we are seeing contemporary India denying equal human rights and freedom – a framework of extreme Hinduism ideology. The masses of Kashmir seek their rights to freedom, not forced captivity. How strange for over seventy years, corrupt Pakistani politicians never thought of an international conference on Kashmir? Pakistanis are abhorrent to critical thinking and criticism for political change. The one track military minds dominate the Pakistani so called political landscape and people are struggling to restore a sense of normalcy and lost credibility to nation’s survival. Unless there is a navigational change away from the military dictatorship to restore democracy, Pakistanis could end-up losing their national freedom.
Could Ukraine and Russia meet at a conference table for an immediate ceasefire and peace making? NATO and the EU are not working in a logical framework to have a dialogue with Russia or to stop the killings and displacement of civilians across Ukraine. Would America and Israel determine the future of the war torn Middle East? Several oil producing Arab leaders are complicit in failure of finding a peaceful resolution of Palestine – be it the East Jerusalem or the annexation of the West Bank. These puppets are mindless beings not living with the Arab people but in palaces under the CIA management. Israeli and Palestinian both live in mutual fear and moral and intellectual decadence. Had they believed in Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad and their teachings as Prophets of God- all trying to unite mankind before God, they should have reached a peace deal.
The PLO lacks intelligent and effective leadership to counteract Netanyahu whereas the Israeli’s problem rests with the right wing extreme leadership devoid of peace, morality and human equality. PM Netanyahu glued to the extreme right wing parties planning to annex the West Bank of Palestine into Israeli territory. The settlement goes on and wicked leaders simply call it against international law. As if Palestinians were not human beings but just digits and numbers. One would have hoped that thinking Israeli politicians will safeguard their own freedom and security and work out a peaceful settlement between the two nations. None of them could live in peace and harmony unless human rights, freedom and justice are respected by all the parties.
Could the Global Leaders Learn to be People-oriented, Effective and Peacemakers?
Despite many political and strategic odds, one cannot blame the Western industrialized nations for ignorance, human prejudice and sociol-economic disparities. Why has nobody else challenged the racial inequality and moral injustice? What did the Arabs or Muslims contribute to the changing pattern of global political affairs? Global humanity is a mix of all cultures and civilizations. The Arab-Muslim world failed to produce any leader of vision and intellectual integrity for the changing and complex global affairs of the 21st century. When Arabs leaders had proactive vision and intellect and human values, they articulated a unique civilization tolerant of diversity and varied cultural ethnicity in Andalucía (Spain) and built upon the unity of faith to nurture peaceful co-existence and human development. If you list the historic scientific, educational and technological discoveries and contributions of Muslim scholars, they are countless.
Do you know any other scientists or scholars whose textbooks were used continuously for five centuries in European medical schools? Or their scientific work translated into Latin, French, Deutch, English and other languages spoken across the world. Husain Abdullah Bu Ali Sina – Ibne–Sina (Avicenna – “Canon of Medicine” and “Book of Healing”), and Zakria Al-Razi (Russ), 10th century scientists and scholars. The Europeans changed their names to Avicenna and Russ so that nobody would recognize them as Muslim scholars. It is noted that Ibne Sina (Avicenna) alone discovered and authenticated 36 pharmaceutical formulas being used to this day. Marai Rosa Menocal (A Golden Reign of Tolerance: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, 2003), explains: The lessons of history, like the lessons of religion, sometime neglect examples of tolerance. A thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula, an enlightened vision of Islam had created the most advanced culture in Europe….In Cordoba, the library housed some 400,000 volumes at a time when the largest library in Latin Christendom probably held no more than 400.
Despite the sketchy illusions of freedom, democracy, human rights, liberty and justice, we are encroached, stuffed and at terrible risk of annihilation more accidental and by error of judgment than planned scheme of things by Man against Man. Often the extreme Western political propaganda inflamed hatred against colored and indigenous people, Islam and blames Muslims as being “terrorists.” David Floyd’s voice continues to echo – “I cannot breathe…I cannot breathe” across the global human consciousness. Often false propaganda, deception and prejudice are combined in a trajectory of plans to sell weapons and console the egoistic Arab leaders as allies of the Western military alliance. This political delusion is full of inherent inconsistencies. Gary Wills (What the Qur’an Meant and What It Matters. Viking, NY, 2017), a leading American scholar explains the reality in his new book:
Our enemy in this war is far less localizes than it was in World War 2 or the Cold War. Terror is a tool, not a country. Declaring a war on it is less like normal warfare, country versus country, there is No VE Day or VJ Day in such wars… living with fear is corrosive…the less we know about the reality of Islam, the more we will fight shadows and false emanations from our apprehension. Ignorance is the natural ally of fear. It is time for us to learn about the real Islam beginning with its source book – The Qur’an.
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Lambert Academic Publications, Germany, 12/2019.
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