Living in Denialistan

In addition to adhocism there is one other affliction that acts as anchors around our necks. I wrote about it here: Reactive Pakistan: The Pangs of Ad-hocism.

This other peer e tasma pa around the nation's neck is Denial. How many times have we seen a politician, a government honcho, a member of the civil society (that is you and me) stand up and accepted blame for the state of affairs?

It is as if we inherit a variation of NIMBY gene at birth.

East Pakistan, for which we have not apologised collectively, stands out. Our military and our government did not do anything that led to the irreconcilable differences leading to the separation. It is, you guessed it, Indian intervention.

The other province we ignore is Baluchistan. For the festering unrest there our list includes Israel, the UK, USA, and of course India. Not the federal honchos in Islamabad. (Digression: Guess who is demanding a cut of over 500 billion Rs. owed the Bugtis and other tribes for using their resources under agreed to agreements.)

FATA, FANA, Malakand, Swat...no, sir it is them. They arm and fund these guys. They are not, they cannot be, our own Muslim brothers. These are miscreants funded by them.

I am not saying other nations are saints, playing flute.

If the Army used the Taliban's to create mayhem in Kashmir to tie down 500,000 Indian troops and create mayhem there, then what do you think the Indians would do when they see a payback opportunity?

But who created the clime where families abandon their kids to the madressas? Or leave their homes? Or asked to return to their homes without any credible civil administration place? Who created the discriminatory Hudood Laws? Who aided and abetted the administration to muzzle minority rights? Who silently acquiesced and by default gave rise to the terminal cancers of fundamentalism?

And I am not absolving the so called silent majority of Pakistanis - or at least those of them who could stand up and be counted.

If the state cannot provide opportunities for the honest citizen to earn honest living, what is he or she to do?

Pakistan is governed by a carousel of elites - drawn from the Army, the feudal landlords (including those elites who are cursed with the feudal mindset), media moguls, business oligarchs and the wily bureaucrats and politicians.

These five temporal pillars comprise of: 1: The Army, 2: The Parliament, 3: The Executive, 4: The Judiciary and 5: The self appointed Media.

These divorced from reality billionaires, (oh how we would see them impartially audited for their wealth,) talk about the common man. How dare they.

It is these elites, living in bubbles, behind high walls, guarded by Kalashnikov carrying mercenaries, who come on the screen and tell media talking heads about external threats and dictation.

The media has its own agenda. The owners want to make as much money as possible by any means necessary. They play on the gullibility of their readers and viewers. They are biased, opinionated and haughtily consider themselves the fifth pillar.

(Wave them a foreign junket and they would vie with each other to grab it.)

So, go to sleep peacefully. The dead in Karachi, Lahore, Baluchistan, Waziristan, and the dying all over Pakistan are not due to our shortcomings. They are due to the machinations of the US, India, Israel, and... please correct me if I missed anyone.