Side-effect (Crossroads)

Source: The News

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=213891

Friday, December 18, 2009

Harris Khalique

 

Pakistan is at a crossroads in a way it never has been. If it were only a military threat, there could have been a military solution. If it were a question of extending economic opportunities or sharing political power with an insurgent group, a somewhat simpler political solution could have been sought. But the nation is not only confused and fragmented about its foundations but also about the way forward from here when it comes to the role of religion in the functioning of the state. The crisis of identity withstanding, the crisis of ideology has never been sharper since 1971. Some of us including Wajahat Masood see it as a result of our inability as a country to resolve the fundamental issues of class, autonomy of federating units, and finally democratic dispensation in politics. In his latest book, "Taliban Ya Jamhuriyat: Pakistan Dorahay Par" (Taliban or Democracy: Pakistan at a Crossroads), he has discussed contemporary political developments within and outside Pakistan and their cascading effect on the society in which we live.

 

Wajahat Masood discusses the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's brutal murder, the inability and limitations of mainstream political parties to deliver, the elite-capture of the state, the role of military in Pakistani politics for the last 50 years, dictatorships, threats to democracy and the current tussle between the state of Pakistan and the Taliban – both at the physical and ideological levels. He has a recipe for coming out of this quagmire, rooted in a deep historic analysis and knowledge about the experience of other nations in similar (not the same) chaotic situations. The good thing about this collection of articles or columns by Masood is the expanse that he offers to his reader. From a small happening in Islamabad of 2008 to what happened in medieval Europe, Masood brings together Pakistan's contemporary political history in the backdrop of international political experiences over the ages.

 

Masood is a good friend and I feel like praising him not just because he is a friend. He deserves to be praised for his clarity of thought, lucidity of language and the courage to speak up and be counted. He is both a foot soldier and a commander in fighting this battle of ideas against oppression, bigotry and ignorance. His remarkable work for raising consciousness about human rights in rural Pakistan through his writing, training and lecturing reflects on his commitment to translate his ideas into practice. I particularly praise him for writing and compiling this collection in Urdu. This understanding comes when you work with the common people of Pakistan and genuinely relate to their issues and sufferings. All new information or credible analysis about Pakistan continues to appear in English these days. There is nothing wrong if some find it easier to write in English but these works need to be translated, which sometimes happens but mostly doesn't. In English, we find many interesting articles, analyses, comments and books on both history and contemporary politics, some journalistic and some academic. Masood has a style and while he writes in an understandable journalistic fashion in Urdu, his analysis is laced with evidence and his take is academic and historically informed. This is the kind of writing we need in Urdu and other national languages of Pakistan.

 

Coming to the recipe Masood offers, it is revisiting and revising the national narrative and totally detaching clergy from the affairs of the state, democracy in both political process and social order, and finally equity and justice for all. Nothing short of that will save us.

The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk. org