Monday, October 29

Musharraf and Bhutto - third-rate father and a fourth-rate mother

Cowasjee is one of the most respected commentators in Pakistan and for him to say this is a deep matter of shame.

Musings on a Saturday morning

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

FOR many decades, having resolved to never again allow my mind to boggle over anything that may happen, or anything that may be said, or anything that may be done in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I must admit to having been close to defeat yesterday.
On the front page of Dawn, which comes to those who count on each of our dreary national mornings (those who do not count merely yawn), we were told that chairperson for life of the Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto, ‘former prime minister of Pakistan’ as she is now styled by all and sundry, had sent a legal notice to Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim for allegedly defaming her. Rash Rahim had publicly stated what today cannot be stated, ‘that Ms Bhutto had plundered wealth of around Rs90bn and that she must return the amount’.
This, according to the legal notice sent to Rahim by Benazir’s lawyer, is a ‘wild and false allegation’ aimed at ‘character assassination’, it is a ‘false and fabricated allegation’ which has ‘disreputed and defamed’ Benazir’s reputation.
Now, Benazir is well acquainted with the works of William Shakespeare and of the tragedy of Othello. The Moor, at one point, whilst Iago is convincing him of his wife’s infidelity, cries out: ‘Reputation, reputation, reputation! O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!’With no desire to dilute the gravity of the matter of the alleged defamation as reported by this newspaper of record, founded by none other than that man of great perspicacity, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, to quote again from the news item: ‘The notice informed Mr Rahim that the damage caused to Ms Bhutto could be compensated only by publishing an apology in newspapers...’ — at this stage one must pause and wonder. An apology for what? For repeating what has been repeated hundreds of times in the national and international press. And to continue: ‘…and by payment of compensation of Rs100m which would be given to charitable organisations in the country’.
The plunder may not quite be to the tune of the alleged Rs90bn — the $1.5bn that is the standard figure quoted by the governments that have succeeded Benazir and their various agencies, and the media, and with which we are all familiar — but one may ask Benazir that of that amount, or of a lesser or greater amount, how much has been donated to charity?
Seasoned counsel Farooq Naek must be admired for his tenacity, for the manner in which he battles on, and on, regardless. However, this matter of the defamation may be too weighty for him to carry alone and he may perhaps consider enlisting the help of that eminent jurist Fakhruddin Ebrahim, and borrowing from the legal and political wisdom he has acquired over the years.
At this stage of the national game, it must be admitted that the chances of the coming to pass of the prophecy of our Founder Maker are bright indeed. For the betting man, the advice is, put all your money on the probability that, as Mr Jinnah once told a young friend, “you will see that each government of Pakistan will be worse than the preceding one.”
A welcome addition to this newspaper is the weekly column by Kamran ‘Mickey’ Shafi, my good friend. He is, as all who know him know, endowed with a good sense of humour — in this land of ours, a rare and admirable quality. Years ago, when once discussing with him the affairs of the PPP and the part he played, he admitted to total dedication. If Benazir asked him to wash her car, he said, he would do so. When asked what then — he said he would continue to wash the vehicle until told by Benazir to cease doing so. The possibility now is, with him being highly critical of his leader’s latest alliance, that he would not grab the chamois leather with his past alacrity.
In Mickey’s veins flows the blood of an eminent statesman, his grandfather, Sir Mohammad Shafi, and his father, Iqbal (Iqi) who was of a kind that is no more made in this fraught world. Whenever Mickey springs to mind, with fondness I am reminded of Iqi, a shipping man, who had a habit of repeating himself thrice. When Iqi was asked how he was, before one could get to the matter at hand, his reply was likely to be ‘very busy, very busy, very busy, pal, snowed under, snowed under, snowed under’.
One day in 1973, soon after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, president of Pakistan and its first civilian martial law administrator, had decided to step down and anoint himself as the democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan, news had it that he was casting his eye around for a suitable person to appoint as his president. His mind’s eye had alighted upon Begum Shahnawaz, Iqi’s sister. I rang Iqi immediately to ask him whether she was still alive as I had not heard of her for decades. Yes, but very long in the tooth, I was told. Then it could be true, I said, that Zulfikar intends to install her in the presidential palace. Yes, yes, yes, pal, very true, very true, very true.
She qualifies, she cannot see, she cannot hear, she cannot speak. She qualifies, she qualifies, she qualifies.
Iqi’s dreams of glory soon faded. He rang four days later to tell me that there was bad news, pal, bad news, bad news. Unfortunately his sister had regained her hearing. It was Fazal Elahi Chaudhry who had qualified and who managed to survive the Bhutto days.
To end, we come to the issue of those who are now destined to misrule over this country. Long ago, in Bombay there lived a Parsi by the name of Dinshaw Daji, a solicitor and a partner in Sir Jamshedji Kanga’s firm, Payne & Co, which has nurtured many a legal giant (or ‘joint’ as some of our dialects have it) — Palkhiwalla, Narriman, Sorabjee to name but three. Daji was engaged by a young Parsi wishing to divorce his wife. The custody of a young son had to be considered. My father, a friend of the family, went to Daji. Dinshaw, he asked, please ensure that the child’s custody is given to the father.
Rustom, replied Daji, after examining all the documents the judge is going to have a damned hard time deciding this matter. He will have to choose between a third-rate father and a fourth-rate mother.
Such is the fate of the democratic Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
arfc@cyber.net.pk

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