Ever since the ghastly assassination attempt,
Mr. Shaukat Aziz reportedly is confirmed in his belief
that the hand of Providence saved his life, so that he
accomplishes something big.
The people who believe in destiny are
the ones to show resolve and courage to do something spectacular.
Unless he is overtaken by a misplaced feeling of divine
authority, the nation should attach high hopes Shaukat
would deliver.
Shaukat Aziz has vowed to put in relentless
hard work, competence and devotion to serve the best interests
of the nation. Ever since he was designated to the job,
he has been disseminating message of hope and optimism.
He wants to make the country another Malaysia, where he
had seen and helped Mahathir Mohammad to lead his nation
to progress and prosperity.
Shaukat Aziz has been elevated to country’s
top political office. Of course political experience cannot
be manufactured. You have to undergo it. But two days
of his engagements and pronouncements in the National
Assembly, have reinforced the view that he is set to become
a mere glorified finance minister.
The parameters of his authority and scope
have been tightly predetermined and he has no desire to
break lose. Had he been a free agent, he would not have
let his start tainted and tarnished by the Hashmi episode.
It left a bad taste and put Shaukat in even worse light.
His friends say it was distasteful and not to Shaukat’s
liking, but he was too timid to prevent it.
The abominable way the speaker acted,
on his own or so ordained, did no good to Shaukat Aziz.
He did not even prevent Zahid Hamid and Dr. Sher Afgan
to oppose on his behalf, Hashmi’s candidature in
the first place and then bar his presence in the House
at the time of election.
Sher Afgan is a loose canon. His support
or opposition is equally infectious and odious which must
be avoided. During the debate on the 8th Amendment in
1985 assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan read out from excerpts
of speeches in praise of Gen. Zia by a leading critic
of the amendment, delivered earlier in Shura. Everybody
in the hall knew who was being quoted.
But Sher Afgan rose from his seat, showered
invectives against the critic and insisted that Nisar
must expose that “rogue”. Haji Saifullah was
sitting in the lobby and rushed to the House. “Here
is your leader, these were his speeches,“ Nisar
told Afgan. To this writer, Haji’s comment was:
”What could you with such nadan dosts (unwise friends)”.
The dreary, drab and monotonous speech
in acceptance of the confidence vote was devoid of any
sound bytes and as uninspiring as his budget speech, of
which the latest one appeared to be a rehash. Though this
time it was slightly less ill-delivered, Aziz failed to
spell out his promised vision and only expanded on programs
and schemes already in force.
He spoke, there was eerie silence from
empty benches on his right. Those behind his back and
on the left benches did not matter, as they would clap
and applaud anyone and everyone. “Deputy Commissioner
Zindabad, whosoever he is”, as one friend said.
Yet they too looked yawning as the speech
went on and on with endless list of future ‘projects’
that hardly interested anybody. The only time they woke
up when he promised them development funds or vowed to
retain and strengthen the nuclear program. The first because
it was self-serving and the latter as it evoked memories
of that famous visit to KRL in June last year, prior to
US visit, not allowed earlier even to elected premiers.
One is tempted to throw to winds the trite
habit of always shifting to the wrong side of every incoming
savior, and incurring his wrath. Perhaps it is time to
dispatch an urgent request to the inimitable and so original
Abbas Athar for a place in his fantastic ‘Shaukat
Corner’. I wonder if it is already not brimful and
the Shahji has not been cornered by the proverbial Baddu’s
camel.
Shaukat, they say, does not mind criticism,
though in both his speeches he laid great stress on qualifying
it with the cliché - “constructive”.
It is thus time to overlook the thin line between “positive”
criticism and flattery and sycophancy. Our rulers hear
what they want to hear and see what they want to see.
If that were not so, Shaukat Aziz would
not have kept in glass frames the “positive”
criticism (or approbation), howsoever honest, by some
dear friends of mine. Nor would he have taken to his heart
the non-constructive (or destructive) scrutiny of hacks,
(once again to borrow an expression often used by a colleague)
like this scribe.
The first set of “critics”
he does not forget to invite to join his celebrations.
To the other, his message is:”I can forgive, but
I will not forget.”election, he started his speech
with a Quranic prayer to stay on path of truth. One hopes
it is not the path of truth Gen. Zia had chosen. In an
interview, he cited his question to British premier James
Callaghan as to the secret of his success in politics.
“Trust your people and always speak the truth, Callaghan
told me, and I always follow that advice.”
Shaukat ended his speech after the vote
of confidence with promises to do so much good that “people
will pray for us.” He better not repose that much
trust in the efficacy of the prayers of our wretched people.
He was able to do so much good for himself while staying
thousands of miles away from them during most of his career.
In 5 years as finance minister, he was too cozy in the
elite company of friends in corporate sector and elsewhere,
to think of those at the bottom of the swamp.
Just when he almost came close to these
untouchables at the stump in by-elections, the suicide
bomber blew him into the bunker (like his boss), so as
no more even to be seen by the people.
One is reminded of an episode in the 70s.
The ‘Riasti” belt of Bahawalpur, escaped the
Bhutto deluge and threw up Bahawalpur Suba front in elections.
Allama Rehmatullah Arshad led a delegation of the front
with a litany of demands to governor Mustafa Khar who
generously conceded all.
“Allama Sahib, I granted all your
requests, but what will you give us in return?”
Khar asked. “Malik Sahib, what can we poor people
give you except our prayers?’ said the Allama.
“Allama Sahib, if your prayers were
heard, we would not have been sitting here today,”
Khar quipped.
