“Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There’s nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys; renown, and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.”
Shakespeare: ‘Macbeth’
I must confess that I have had a fair inkling of this for a long time, but I was constantly fighting the realisation that a society could actually be in awe of crime and its perpetrators, and that its members would do whatever may be needed to mould themselves after their heroes in the seedy world of vice.
The felicity with which crime is committed and the manner in which the act is defended, even eulogised with victory signs, is both humiliating and mind-boggling. It is a sordid spectacle which is enacted virtually on a daily basis, but there is this something within which would still like to believe that all this that one watches on a routine basis is a mirage, and that it actually does not happen in real life.
While the government is trying to establish the rule of law and make justice accessible to the poor people, the ones who are disinclined have started a process to pave the way for the dons to come back into contention. This is just about as far as depravity can stretch. This is as far as degeneration can soak in. In such a situation, it becomes incumbent upon the people to speak out – for silence in such circumstances would be criminal. The hour cometh!
The Sharif and Bhutto-Zardari clans have been known commodities with a retinue of minor operators who are all soaked in the juices of corruption of a myriad variety. Instead of singling them out and shaming them, a bulk of the society has taken to emulating them as their leaders and patrons. For some it may be corruption of greed as their lust for piling on mounds of pelf is incorrigible. Such people usually hail from the tribe of the beneficiary elite who control the channels of power and who are perched in positions to bend things either way to make room for their silver coins. For others, it could be termed as corruption of need which is driven by the impoverishment and marginalisation of communities who are constantly struggling, barely surviving on the edge. They have been cruelly badgered and bludgeoned by those who are all swollen with feeding on the state largesse.
This process is as old as the state, but its intensity has amplified with time. In olden times, the social customs would demand that the corrupt are singled out. With the passage of time, the ones who do not indulge the luxury of corruption are dubbed the odd ones. The drift of the society has changed direction towards legitimising the act of making easy money by all means possible. While we are eager to point fingers at others, one seldom finds someone who is willing to look inwards for even a cursory evaluation of where we would stand on the scale of gauging corruption and our personal affliction with the bounty.
Take the case of the Sharifs. The retinue of their cronies and sycophants, some of them claiming to have studied at reputable institutions here and abroad, are doggedly busy defending their corruption, day after day, morning stretching to night to morning. These leaders face multiple criminal charges. Some of them have also been convicted while others are absconders. Instead of convincing their leaders to come back and defend themselves in the courts of law, false narratives are spun to hoodwink people that they are innocent and are being targeted as part of political victimisation. It is like a sickening circus of people who are denuded of their last shred of shame, dignity and self-respect. Since their political survival is linked with that of their leaders, they believe that they don’t have an option but to defend them and facilitate their passage back in the annals of power. The concept of anything being right or wrong escapes them as they remain deeply engrossed in planning to further expand the net of corruption and induce others to join their ranks.
The Bhutto-Zardari clan is the other main operator in the realm of corruption. For over 40 years, they have been selling the dead body of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and later also of Benazir to remain politically relevant among the illiterate and impoverished communities in rural Sindh. Keeping in mind the reign of terror which they have unleashed, no one dare ask them about the fulfilment of their slogans promising food, clothes and shelter. As the stalwarts of the clan kept getting richer by forcibly taking over properties they set their sights on, the ordinary people only became more impoverished and more dependent on their throw-away morsels. They will go to any extent to continue keeping people enslaved in rosy promises which they know will never be realised. Their lives have been spent in the hope of better days only to see even the bits they own snatched away cruelly from their grasp.
The established fact remains that the grip of the cruel is tightening with time around the necks of the needy. Generations of poor tillers have been mortgaged with the landowners who may do with them as their whims may dictate. While the rich face no checks to contain their cruelty, the poor have no avenues to seek justice. Everything is sold for a price by the corrupt and the powerful which usually comes in the shape of shared profit, exclusively of the illicit kind. Contracts are sold for a price. Justice is sold for a price. Equality and equity are fancy words. Police, bureaucracy and other functionaries at positions of power have a price tag to do their job. Even demanding your inalienable right as contained in the statute book will entail a cost as, otherwise, you will remain deprived of your dreams and your possessions. No forum will be available where you could agitate your deprivations and the injustices done to you. You will be surrounded by deaf people with a vulture-like gaze, forever ready to pounce upon you to take away any remnants that you may still be left with.
It is moral depravity. It is societal degradation. It is people caught up in a web of deceit and deception who cannot find a way out to weigh their options. Their life is ordained by those who boast of unlimited power which they have secured by using fraudulent tactics and methods. The fact is that some of the people control the reins of power while others are victims of their captivity. It is as if they have no control over their lives. They may moan and cry, but there is no one paying heed. They are all entangled in unwieldy webs. They are all victims of an unjust system which has been contrived to hold a nation hostage. So far, it has worked to its optimal effect. The future, too, looks bleak with little hope that they may, after all, be able to find a way out into freedom.
The Sharifs, the Bhutto-Zaradaris, and their junior partners in the sprawling world of crime have had it all their way. Having come this far, they are absolutely determined to ensure that no one will have the power to take it away from them. They have erected their personal fiefdoms which are insulated from the reach of the law. They live in a protected environment where no one dare cast a threatening glance. They have the goodies in abundance to buy everything that matters, including justice.
In order to further legitimise the world of crime, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has moved a petition before the apex court to resuscitate the political career of Nawaz Sharif – the don of the world of corruption in the country who was barred for lifetime from politics in the Panama Papers case. This comes when the government has announced a set of revolutionary reforms in the criminal justice system. The proposed amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Law of Evidence, Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and some other laws have set a time limit of nine months for completion of criminal trials. The amendments would simplify the procedures for the common man to secure justice. This has been a long-standing demand of the people in a country where cases have a tradition of dragging on for generations without an outcome.
While the government is trying to establish the rule of law and make justice accessible to the poor people, the ones who are disinclined have started a process to pave the way for the dons to come back into contention. This is just about as far as depravity can stretch. This is as far as degeneration can soak in. In such a situation, it becomes incumbent upon the people to speak out – for silence in such circumstances would be criminal. The hour cometh!
