Frontier post editor has it right. Mullahs are worse than other politicians.
Repulsive doubletalk of Mullahs
A repulsive doubletalk If you are listening to the incessant chant of the holy men ruling this province of the NWFP, you are just left aghast at the amount of volubility they churn out every day against the “interference” of the army in politics and in civilian affairs. Their two head priests are presently on a pilgrimage in London, huddling up with the steelmaker of Lahore in pursuit of this sacred “mission”. The other day, they teamed up with the steelmaker to hammer out a declaration for the return of true democracy and civilian rule to the people back home. The two saints were indeed in the forefront of the composers who plugged in that bombastic declaration a pledge for ending the army’s intervention in civilian affairs of the state and for its withdrawal to the barracks to keep confined to its constitutional duty of guarding the country’s frontiers. Yet at the time they were frantically chasing this saintly avocation in London, their holy flocks back home in the NWFP were plumping for inviting the army to deal with the troublemakers in Swat. Could there be a greater duplicity then this? Isn’t handling the mischievous elements a job of the provincial civilian law-enforcement agencies, not of the army? Or is it that this holy clan debunks the army’s role when it considers it politically beneficial and expedient, and goes for it when it finds that the going is rough and tough? What else could it be? Yet, this tribe can look a bit real and respectable if it puts an end to its detestable habit of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds and instead do the job it is in the government for and which it is falteringly failing to do so far. Whatever construct it may put on it, the fact is that the provincial cabinet’s decision to call the army even as a last resort to quell the troubles in Swat is an open confession of the holy clan of its incompetence, its ineptitude and its ineffectualness. And for this, none but it itself has squarely to blame. It may not have had an adequate civilian security apparatus at its command for combating lawlessness and for maintaining law and order on its domain. Yet, it was not all paupers either. The apparatus at its beck and call was not that inadequate, after all. And if it had been compunctious and dutiful enough in utilising that uniformed force purely for the protection of the people’s safety of lives and security of their properties, it would have done it to a great measure, if not to the fullest extent. But it was not. It has had shelled out the bulk of its police force on the guard duties of its battalions of ministers, aides, advisors, its favourite nazims and political, public and religious figures. And that, too, when quite a chunk of its paramilitaries were deployed outside in other provinces, which had not been returned to it, in spite of its persistent representations to Islamabad. In order to make up on the deficiency of the police force, it did launch into a recruitment drive of sorts. But here, too, the clan was lesser than saintly in recruitment, the ghastly shows of which have left the residents of Peshawar and Abbottabad dazzled with the dishonesty of the recruiters. All the nominees of the privileged were taken in; all the deserving sons of the commoners were left out. Now wonder, the province throughout is in such a frightening state of crime, lawlessness and violence. It is not just the settled districts adjoining the tribal areas that are in the vicious grip of a burgeoning Talibanisation. The rest of the province is no paradise of peace, calm and tranquility, either. Criminality of all sorts is virtually in a binge everywhere. Nowhere now people feel safe for their lives or their properties. Fear of the criminal stalks all over the province. And extremism is raising its head all over dreadfully. Will then the holy clan call the army everywhere to check the crime and lawlessness for it, while it itself will keep munching on juicy fruits and sampling on spicy foods. There is a limit even to hypocrisy and doubletalk. Perhaps, in its intoxication of power this holy clan has forgotten this. For once for a change, can this holy tribe become a bit upright and straight? It would do it no harm; but it may bring some comfort and some ease to the harried people of this province. So why should this clan of the holy men grudge even this little mercy to these tormented souls?