Pakistan: PMLN'S Gullu Butt: Dangerous minds

Andleeb Abbas

What can be more tragic than the fact that the very institution, which is supposed to protect and provide security to the masses against attacks and crimes, is itself being dubbed as the biggest security hazard to the people of this country?

Gullu Butt truly represents what ails this society. Normally, in our stories or plays, there is a character who does not only develop a repute for being renowned for some comical satire but also some message that he conveys due to his silly behaviour. This character is usually benign and is used to give a refreshing break to the story. In our older plays, Gullu Badshah was such a character. However, the Gullu Butt that we have seen in the media in the last few days is more like the henchman of the big bad villain that we see in movies who perfects the art of carrying out the nefarious designs of his lord and master with ruthless authority and arrogance. The tragedy is that, unlike the henchmen in the movies who work for dons in the underworld and partake in underhanded activities to break the law, Gullu Butt was aided, abetted and applauded in daylight by state police with absolutely no inhibition for the atrocious crimes that he was committing. This daylight, recorded evidence of the power of the powerful and the complete helplessness of the powerless is a chilling reminder of the times we are going through.

While the evidence of being in the information age is given by the way Gullu Butt has become a household name in the matter of a few hours, the evidence of still being in the stone age is given by the complete absence of any protection against the belief that might is right. That is why the combination of tools and technology that have instant spread value with mindsets that are primitive is so dangerous as it shows and inspires people to disbelieve that any right, whether human or legal, can ever triumph over any wrong that is inhuman and illegal.

Thus the debate starts that democracy and its systems are eventually subject to the people who run them. Like they say: it is the man behind the gun or, more figuratively, it is the man behind the danda (stick) who wields the power to make a mockery of any system that is created in books by men who believe more in the power of the pen rather than the power of the gun. The sad thing is that state institutions are all being discredited by this systematic process of handing them over to people who are neither competent nor capable to run the institution. The systematic politicisation of institutions has made them appear ‘anti-people’. What can be more tragic than the fact that the very institution, which is supposed to protect and provide security to the masses against attacks and crimes, is itself being dubbed as the biggest security hazard to the people of this country? This is not the first time that institutions have been reduced to a mockery. We have seen that happen to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), we have seen that happen to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and now we see that happen to the police.

The initial investigation of the Model Town incident also reveals the same pattern of putting people in and taking people out on “who obeys the ruler more than who obeys the rule” code of behaviour. The Inspector General (IG) was removed a few days before this incident despite the fact that he was due for retirement in a few months. The basis of this removal or change will go down in the report as early retirement but we all know, due to the information age, that the real reason was his willingness and loyalty to carry out the Model Town operation may not have been comparable to his successor. This change at the top normally sends a very strong message all the way down: those who do not want to comply will have no future. Thus the choice is either ‘you change or you will be changed’.

While external security may be a matter for the armed forces to take up, without the presence of a capable police force, their combined force to counter the external force is definitely weakened. Sindh is a classic example of where the police have become a spectator in the armed brawls of various parties who openly have their militant wings, which are more powerful than our own security forces. Due to the unwritten quota system of putting their own people in positions that matter in the police by each party, crime and target killings have completely ruined the Dubai-like potential of our commercial hub in Karachi. As a result, the Rangers have been called in to help but have gradually become helpless as the gangsters of the city exploiting the disengaged and disabled ranks of our police departments and constant changes based on party loyalties have made Karachi an easy target for target killers. The previous IG Sindh, in a suo motu appearance in the Supreme Court (SC) admitted that as many as 50 top posts were based on who knows what rather than any merit. In this scenario, a Gullu Butt leading the charge of the police brigade may be bizarre for people watching television but perfectly normal for our political leaders.

Eventually, philosophy is subject to psychology. Capitalism or communism, democracy or autocracy is not just holding the book of the constitution in our hand or conducting elections every five years, but a state of mind, a way of thinking and then actually behaving accordingly, making the power of the ordinary people greater than the people in power. We have known autocrats in Egypt who, in the past and even now, are carrying out elections but we also know their intent is to, under the guise of democracy, carry out their autocratic designs. Leaders in this country are also prone to this infection of democracy hypocrisy where they claim to have sacrificed their lives for democracy but their lifestyles, their conduct, their approach all belie this claim. The danger of this pretend democracy is that the unaware mind of the simple public then starts feeling that maybe democracy is not the right answer to their problems and that then gives space to autocrats to step in. Thus, the biggest danger to democracy is the mindset of the rulers whose inability to practice what they preach creates a huge distrust not only in their own character and standing but also in the system that allows such people to repeatedly degrade and destroy the spirit by which each citizen is empowered to make the leaders accountable to his/her rights.