Pakistan - 'Can our leaders think?'

Ghazi Salahuddin

That Shaikh Rashid clip from Imran Khan’s rally in Nankana Sahib reverberated in talk shows this week. What a command performance it appears to be. An instructive piece of our political theatre. But does it reflect a plan to incite violence and create popular disorder in the country in the wake of the promised November 30 ‘assault’ on Islamabad?

Indeed, Imran Khan himself has stated that if his demands are not accepted by then, the present government would not be able to function after that show of people’s power. In that sense, we have another deadline to contend with. Thanks to the electronic media’s obsession with politics, a lot of excitement and suspense is likely to be generated in our living rooms.

The big question, however, is whether Imran Khan has a game plan to win his ‘naya’ Pakistan and does he know what it would look like? Where, for instance, would Shaikh Rashid belong in that arrangement? How many long marches, ‘dharnas’ and large public meetings do a revolution make? Or will it all end up in a heightened cycle of unrest, disorder and sporadic violence in the public sphere?

Irrespective of how one probes these issues, I am worried about the state of our society and how it has been brutalised by extremism and intolerance and obscurantism. And our politicians do not seem to have any time to look at these formidable barriers to social change. Insaf is what Imran Khan talks about all the time. But what about social justice and an ideological framework in which ‘the wretched of the earth’ can achieve their rights and their dignity?

This limitation is not restricted to one party or one leader, of course. Our entire political class seems unwilling to confront the antagonistic contradictions of our society. There are issues that cannot be tackled in the present environment of intolerance and bigotry. Then, in a collective sense, we do not apparently have the intellectual resources to build a ‘naya’ Pakistan. It is in this respect that I invoked the mindless harangue served at the PTI rally.

What I am attempting to argue is that Pakistan cannot move ahead without becoming more literate, more civilised, more human and more egalitarian. We obviously pay little heed to our moral and intellectual deprivations. Our leaders do not talk about culture and arts and institutions that promote higher values in society. Some of them do have pretensions of being highly educated but our leaders will not be found talking about books and ideas. They do not betray any knowledge of literature and history and the dynamics of social change.

In recent weeks and months, we have had two leaders breathing fire: Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, though Tahirul Qadri has packed up his ‘dharna’. They are the ones who have sought popular support for their brand of change. Imran Khan has earned more credibility for his campaign and there were hints some time ago that his message was getting across to an increasing number of urban, middle-class youth.

What would you gather if you were to compile the speeches made by the two leaders for an understanding of their worldview and philosophy? Will those speeches project a thinking mind with a set of well-tuned policies stated in a popular idiom to educate the people? Do those speeches respond to the dreams and desires of the ordinary citizens of Pakistan? You may have some idea of this when you listen to the next speech of Imran Khan.

Perhaps we should not be worried too much about what may happen on and after November 30 because we have survived many similar deadlines. Tahirul Qadri had a greater sense of drama in this respect. Remember his act with the shroud? Imran Khan, though, was not far behind. One high point, early in his ‘dharna’ serial, was his proclamation of civil disobedience. Setting his electricity bill aflame was also a dramatic moment. His nightly performance, with the television cameras looking only in one direction, has become a routine. Are these the omens of a revolutionary upheaval?

When I talk about our cultural and intellectual deficits, I think specifically of our poor reading habits. We just do not read books and do not understand the value of dreams and ideas. And our leaders do not at all seem to be concerned about these things. In fact, one reason I have broached this subject is that I was reading on Friday the internet edition of The Guardian and there was this blog on ‘Love letters to Libraries’.

The write-up is based on the news that the city of Liverpool cancelled the closure of 11 of its 18 libraries following protesta – and a ‘love letter’ – by 500 writers, actors, artists, musicians, illustrators and educators. Can we have as many writers, artists and educators to demand the opening of at least one proper public library in Karachi – a city that exemplifies the consequences of the intellectual poverty of a people?

It is true that libraries and large bookshops are in danger after increasing digitisation of reading and of media. But reading habits have not declined and libraries are still protected by municipal authorities in developed societies. We were never acquainted with the idea that libraries play a special role in the cultural life of a community. Our universities are as barren in an intellectual context as Thar is in some other respects. The casualties we suffer on our campuses may be more tragic in the long run than the deaths of little children in Thar.

Do our leaders talk about the importance of learning and of building an intellectual infrastructure when they propose their vision of a new Pakistan? By the way, all our emerging leaders want to be a Bhutto. But ZAB was one leader who read books and dreamt dreams. I have various statistical measures to show how poorly literate we are and how impoverished we are in attributes of culture and civilisation. There are bound to be many different reasons why we are so backward in learning and creativity. Is being a Muslim society one of them?

With reference to our reading habits, I like to mention a lecture given last year by British author Neil Gaiman. It explained why using our imagination, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens. The title of the lecture says it all: “Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming”. By this measure, we are not even entitled to a future.

Let me conclude with this quotation of Jorge Luis Borges: “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library”.