A sign of the times

“We have been turned into a frightened society; democratic values and rule of law are not rooted firmly in our collective consciousness; [and the] education system promotes extremism. In such a milieu, frequent rabble-rousing, widespread fake news and vilifying and slander, supported by warriors of hashtag activism, pave the way for moving towards a totalitarian state…”

Thus wrote a learned reader of the article published last week in this column space. He could not have been more to-the-point in expressing what has become a national disease of epidemic proportions.

The Rao Anwar episode, which unfolded after the above-cited comment was sent, has brought out yet another dimension of the same problem: role-modelling rouges and state patronage of totalitarian figures who treat the law with contempt and find themselves in key positions because of that. From an SHO to the mysterious character accused of hundreds of extrajudicial killings – who could disappear right before the eyes of the mighty and totally intrusive intelligence agencies at will and thumb his nose at the Supreme Court – the man, through his actions and the support he got from the system, can one day find his way into our curriculum as a legend. (Don’t count that out totally. We saw chapters on Gen Pervez Musharraf’s mother in history books during his rule.)

Rao Anwar’s alleged misdeeds have not moved anyone in high places to spend sleepless nights. He has been treated with due propriety, with CJ Saqib Nisar repeatedly calling him to the court and adjusting the court’s stance on him several times to somehow convince him to get out of his Wi-Fi-active hideout. These concessions and conciliatory conduct from the mighty court that is generally resonating with words like “thief”, “dacoit”, “mafia” for lesser mortals and leaves little to imagination in reminding everyone how terribly hurtful its powers to punish are, have to be considered extraordinary for a man who potentially carries a lot of innocent blood on his hands.

More accolades have followed from former president Asif Ali Zardari, who called him a “brave son” who survived the days of Altaf Raj – remember the endless body count in Karachi that all our great protectors of humanity, democracy, and national interest witnessed silently and even protected against investigation and prosecution? The PPP’s kingmaker minced no words in backing the SSP – missing till the writing of these lines – and almost hugged him in his absence.

There hasn’t been any noise or fury about the missing man from the army leadership as well and we have not heard a word about this matter. Usually we do get a good dose of commitment to ‘ensure justice’ and ‘full support’ on most matters making news. The Zainab murder, essentially a local crime, did evoke passionate commitments and much concern but on this count, well, nothing. Elsewhere, the opposition, the PTI is too busy insisting that in spite of the horrendous death count in police encounters in Karachi alone since 2011, the killings in Punjab (just as despicable) need to be investigated and those held responsible (read: Shehbaz Sharif) must be hanged. Imran Khan’s busy Twitter account is happily silent on the Rao Anwar issue.

All of this is the practical equivalent of a big ‘endorsement’. The system endorses Rao Anwar. It finds little wrong with him. If it were not for the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud (who happened to be a Mehsud) and the subsequent organised protest by the tribe’s representatives that started to get resonance in Afghanistan and India, there is every possibility that Rao Anwar would still be on duty in Malir and being lionised by the state and all its organs, and wowed by society. He could well have been on his way to promotion, lining up his bank accounts and continuing with his Dubai trips for leisure. If it weren’t for that one killing, post-retirement he could well have imagined himself to be in the Senate on a PPP ticket or landing himself some lucrative assignment in some government department.

The state and its organs have absolutely no problem with killing, murder, mayhem, deceit, lies, fraud and all and any such actions – as long as these are done for them or for whatever cause they might want to take up. Breaking the law becomes problematic only when the privilege of the state or of its organs somehow gets challenged or threatened. Otherwise, characters like Rao Anwar are total heroes of the system and of the state that runs the system.

To be fair to him, he doesn’t share the entire blame for what he is accused of doing. He survived in a killing field where his colleagues perished at the hands of Karachi’s killers. That could not have happened with prayers alone. He needed protectors and backers to have made it through the jungle. He seems to have picked the right ones. Then on the ladder of violence he must have seen all forms of terror paying off handsomely – especially those forms that are perpetrated for an authoritarian state, which first allows crimes to flourish since they serve its cause, and then attempt to clean them up because it no longer needs that cause.

He must have also seen how politicians, judges, business community, media houses all kneel and bow to the gods of torture and assassination, and how irrelevant slogans like ‘Quaid’s Pakistan’ are. The fact that he saw all of this happen in the city of the Quaid, around the founder’s mausoleum, must have been the ultimate negation of the idea that the state wants the country to become anything even remotely resembling the great man’s vision. So he went about his business, merrily knocking out who came in his way, and developed credentials that the authoritarian state wanted and a subservient, supine society happily digested.

The Rao business, if we can call his work that, had the highest profit premium in the shortest possible time – with maximum power and endless privilege; no-questions-asked was the precondition of doing this business. The state role-modelled him, and he took it like duck to water. There are many others that are already in the same line of work and willing to step into his shoes. And why would they not? They are the Viking warriors of a system that is unable and unwilling to deal with crime and punishment through an open and transparent process because all such processes reveal the ugly deeds of the system. From Balochistan to Fata to Karachi to Lahore to Swat, Rao Anwars are needed to do the dirty jobs littering the land because of the dirty projects that the state continues to create to retain its stranglehold over resources, people and power.

Rao Anwar is a role model of our age. He is the sign of the times we live in. He is a man that the deep state deeply respects and society reveres. His type is in great demand, and the supply will never be short. It will be interesting to see how he is treated by the law that he was trained to hold in contempt because the law was so weak and his task was so tough.

But for now his entire professional life is monument to the power that flows from the barrel of the gun. If you learn to pull the trigger the right way, the sky is the limit. That is the lesson he teaches us. Soon some of us will be teaching our children this lesson too. Such is the situation we find ourselves in. Such are the realities that surround us. Hail Rao. The law is an ass; it only kicks the weak.

The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV.

Email: syedtalathussain@gmail.com

Twitter: @TalatHussain12