A macabre dance

I did not feel revulsion on seeing our leaders collectively eating in the immediate aftermath of yet another tragedy in the continuing saga of the tragedy Pakistan has become. After all, even Nero fiddled as Rome burnt. A commentator made a most telling comment: ‘would they be so calmly and callously eating if this had happened to their families?’ Briefly that thought appealed me and, tempting as it seemed, I realised that the answer lay not in revenge or hate because that pulls us down to the same inhuman level. The answer lies in trying to strengthen systems by making the constitution a reality instead of a useless piece of paper. So far we have not succeeded in doing that.
With our civilian governance failing yet again we are turning to the military – also yet again – to come to our rescue. As the current cycle of fratricidal insanity hit epidemic proportions, the corps commander Karachi spelt out the obvious solution. Can anyone remember the number of times essentially the same mantra has been repeated by both civilian and military leaders? Can anyone remember how in our chequered history this has been replayed out like some macabre square dance going neither forwards or sideways but inexorably backwards. Given the incompetence and collusion of our corrupt and self -seeking civilian leaders, it seems the present circle of failure is rapidly coming to a close.
Dr Mervyn Hosein
Karachi