Fall on your sword

Every student of Oxford University, with the exception of our Prime Minister Imran Khan, is aware that control of inflation by a Tiger Force is as bizarre, indeed ridiculous, as Don Quixote tilting at the windmills accompanied by his Sancho Panza – that is: SAPM Dar. Control of inflation is a subject of economic policy, and not by such childish innovations as a Tiger Force.

No student of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Oxford, even the PM who read PPE, albeit at Keble, the only redbrick college in the city of the dreaming spires carved in stone, can be so ignorant of the iron laws of economics.

As elaborated by John Maynard Keynes, control of inflation is only possible through balanced budgets and prudent economics. It fell to Keynes to draft, at Bretton Woods, the international structure for control of inflation and generation of full employment, in order to prevent the trade cycles, great depression, galloping inflation and unemployment that was characteristic of the epoch between the First and the Second World Wars.

It defies common sense how the PM and his sidekicks, the Tiger Force, can emulate Keynes, world famous economist and author of the seminal book on economics, ‘General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’, published in the Inter War years. This kind of kite flying with a swollen cabinet and an army of SAPMs does not do justice to democracy, however manipulated.

Let’s face it. There is a method in this madness. There is talk of the massive corruption of Zardari, who came to power on the crest of the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007. The Central Executive Committee of the PPP had no other choice but to transfer the mantle to Zardari.

Thus, the contest at the national level is now between the PTI and the opposition, comprising the PML-N, the PPP, and their allies.

To return to the theme of method in the madness, actions speak louder than words. The role of the present NAB chairman is also suspicious. Of course, both the high command of the PPP and PML-N cannot escape the responsibility for nominating Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, who was eagerly waiting to take oath in Musharraf’s office and betray the legitimate chief justice behind his back.

Suffice it to say that PM Imran Khan’s strategy of absolute power by attempting to eliminate justices of high calibre, such as Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and breaking up the PML-N has not worked. Recently, the charismatic and eloquent Maryam Nawaz has emerged on the scene, at PDM rallies, in particular, and has forged her claim to become the prime minister of Pakistan, just as Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto once captured the imagination of Pakistan, on the road to the Prime Minister’s House, beginning at the Mall in Lahore.

PM Imran forgot the adage, ‘if you do not digest history, it tends to repeat itself’. No Tiger Force can save him, nor any power on earth sustain him. If he has any self-respect, he can only redeem himself by resigning.

There is an often-quoted Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that it is contrary to the practice of Muslims to enter into any premises or invade the privacy of a family without permission. The Hadith is as follows: “If anyone asks permission to enter thrice and permission is not given, he should return.”

In England, the right of privacy is violable. Even the King (or the Queen) of England cannot enter a peasant’s home without permission. In gross violation of this rule, the Sindh Police, allegedly on the orders/ direction/ arm-twisting by the Rangers and higher-ups, violated the privacy of Maryam Nawaz and her husband, Safdar Awan by reportedly breaking open the door of their room at Avari Hotel, Karachi during the dawn of October 19, 2020.

Such orders could not have come from the government of Sindh, since the chief minister of Sindh was present on the stage of the public meeting held after Maryam Nawaz, accompanied by her husband, had paid homage to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah. Only the federal executive head could have superseded the chief minister Sindh.

Whoever from within the federal setup instructed that the Sindh IG be abducted and forced to issue such orders, as has been alleged, should be dismissed for violating clauses ‘d’, ‘e’ and ‘f’ of Article 62 of the constitution of Pakistan.

Can we ask the captain of the ship to fall on his sword for exposing Pakistan to this gross breach of national security in this clash in Karachi?

The writer is the former governor of Sindh and senior advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan.