Dictators and their sons

Ahmad Nadeem Gehla

I have no experience of dealing with dictators or even their sons. Our generation however witnessed the brutality of former dictator Zia ul Haq against media, civil society, poets, writers and political workers. It has been two decades since former dictator burned in skies and things have changed drastically. Media and information technology has not only made information easily available but also developed a culture of civilized debate. The civil society has reorganized itself and has shown that it can stand firm against dictators during lawyer’s movement.

What has not changed is the mind set of dictator’s sons and their cronies. We are witnessing the retired generals and brigadiers coming to electronic media with revelations and defending their unconstitutional acts. Similarly, the ‘general’s sons’ turned politicians are not behind retired officers. They leave no opportunity to arrogantly defend their much hated fathers terming them martyrs and holy warriors. In a similar effort Ijaz ul Haq, a former parliamentarian and son of a former dictator Zia ul Haq tried to proved ZA Bhutto an executed leader and his own father a holy warrior and ‘Shaheed in an article published in ‘Daily News”.

I sent a letter to Editor of ‘The News” expressing my views, it was published today as under; “This is with reference to Muhammad Ijaz ul Haq’s article “A conspiracy against my father” (Sept 8). General Zia’s son seems to live in the past, otherwise he would not have distorted facts. In a country which has millions of internet users information is just a click away. It is quite hypocritical of him to say that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was an ‘executed leader’. I wish Mr Haq had courage to realise and acknowledge that the same execution made his father one of the most hated persons of this country. The truth is that General Zia gave this country its Kalashnikov culture and the blood-thirsty Taliban.

The response I received from Mr. Ijaz ul Haq was shocking as one cannot expect such language being used by a man who has been a Member of Parliament for over a decade. It states as under; ” For you he should be hanged twice over for killing prof. Nazir Shaheed and khawaja Rafiq and people like you are shitting all over and look what NRO prof are doing to our country. Sick people like you are all over. – Ijaz ul Haq. Sent via BlackBerry from Mobilink” mijaz@mobilink.blackberry.com

To what level the general’s arrogant sons turned ‘test tube leaders’ can fall is not difficult to judge from his response and language used. Mr. Ijaz ul Haq seems unable to come out of dictator’s mindset and show a little civilized behavior towards critics of his father’s hypocritical dark regime. This is undeniable that the mess we are in as a society is gift of Zia ul Haq. It is also a fact that no other person in Pakistan is hated as much Mr. Ijaz ul Haq’s father. But the former parliamentarian while living in denial is not only to deny facts but feel comfortable to use curses against critics of his traitor father who worked and died as an imperial agent. He not only destroyed the secular and tolerant culture of our society but bread extremism from which Mr. Ijaz ul Haq is also suffering today.

Once an American puppet that killed brutality every sane voice is being portrayed as a ‘holly warrior’ by an obedient son. The business empires built by sons of holy warrior are still unaccounted for and sources never declared. Even if his death was staged by CIA and Mosad as claimed by Ijaz ul Haq, it always happened to all imperial puppets around the world. Mard e Momen Junir has to get out of disillusion and recognize what people think about his hypocrite father. He also needs learns that how much society has transformed as such making speech more free than the standards set by his brutal father. He needs to spend some time with civilized people to learn how to take criticism and respond in a civilized manner. But then if he does so – he won’t be a true son of a hated dictator. It is again for us to realize and accept – the way the sons and cronies of dictators are!