Military Mullah Nexus

 by Shahid Mahmood
It is not a self-created tragedy that almost one million people gave up their lives to endorse the concept of separate country for Muslims in 1947 and still, 63 years on, more than 180 million people of the same country are struggling to defend its political and geographical prolongation?
The ‘Two Nation Theory’, a so called inherent concept of separate Muslim homeland, lagged in tackling dissimilar cultural and economical preferences of both parts of Pakistan as the stubborn ruling elite continued perusing its mistakenly perceived ‘ideology of Pakistan and glory of Islam’. This unrealistically consistent development of perception proved stronger than reality over the years and subsequently gave birth to military and mullah alliance.
The military and mullahs fittingly disseminated their ‘just cause’ declaring it as their national duty and took a divine responsibility of reshaping internal and external socio-economic policies with the manipulative mindset. Eternal friendship with Americans turned into the official guiding principle of the foreign affairs. Consequently, the military lacking cut-throat capacity succumbed to the American interests in the region and at the same time rigidly absorbed into the elusive trepidation of Indian aggression.
The mullahs, on the other hand, were bribed, equipped and trained as a second defence line to ‘ideologically’ puff up India-centric hatred and hysterically rescue Islamic prestige within and beyond the borders. The notorious ‘Al-Badar’ and ‘Al-Shams’ hanged about unexposed as our helpless generals surrendered their pride in East Pakistan. Hence, mullahs’ usefulness remained unquestionable and they were given a ‘heavenly task’ of snatching disputed part of Kashmir from Indians which is nowhere near to its conclusive end even after more than two decades.
A new phase of classic mullah-military partnership born with the hanging of the first popularly elected prime minister of Pakistan. It is a well documented fact that in 1976, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, knowing then COAS Gen. Zia’s strong religious proclivity and connections with Jamat-e-Islami, had warned him that Pakistan doesn’t need a ‘Mullah Army’.  But Gen. Zia, a self-proclaimed Amir-ul-Momneen, wholly changed the socio-political orientation of Pakistan conspiring with JI and JUI’s religious ideology.
Under Zia, military barracks became mosques where Maulana Maudoodi’s ‘Tafhimul Quran’ was distributed amongst soldiers to sharpen their fighting skills. Even ‘Tafhimul Quran’ and other jihadi literature were considered paramount to get promoted for junior commissioned officers. Thousands of Madrassas were purposely established in the mainland and near the volatile borders to prepare bombers for years to come.
How could an army general named Musharraf be different from his predecessors? He fooled his people and the world at the same time by discreetly supporting religious elements. He sold his hypocrisies as the best tool of his foreign policy and deceptively landed more dollars as Zia did in his endeavour to make Afghanistan the fifth province of Pakistan.
However, the military and mullah coalition remained intact as ever under Musharraf too. Even today, both military and mullahs are considered the most powerful elements of the state’s machinery.  The intelligence network of military establishment, particularly Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is more than self-sufficient to decide the fate of bewildered masses of this country.
In recent years, the matrimony of military and mullahs and midwifery expertise of likeminded bureaucracy, intelligence network and the cluster of anti-PPP politicians have ultimately gifted us with two identical offspring; media and judiciary. Once again, an old game is being played with the replicated rhetoric of the same allegations against peoples’ government. This time, in a very calculative move, a particular section of, otherwise, ‘free media’ and ‘independent judiciary’ appear to be in extra hustle than their real masters.
Who says media and judiciary are free and independent? The big media groups are prejudicially controlled, by military mullah establishment, to be antidemocratic, or in plain words anti-people or anti-PPP. The same is with our ‘independent’ judiciary, which is more interested in resetting the rules of the game of politics not the morals and ethics of justice. In the last few weeks, we had seen the evidence how media and judiciary suitably shielded each other by refusing to accept Prime Minister’s verbal assurance on a particular matter.
The latest interim order on 18^th Amendment is definitely not a conclusive paradigm to decide who is supreme, parliament or judiciary? Who knows, how our judges would strike, in the first week of February 2011, if parliament decides to stick to its guns? And above the all, we have to see which way Sharif brothers and Muslim League (N) somersaults this time, if anybody has any doubts? I must congratulate Ms. Asma Jahangir here whose courageous victory has not only exposed ‘chief’s Jan Nisars’ in judiciary but also in ‘sibling media’.
However, the saga of military, mullah, media and judiciary’s allegiance to each other has no other motive but to keep destroying Pakistan Peoples Party, if they can? As ever, the real target is not only the PPP government in power but also the leadership of PPP, this time, elected President, Asif Ali Zardari.
This unholy alliance of irresponsible forces always fails to remember that PPP is not just a political party. It’s simply a romance, possessedness, a furore, a mania, and a voice of masses, which cannot be masked in the toughest of the toughest situations. These ruthless players have no idea that romance never gets old; it never ends and can never say good-bye.
Over the years, it had been proven time and again that it is beyond the intellectual and logical competence of this group to get a grip on the real myth of PPP. They are not only rationally barren but also physically as blind as bat. They cannot imagine what mess they have got us in and they cannot see [foresee] where they will bury us all if they continued meddling with the timeless romance and the endless wishes of the people of this country.
The military, mullah, media, judiciary and their political touts must stop hankering to run Pakistan like a joint-venture. Pakistan is a country of 180 million people who are the political sovereign and the real owner of this land, their wishes [votes] must be respected. Let the people of Pakistan decide their future, otherwise, a country born with scar of tragedy, disfigured with another tragedy, will vanish with an ultimate tragedy.
Shahid Mahmood is a freelance senior journalist and a political analyst