The Panama JIT is in town and it is making
headlines for all the right and wrong reasons. By now almost all of the ruling
Sharif clan has visited it. The latest and hopefully the last to make an
appearance before the JIT is Mrs. Maryam Safdar, the daughter of the prime
minister. Many call this as a launching of her political career. However, the
news that subdued this news was of a salute, made to her by a lady police
officer. The same lady police officer also accompanied her to the JIT meeting
as all JIT members are male and seem to be unfit to question a woman alone but
are fit to run an investigation of such national importance.
The
lady police officer saluted Mrs. Maryam Safdar when she came to appear before
the JIT on Wednesday. The salute drew the ire of many. Like always what ensued
was that the social media got divided into two groups; one condemning her and
the other defending her for her action. My earlier reaction to the
"salute" controversy was similar to that of many, with her being a CSP;
I was expecting a much more dignified demeanor from her. However, since then I
have done some thinking of my own and I think that she did the right thing. I
have narrowed it down to five possible reasons. Before enumerating my reasons
below to support my argument, I would like to clarify here that what you are
going to read below is based on my personal rationalization of the incident. I
believe that the lady officer must have her own reasons. So, below is more of a
fly on the wall assessment of the episode in question here.
Firstly, my earlier reaction to the incident
like many was based on my own dislike for Mrs. Maryam Safdar. Our irony here is
that how much we long for power; we abhor the powerful if not equally than
more. So, how much I detest Mrs. Safdar, it does not change the fact that she
is the first daughter and heir apparent. Again, how much I call it to be rigged
but Muslim League (N) enjoys public support and represents their mandate; good
or bad, is a different debate altogether. In simpler words, like many my
problem was not with the salute but was with the fact that to whom she saluted.
Secondly, keeping in mind how narcissist and
egoistic our leaders are with no exceptions, unfortunately, a mere salute is
good enough to soothe their enlarged egos and as the dialogue goes, “you do not
salute to the person, you salute to the rank”. I remember a town Nazim from
Faisalabad from Musharraf’s era, who use to move with his own private protocol
and once when Governor Khalid Maqbool saw his protocol and was left amazed as
his protocol was outnumbered by the protocol of the town Nazim. Our history is
full of such instances.
Thirdly, in our culture getting saluted
represents power more than respect and when a police officer salutes you; it
has an even higher intrinsic value mainly because the police itself is a symbol
of power. A salute from the police officer also reflects control and
superiority.
Fourthly, she is a witness to whatever
happened in that room, between Mrs. Safdar and the JIT. Her saluting Mrs.
Safdar, may be is her way of assuring her that she is worthy of being entrusted
with such responsibility.
Fifthly, It is difficult to swim against the
tide but then so is swimming with the sharks. I have great respect for what
Nekokara and many like him did before but were they able to change the system?
The answer is a big “no”. Our political elite, more or less is similar. They
like the same things and share the same tantrums. Serving with or under them is
not an easy task. But if you want to change the system, it is important that
you become a part of it because from outside, this system cannot be changed,
whenever it will change, it will change from within. Here by no mean I am
favoring the status quo or trying to discourage the “few good men”. I put the
example of the officers of the JIT here; they are doing their job honestly and
diligently but all this is due to the free space provided to them by the
Supreme Court, not every officer is that lucky. So, in such times it is easier
to pull-off a Nekokara than staying, surviving and doing your bit to better the
system. So, if a salute helps you to do it, then it is a meager price for a
cause that is much bigger and greater.
Our system lacks
accountability especially of the powerful. So, until we make our powerful
accountable and that accountability should be across the board, we have to bear
with such trivial things.( A version of this piece has been published by Express Tribune in their blog section on 7th of July 2107 on 6:06 PM)
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