Wrath of God

.. by Islamuddin

In Islamic Ideology Sovereignty over the universe belongs to Allah, delegated to human beings as the chosen creatures of Allah. This power is a trust to be exercised by human beings or their chosen representatives within the bounds provided in the Holy Quran and Sunnah. Individuals and nations have risen high or fallen down depending on their adherence or deviation from this principle. The success of our freedom movement was made possible by the quality of leadership. They inspired Muslims to rise above petty prejudices and unite to help achieve Divine purpose. Had there been sectarianism, Muslims belonging to minority sects could not have led the movement. Our failure as an independent nation can, therefore, be attributed to the absence of this unity and role model leaders.

Soon after independence, the lust for power and temptation of material gains took the better of us and power came to be monopolized by a few who refused to hold elections fearing they might lose it. The reneging from the original commitment resulted in the break up of the country in 1971. Instead of drawing lessons from this tragedy, which was the wrath of God, our leaders devised another strategy whereby elections came to be managed to achieve positive results. State institutions became politicized and the gap between the people and the Government widened to a dangerous level. Every body to himself and God for all, as Churchill would have put it.

According to Plato, the father of Political Science, people get the kind of leadership they deserve and that leaders are the mirror image of the people they represent. By electing leaders without checking their credentials prescribed by Islam and enumerated in Article 62-63 of our constitution, we tend to forfeit the right to be saved by Allah. It is Divine reckoning that Nawaz Sharif has now been made to answer questions relating to the tenure when he ruled like a dictator and which the Supreme Court has equated to Sicilian mafia. Mercifully the establishment and the judiciary have come forward to restore public trust in the state. Hopefully the process of accountability would be completed to create deterrence for the future. In fact our survival as a state depends on our capacity and determination to restore sanity in public affairs.

By way of a case study if we look at Chitral, the above mentioned national malaise has taken its toll on Chitral as well. It has stolen our simplicity and ethos. The rudimentary state structure instead of consolidation has been replaced by mafia control in every sector of life. Vested interests have been promoted to deny free vote. Voters are blackmailed, intimidated or lured by exploiting faultiness to the detriment of national unity and harmonious social fabric. The involvement of big money in elections has increased the power of the rich to buy votes and candidates and then using them for their own vested interests. It is, therefore, not surprising that after winning elections these candidates betray their constituency and work for the interest of their financiers or their own. Many of them change their class affiliation and join the privileged class to the extent of dis-empowerment of the poor who catapulted him/her to power.

Today Chitral stands on the precipice. Its eco-system has become unbalanced and unfit to support life. More destruction is caused in the name of development. Ghost projects, misuse of funds, cost run-over, illusive accountability and mafia style dispensation are having telling effect on people?s psychology resulting in depression and criminality. The emergence of fringe groups, wedded to extremism and extortion are common sights. The unholy alliance between religion and power politics has deprived the people of genuine representation. It is because of this apathy that Divine system of reward and punishment has now come into play and its manifestations are galore for those who can see. Islam enjoins on believers to stop evil from being committed using their tongue and hands but never to join in. It is incumbent upon all those who claim to be representing the best in Islam to join hands to reverse the rot, failing which there would be no one left to listen to them.

Let the current elections be the test case for our returning to Allah?s glory. It is never too late to make a beginning and in the Divine scheme of things there is always room for recompense. Let the incumbents seeking votes explain their performance and the new ones their manifestos and personal worth. Let there be challenges for the tainted candidates at the scrutiny stage instead of cover up as has been our wont. If Chitral has to save Pakistan, then choose some one who can do it rather than selling our votes to the highest bidder and bring bad name to us. Shrouds do not have pockets??.. Islamuddin, 14 jun 2018

4 thoughts on “Wrath of God

  1. Well written article, what happen in the Context of Chitral over 35 years public have been exploited by the name of so called democracy, and monopoly of traditional leadership, on ground they are doing nothing sole enriching personal wealth. The election mandate on the basis of wealth and cash. Sky is the limit enough is enough this turn being the gentle citizen we should use our vote to save Chitral and Pakistan. Irony is that in Chitral the culture of mandate decision is quite different, as compare to other part we are using our vote against federal and provincial government and always prefer to sitting in opposition. keeping in view the ground reality this turn should use our vote judiciously, otherwise future generation will suffer the bad decision what we are taking now.

  2. Assets declaration by different political parties including parties which claim to be the representative of poor masses shows that politics in Pakistan has become a business and a minting machine. Poor people are finding it difficult to survive while the assets of their democratic leaders are in billions. This clearly shows that Pakistan is virtually owned by fewer than 10% of its population. The 90% of Pakistan’s population are made to vote like rubber stamps in elections. How leaders who live in villas and mansions and whose assets are in billions and who never ever experienced poverty and deprivation can be representatives of the teeming millions who can hardly afford one-meal a day. There is no hope of this situation changing anytime soon and we do not know from where a fresh breeze of change will rattle the leaves of status quo! The fault ultimately lies with the voters for they always return to power their very tormentors.

  3. THE PEOPLE ARE THEIR OWN ENEMIES:

    The people, wherever they live, are their own enemies. They do what they should not do. They do not do what they should do.
    No one will see any change. Never. Not until they all will come to join hands with each other to work together to change the unjust system. The system of creating Rulers and the Ruled.
    So many people friendly thinkers, philosophers etc. have come and gone, rubbing their hands in despair at seeing the people suffer the consequences of their own inaction.
    Every people friendly thinker, philosopher advised people to go back to the basics of democracy i.e. the age old system of coming together regularly where they live, to become active participants in shaping their own destiny through their own co-operative, constructive and peaceful actions.
    What more? Whatever the philosophers, thinkers advised people to do, Lord Almighty commanded the faithfuls to do the same by creating their peoples’ Jumeeyah and Shoorah. Do we see any Jumeeyah of the people around? No. This is a proof that the people who obey the Lord are in short supply.
    Wherever there will be people who obey the Lord, Udl wul Ehsaan will be in abundance in habits and practices of the people. Scarcity of Udl wul Ehsaan is a proof that people who obey the Lord are very scarce.
    For as long as people will continue to ignore to come together in their localities where they live, to organise themselves into Peoples’ Jumeeyah and Shoorah. Organise to play their part by becoming responsible citizens, they will be leaving way wide open for their destiny to be decided by whichever Mafia or slave takers is organised to do so. This is what we see happening, will contnue to see happening.
    It will stop only when people will wake up form their slumber and start organising themselves.

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