Behind the Chairman’s Door

When looking at a nation like Pakistan, it is very easy to form immediate impressions about the country and its people. Add to that the wonderful work that the international media, the United States and British “governments,” and you have the makings of misconceptions.

Misconceptions lead to impressions. Impressions lead to opinions. Opinions lead to invasions. Invasions lead to extremism.

This is the introduction to a multipart series on what I like to call the “Pakistan’s Bermuda Triangle.” I don’t say that to give this spin, but to help everyone understand that there are forces within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that do their best to assure that the country doesn’t grow, develop or advance out of Third World status. What this series will give you is an understanding of 3 major forces within the country that I personally, along with many Pakistani, hold responsible for the problems that we have. Now, unlike the opposition parties, I will not lay the complete blame on the elected government. That, by no means, excuses the elected officials from their responsibilities, but gives everyone an understanding of the forces that actually prohibit the government from achieving anything.

Pakistan’s Bermuda Triangle is made up of 3 groups of people: Mullahs/Imams, Elitists and the Bureaucrats. Each plays a significant role is shaping every part of Pakistan’s social and political environment. Each affects the development and growth of the nation by their actions, rhetoric and inability to be citizens of the nation in which they live.

The Mullahs and Imams cling to the argument that anything related to modernization or growth is against Islam, and therefore no good for Pakistan. Prior to the Musharraf government, the mullahs didn’t really have a voice outside of their mosques and madrassas. Now all of Pakistan’s Islamic fundamental groups have joined forces to in one political party (and its a stretch to call them that), the MMA, to corrupt the masses. Currently, the MMA holds majority government in 2 provinces of Pakistan, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan. Many of you have heard of the NWFP because of its regular references when the media talks about Al-Qaeda, since it is the mountainous area that borders Afghanistan. When the MMA came into power in the NWFP, they immediate announced that they would make the province “Islamic” and proceeded to start implementing a washout of anything that had a Western influences from advertising to education.

The Bureaucrats are blood brothers of the Mafia. As with the Mafia, to become a bureaucrat, you must get the nod from a sitting member of the club to join. And to be accepted into the club, you must prove your allegiance to the member that gave you the nod. This group is an untouchable, no matter who the elected government is. No elected government can remove a bureaucrat from their position, only a senior bureaucrat can do that. And as a member of the bureaucracy, you are above reproach, above justice and above everyone else; which is why they make sure that no government policy is implemented unless they get a share. A share? In plain English, that means a bribe. In Pakistan, it is translated as a gift. The size of the gift directly correlates to the size of the favor requested. Don’t want to pay income tax; give an income tax collector a small gift and you won’t be bothered. Your 10 year old kid runs someone over; call your friend at the police department and promise a gift. Want to get a court case forgotten; give the bailiff a gift and it will not be seen for years. It’s a wonder at times that the country even functions.

The Elitists are the scourge of the country. They are typically uneducated, uncultured and arrogant about it. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were not the slimely nouveau riche that thinks that they rule this country. They believe in the status quo of luxury for the few and subjugation of the masses. Elitists in Pakistan come in one form: people that have attained their “family fortunes” by every illegal means know to man, including drug dealing and extortion. Most started out with massive land holdings, that have been attained by seizures from other weaker property owners through “friends” in the bureaucracy; these funds are then supplemented by bank loans that were authorized by other “friends” in the bureaucracy. Elitists then segregate themselves into “private schools” (I use that term very loosely) that espouse the belief that they are better than everyone else, while giving nothing back to the country that they live in. The funny part is the “private schools” that they attend don’t teach anything and their children only get jobs because of the same “friends.” Friendship is a great thing.

Now, as I said, I am not going to excuse the government in this because many of these people are part of the elected government. When you are part of any of these 3 groups, filling a ballot box (legally or illegally) is not a problem. And once in power, they take their liberties with national resources for their benefit. I give the recent example of a massive shortage of sugar on the commercial market in Pakistan. The elected government was forced to import sugar from foreign countries to meet the demands of the nation. But only weeks later, a news story broke that the sugar mills of Pakistan were stockpiling sugar to illegally push the price of sugar through the roof. The sugar mills in question are owned by sitting Senators in the elected government. No matter how much the government demanded explanations, the same answer returned; “We own the mills and it is our choice whether we sell to market or not.” These are elected Senators that sit in the opposition benches of the sitting government. My, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive!

I do understand that this is a very general introduction, but I wanted to make sure that I gave you a clear picture of the pieces of the Triangle before I discuss each individually. This is more to whet you appetite for what is to come over the coming days of this series. You need to understand that I am not someone who gives a damn about any of these groups because they are the crap that floats to the top of the pile and the more people that understand who they are; they less their acceptance will be in your communities. They have infiltrated into world societies as students, businessmen and representatives of the government. But they are really none of those things. They have convinced you that they are just like you and that they love their country, but when they return to Pakistan; they are the same scum that left. To Pakistan, these are our terrorists.