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SECOND OPINION: The ‘default’ in our stars —Khaled Ahmed’s Review of the Urdu press

We lacked a large business class in a society mostly made up of traditional warrior classes who thought of the state as booty. They looked for spoils and thought that in the end the conquest (of India) would make up for everything

Pakistani élites have always gouged money from the state. Many began as politicians then became industrialists. Many fake industrialists became politicians then borrowed money from the state-owned banks through power-leverage with a clear understanding that the loans would be written off later. This disease also spread to Bangladesh where state-owned banks were gouged after martial law gestated a dynastic system of politics.

Writing in Jang (October 17, 2005) Hanif Khalid stated that when Gen Pervez Musharraf took over, the nationalised banks of Pakistan were owed Rs 111 billion by the influential élite in Pakistan. After six years NAB was able to plea-bargain with the offenders in respect of only Rs 5.4 billion. Till 2005, the 12 stricken banks have made deals with defaulters about the return of Rs 16.6 billion. Out of this only Rs 4.5 billion has actually been returned, the remaining Rs 12 billion is still outstanding against the defaulters. In all, 310 politicians came in the dragnet of NAB. Cases were registered against them. About 114 cases against them were closed. Only 121 cases have been decided by the courts of law while 75 are still before the courts. Cases against 804 businessmen were processed for default, out of which 297 cases have been heard. About 235 businessmen have been let off.

Why do Pakistani elites default? The clear answer is that banking in the state sector encourages it. Nationalisation of the banks was triggered by the thought that the big capitalists were using their own banks to corner the financial market and establish monopolies. Soon after nationalisation, everyone got into the act, with the difference that the money not returned (and written off) rendered the banks ineffective, adding to their costs. Another factor in this was the absence of a large business class in a society mostly made up of traditional warrior classes who thought of the state as booty. They looked for spoils and thought that in the end the conquest (of India) would make up for everything.

Allama Tahirul Qadiri was quoted by Jang (October 15, 2005) as saying that Imam Mehdi will not appear before the year 2204. After Imam Mehdi has defeated the Dajjal he will rule for 20 years, but the world will survive for 300 hundred years after that. It is after that period that the Day of Judgement (Qiamat) will arrive, putting an end to the world. The seat of Imam Mehdi’s government would be Baitul Maqdas, Jerusalem, to conquer which Imam Mehdi will bring 1,700 fleets of warships. The army of Imam Mehdi will conquer India, Pakistan and China. In the war of Imam Mehdi, 600,000 people will die.

What will Imam Mehdi do with so many warships? He might as well get a lot of nuclear bombs and a good delivery system to boot. The real Dajjal would be America. He will have to educate his warriors in quick time to handle high-tech weapons. Will the Muslims be educated in another 200 years?

Quoted in Khabrain (October 15, 2005) Allama Tahirul Qadiri stated that Imam Mehdi will make his appearance when he is 40 years old and he will live till the age of 88. Dajjal will appear against him with 70,000 troops. He will be one-eyed and ‘kafir’ will be written on his forehead. His followers would be mostly women. He said women of today should give up Western style and start becoming pious to avoid being disciples of Dajjal. He said Imam Mehdi will bring 1,700 fleets of warships, but today the Muslims do not have even 1,700 ships let alone fleets. He said inn ka bera gharaq ho chukka hai (idiomatically, their ship is already sunk).

The age of 88 is nothing today. It is the average age in America. Dr Qadiri should look into his crystal ball again. Imam Mehdi is our last chance (literally) and must be long-lived enough to give us some victories against our enemies.

Quoted in Jang (October 16, 2005) Justice (retd) Javid Iqbal stated that it was wrong to say that the people stricken by the earthquake were punished by God for their sins. He said the people of Azad Kashmir and Hazara were good people and it was cruel to call them sinful. A Lahore cleric Sarfraz Naeemi asked if all the bad people were enjoying their status in Islamabad why were the innocent people punished? Allama Zubair Ahmad Zaheer insisted that those who were stricken by the earthquake were punished by God and those who were not were actually under a mind of warning.

It is not funny that all clerics have consensus on the concept of divine punishment through earthquakes. Earthquakes come everywhere in the world. It will be more clever on our part to say that Allah punishes when earthquake strikes America, but when it hits us, we should attribute it to Allah’s habit of subjecting the people he loves to trials. Since every cleric has his own way of justifying his argument, what’s wrong with this one?

Writing in Khabrain (October 21, 2005) Ejaz Rizvi condemned US-based Pakistani intellectual Akbar S Ahmed for linking the 2005 earthquake with the 1970 cyclone in East Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Abar S Ahmed had said on CNN that the 2005 quake might lead to the separation of the NWFP under the MMA from Pakistan.

Why should we be surprised? In Islamabad parliament is divided as usual and the opposition has rejected invitation to sit in an earthquake committee. The world has promised aid but at home most people have refused to contribute to President’s Fund, sending their own relief trucks to Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, and earning a lot of publicity for their philanthropy. Sabotage in Balochistan and terrorism in Karachi goes on. Upon investigation, this violence is not traced to India but inside Pakistan. We thought the earthquake united us but signs are that we are getting ready for another bout of disunity. *

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