No Country for Old Professionals

Pakistan’s treatment of Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the under-pressure DG of the Inter Services Intelligence agency/directorate, reflects how Pakistani heroes are usually vilified while dubious characters are celebrated as assets to society

“The fear that we cannot live without America has taken away our self respect. Are we to live in humiliation out of US fear forever?”

- Gen Pasha to the in-camera session of Parliament

Pakistan is a country with no shortage of heroes. But Pakistan is also a country with no shortage of divisions. Islam, a unifying religion, has become a divisive issue with sects and practice systems causing violent tussles within society. Politics is also divisive – rather than letting people come together on different issues, it perpetuates the social divides between various groups just so that the powers-that-be can continue to benefit and dupe the poor, ignorant and angry masses. So, one man’s hero is another man’s villain. Nobody exemplifies this case more evidently than Mumtaz Qadri, the Elite Force security guard who murdered Governor Salmaan Taseer (instead of performing his professional obligation and religious duty in protecting him) – he has been berated by progressive and liberal segments of society, while the religious elements, the right wing, and even lawyers have come out in support of this heinous murderer, who is being compared to a colonial hero “Ghazi Ilm-ud-Din Shaheed”.

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