The writer is a retired army officer and a freelance columnist

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk

For someone as anti-Establishment (that part of our State which is so completely corrupted and power-drunk, which is self-serving to a fault, and which has held our country by the jugular for as long as I can remember) as I, the past two years have been a time of great satisfaction, nay sheer joy. It has been absolutely delightful to see the Pakistani Establishment demolish, take apart, destroy, the monstrous horrors that it created itself, most lovingly, and thrust down our throats so cruelly. It's own Frankensteins. The first to go was the incomparable dolt, the absolutely worthless Nawaz Sharif and his oh so dishonest and shady and deceitful clan. Next in line are the hypocritical Eminencies who hurl fire and brimstone from their pulpits, and who have made our quite beautiful country such an ugly place. A place one can scarcely recognise for what it was. What should be of concern to us, of course, is that even now the Establishment has not corrected the disastrous tack it has forced our country to follow for any fine ideals. In the first instance, the dolt brought it upon himself by trying to destabilise the army. In the second, it is at the insistence of outside forces (Amreeka Bahadur, in case you didn't know!) who gave us a very clear choice. But, it would be instructive to recount the extents to which our country was taken at the behest of those who held it by the throat. Its transgressions should be pointed out to the Establishment once again so that it knows that we remember.

Consider: It was the departure of the devilish Zia for the world beyond that brought the lovely twosome: General Mirza Aslam Beg; and the acknowledged Grand-daddy of the bureaucracy, Mr GIK, to power in Islamabad. While the duo grudgingly announced "free and fair" elections, they sicced the then Director General of the ISI, General Hamid Gul onto the political scene with instructions to ensure "positive results". Which, mark, the General accepts most unashamedly today, patting himself on the back for being the creator of the IJI. That saw, as we all remember, the rise of the House of Ittefaq in the Punjab, and the open rebellion against the federal government master-minded by the Capo Di Tutti Capi of the Sharif Mafia, Mohammad Sharif, and spear-headed by his Capos Regime, his sons. What followed can only be called one of the most shameful episodes in our country's history, when banners with the slogan "Jag Punjabi Jag" were displayed across Lahore's major roads, and were painted on the sides of the Lahore Development Authority's water tankers. When one of the federating units of Pakistan, the largest, refused to accept the writ of the federal government. Would that Sindh had done this, or Balochistan, or the Frontier. Lordy, shouts of "traitors", "anti-Pakistan forces" and other such would have rent the air. The mutineers would have been hanged from the Pakistan monument.

In this case however, the keepers of Pakistan's ideology, and the guardians of its frontiers rejoiced at this "Son of the soil", this "Punjabi Gabroo Jawan" sorting out "that Sindhi woman", and joked about the fact that Benazir Bhutto was only Prime Minister of Islamabad, ha ha ha. It did not matter to the Establishment that the very foundations of Pakistan were at risk of being demolished.

Take Their Holinesses, and their connections to the Establishment. Whilst I was a college student when the militant Jamiat raised its ugly head, for the first time bringing firearms on to campuses across the country, there were still students from the liberal side of the divide who faced them down, and it was not until Zia's time that these storm-troopers of the religio-political parties were given de facto control of the campuses. They were funded by certain foreign governments (come now, we all know who they were/are - some "kafir", and some part of the Ummah) and by the State, and helped by what go by the name "agencies", just as their parent bodies were. They were, in other words, fed and raised by the State for use against the political forces who did not toe the line. To see the Establishment go after these dark forces is a matter of extreme satisfaction for me. The question to ask again is whether our government would have acted at all if the New York Madness had not happened? The question to ask is if our country would not still be smothered in the deathly embrace of the fundos (used in the worst sense of the word) had Amreeka Bahadur not kicked us awake?

Such a lot has changed, has it not, for other Establishments as well? From British MPs being ashamed to visit "undemocratic" Pakistan, we had Prime Minister Tony Blair himself come flying in. There are no calls anymore for democracy in Pakistan; the Commonwealth's democracy loving Don MacKinnon is strangely silent - where we used to get a rude lecture a week, he hasn't talked down to Pakistan even once over the past month and more. "Come October", one of our senior 'core-professionals' said to me in July this year, "Pakistan will be suspended from the Commonwealth." Well, what say, Mr MacKinnon? Incidentally, would you reconsider your position and resign your post since Pakistan will stay undemocratic for some time to come yet? Can any government risk an election with Afghanistan as destabilised as it is bound to be for a not so inconsiderable time?

And where is the redoubtable US Deputy Secretary of State, Dick Armitage? He was also exceedingly impolite towards America's old and trusted friend, Pakistan. What did he say, famously? That the US's friendship with Pakistan was an "accident of history"? Was that it? An accident, Mr Armitage? Were Pakistan's membership of CENTO and SEATO; the American base at Badaber, Peshawar; the flight of the U-2 from Peshawar airfield; and Pakistan's front-line status during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan accidents of history? Is the fact that we were the "corner-stone of US foreign policy", according to President Richard Nixon, an accident of history? Well, we remember too that he visited India quite loudly, and not Pakistan, in a pointed discourtesy to us. Well, the good General Powell, as sagacious a Secretary of State that America has ever had, did come calling now, didn't he? And hit it off with our General to boot, according to all reports. Such a lot has changed.

And will, for the thousands of Pakistanis who have made America their home.

The heart-rending story of young Hasnain Javed (The News, October 25th) who was beaten up mercilessly in a US Correctional Facility (why was he in a "correctional facility" in the first place?) by his cell-mates, made me so incredibly sad for what the poor lad went through. There must be hundreds like him: in dormitories and schools, maybe other "correctional facilities" picked up only for being Pakistanis or Muslims. Do the perpetrators of the New York Madness realise that they have put their own compatriots at such risk by their foolish actions? Which reminds me: if Shiekh Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are such great Islamic warriors who appreciate what was done to the 'kafir' Americans, why don't they give themselves up to America, 'The Great Shaitan'? And spare the poor people of Afghanistan the destruction being visited upon them? Surely they are on the fast track to heaven, so what does it matter to them? Incidentally, in my last piece I had likened Zilli Khan, my former gardener with the Taliban. Wrong; unfair to Zilli. While the leaders of the Taliban have no feelings for their people, poor Zilli is a kind boy who feels for animals too. Which reminds me: is it true that the Taliban have threatened to kill President Musharraf and his family? If so, why have Mulla Zaeef and the Taliban Embassy not been asked to pack-up?

In the end my heartfelt thanks to SG Jillanee for putting in a plug for me as Foreign Minister (Newspost, October 25, 2001). Whilst he will have to try a little harder, on my part I promise that I shall appoint him FO spokesman as soon as I get to Hotel Schehrezade. Even he will do better than the present incumbent.