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Blind, deaf and dumb

Ikram Sehgal writes from Karachi
To a great extent the Air Marshal has set the record straight, disabusing as of many myths that have become facts over the years. Of special interest are the events of 1971 and his almost solo journey through the nightmare of this leadership-made disaster. How many of our leaders stood up and were counted for the atrocities visited on our own countrymen in East Pakistan?***
NEARLY fifty-eight years after Pakistan came into existence as the finest experiment in nationhood in its time, and almost thirty-four years after it dissolved into one of history's great human tragedies, there is no visible change in either the personality traits of its people, or for that matter, the character of its leadership.
The profile of the upper hierarchy only represents the psyche of the masses, the people of Pakistan remain deaf and dumb, the leaders are blind and deaf. Nowhere is this underscored more than Air Marshal Asghar Khan's recent book, "We've Learnt Nothing From History," an authentic record of "Pakistan: Politics and Military Power" for the present and future generations of this country.
The book underscore the pathetic performance of the leaders of this nation, mostly incapable of rising above themselves for the good of the populace and the country. it also documents the apathy with which the people of this country are afflicted despite being shaken by tumultuous events, each of which would have changed the character of the people of almost all other nations in the world.
i readily confess to being very prejudiced about Air Marshal Asghar Khan, my hero-worship stemming at the beginning from his appointment as the c-in-c of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in 1956 when he was only 38. The adulation was very natural, i was only one of millions of Pakistani youth who grew up with it. For 10-year olds flying is a dream and pilots assume statures much larger than life.
During the war of 1965, PAF rose to great heights and even though PAF's immediate commander was Air Marshal Nur Khan (and Nur Khan deserves all the praise that he can get for many decisive battle decisions), the killing machine that Nur Khan directed to devastating effect against the indian Air Force, and in fact the indian Army on the ground, was honed to perfection by Asghar Khan in his nine years a c-in-c PAF.
Today, almost 50 years later, my unstinting admiration for Asghar Khan is not due to the PAF connection alone, but because of his sterling character qualities, his tremendous struggle for democracy and for the rule of law in Pakistan, not to mention the stoic manner in which he has borne not only the rigours and burdens of politics that would have felled ordinary humans but also the tragic and untimely loss of his brilliant son, the outstanding omar Asghar Khan.
A true rendition of Pakistan's turbulent political history, this book is very informative -- and revealing. Many of the events are common knowledge, what really went on behind the scenes and the input of the various political, military and bureaucrat personalities, good or bad, is not. i may be criticized for not being objective in my assessment, the book will stand up to any acid test of credibility. While a work of literature it is not and was not meant to be, a fair and objective chronicler of facts it certainly is. History is often obscured by what Winston churchill called "the fog of war," in fact Pakistan's history has been muddled by "the fog of politics."
To a great extent the Air Marshal has set the record straight, disabusing as of many myths that have become facts over the years. of special interest are the events of 1971 and his almost solo journey through the nightmare of this leadership-made disaster. How many of our leaders stood up and were counted for the atrocities visited on our own countrymen in East Pakistan?
To quote from the introduction: "Asghar Khan is known as a politician with principles. He has stood up to the regimes of Yahya Khan, Ayub Khan, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. From 1972 to 1977 he opposed Mr Bhutto's fascist government. He famously led the popular movement against Bhutto which culminated in his ouster. Following the PNA in 1977, his struggle included the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in 1981, the Pakistan Awami ittehad in 1988. and the Pakistan Democratic Alliance in 1990."
in the words of Asghar Khan himself: "Power for itself was never my goal. The people want to hear the truth and as long as i am able to speak out, i will continue to battle the odds. in the previous elections only a very small percentage of the people of Pakistan voted. This just proves that there is a large majority that recognizes that the leadership in question is not worth the trust that it is seeking. This majority has rejected bribery, corruption and the politics of survival."
Pakistan's new crop of leaders, Nawaz sharif and Benazir Bhtto, exchanged seats of power twice with disastrous consequences for the country.
To quote the introduction: "As national values declined and cynicism spread like a cancer, Asghar Khan could easily have thrown in the towel and called it a day. He did not. He stands up for his ideals and voices them as and when he can. That he failed to achieve the heights like other members of Pakistan's rapacious power-hungry elite, is the country's loss, not his. History knows Asghar Khan to be a principled and idealistic practitioner of politics."
To have been successful, the Air Marshal would have to have been a part charlatan, becoming oblivious of the needs of his countrymen and his country, how ironic that this "failure" recognizes him as an outstanding leader of substance, a human being with tremendous commitment to the citizens of Pakistan. Sacrificing power for the sake of truth and purity of leadership, Asghar Khan symbolizes honesty and integrity, the rarest of qualities in our upper hierarchy.
Those "successful" in Pakistan are often scathing with contempt for Asghar Khan's politics, one can only thank God that at least that this man does not have their feet of clay, remaining one of the few symbols of all that was clean and decent in the concept of Pakistan as one nation. Written by a man who remains one of Pakistan's authentic heroes, and for many diverse reasons, the book is a "must read" for all.
Ikram Sehgal, a former Major of Pakistan Army, is a political analyst and columnist.