Periscope on Pakistan

The Indian Express brings you clippings from the Pak mediaMcPakistan?Old-world regretsOne of my deepest regrets has been that my generatio...

The Indian Express brings you clippings from the Pak media

McPakistan?

Old-world regrets
One of my deepest regrets has been that my generation came of age at the wrong time. When Pakistan was more at ease with itself than it is now, we were too young or down-at-heel to fully sample the amenities on offer. My other regret is about taxis. When the old discipline of the Raj still lingered, they used to have properly-functioning meters. Not anymore. With haggling and extortion now associated with them, the joy has gone out of it.

My third regret is about what we have done to our railways. They provided a civilised mode of transport but have since fallen on bad times. Anyway, General Musharraf8217;s government is making noises about improving the railways. But whether inducting military officers into this department is the best way of restoring its lost glory remains to be seen. My last regret is about the vanishing of decent bookstores. Inviting saloons, convenient public transport andthe availability of books are essential to any idea of civilized living.

Progress versus politics
Having systematically stripped itself of these amenities Pakistan has succeeded in driving out whatever little culture it had in the first place. Material progress we have undoubtedly made since 1947. But against these plus points must be weighed the crassness and vulgarity which have come to dominate our collective thinking. From the Sixties onwards, and here Ayub Khan8217;s martial law has to carry some blame, the political class which collaborated with the Ayub regime was slavish in its outlook and also guilty of minor corruption. But by the eighties, in the midst of our longest and most destructive spells of military rule, greed, acquisitiveness and ostentation had become the defining passions of the privileged classes.

Also, the frugality associated with the armed services gave way to a new-found preoccupation with forms of real estate. How could politics remain unaffected by this mood? For thenext decade the choice before the people of Pakistan was between two varieties of corruption. Tired of one they could settle for the other.

The latest experiment
Only in October this year was this cycle broken. But whether this means a return to civilisation and some honesty in public life we do not know because this latest experiment is in its infancy and has yet to play itself out8230;What has happened in Pakistan? As McDonald joints proliferate and the sounds of advertising get shriller is all lost? I do not know. This century has seen marvellous leaps of technology but it has also produced a great deal of junk and erected temples to the new gods of consumerism and wasteful consumption. But if so much remains uncertain, of one thing I am pretty sure: This remains a great place to live in which, I would not exchange for the south of France.