Good Morning: What the President's, Prime Minister's Eid messages did not say

It is truly very challenging to try and ascertain how the Eid-ul-Azha messages of the President and the Prime Minister of the country were received by the people this year. Eid was peaceful, generally speaking and an environment of much-needed relief appeared to be prevalent from the reports that came in through the TV channels on all three days. But the two messages were not in the mainstream of thoughts and events during the festival.
To point out that Eidul Azha was of the highest significance, and justifiably so, is to state the obvious. There are so many profoundly rich, spiritual and as well as worldly dimensions to Eid-ul-Azha that to expect Muslims to be focusing on political messages and speeches and statements is possibly asking too much from them. Of course the National Reconciliation Ordinance and what lies ahead now that 28th November has become history - was a subject that did matter, and now that December has come, it brings many questions.
Much has been said about December 2009 in November 2009. Our national focus on the month of March has become a cliché, almost I may add. To me, December holds a sad and intense sort of significance for this was the month where we had another war with India, as well as the culmination of a civil war in former East Pakistan, which resulted in the dismemberment of the Islamic Republic. The date was 16th December 1971 and another 16th December is two weeks away.
I have occasionally wondered about the kind of Pakistan we could have created had there been proper, thorough accountability in our lives. Would there have been the Martial Law of General M Zia-ul-Haq? I do not know. I was talking to an educated, somewhat philosophical young man who knew little about the fall of East Pakistan, and he asked me about the people who were held responsible and whether Pakistan had learnt any lessons.
But this is not the December 16th, the fall of Dacca (1971) that I am talking about this time. I read the two Eid messages of the President and the Prime Minister that were carried in the print media and reported in the electronic media as well. I wondered why there was no mention of the word "austerity and simplicity" in them as the two concepts seemed to be so relevant to the Eid-ul-Azha festival this year - given the extravagance and the consumerism that is integral in our lives.
And with the prices of food and non-food items rising and having a negative impact on people's lives and family moods and morale, I would have imagined society, as a whole, would be geared in that direction. Which is to suggest that along with the national, provincial and local leadership in the country, the numerous welfare organisations that surface regularly for seminars and photo sessions, would remind the people of the need to remember that "a war of survival in the country is underway"
This is a quote from the NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti who underlined this point on Saturday in Peshawar. President Asif Ali Zardari in his Eid-ul-Azha message, said at the outset that "the country was facing many problems and the menace of terrorism and extremism was weakening it". There is, in his message, a reminder of some of the things happening in our lives. But I wish he had stressed "austerity and simplicity" also, directly.
In Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's Eid message there is, of course, a grim reminder of the predicament that Pakistan is in, and a vital focus on the terrorism and the militancy that is being fought, but sadly enough it does not take into account the needed austerity and simplicity that should have been a direct message to the people. How Pakistan's consumers would have responded can always be imagined.
In this daily, on Eid-ul-Azha, there was a news item which said that "leaders urge nation not to forget the poorer sections of the society". I don't think there was much substance in the report. Other similar reports were scattered across the media, but it all appeared to be in the spirit of lip service, with which we are familiar. News reports have indicated that Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated in a very low key manner and that the provincial government had also announced this.
There was a mention of this on Eid day, but strangely enough this was not highlighted by the print media - and how the NWFP government was celebrating the occasion, in view of the sufferings of the people of Peshawar and the entire province, was not really brought out in visual terms, one felt. It needs to be mentioned here that the special messages that come from the President and the Prime Minister, do so, on various occasions.
Besides the two Eids, there are other religious and national and even provincial occasions on which these messages come. What does it mean besides the necessary protocol? Do citizens in everyday conversations discuss them - and are they evaluated by the TV Channels - which have become a barometer of sorts? Surely one would expect the message of the country's President and the Prime Minister to be discussed and contemplated on that very occasion at least? How meaningful it would be were students and housewives, for instance, to argue about and analyse the merits of such important messages.
Or am I being demanding? Anyway, I am unable to get away from the recollection of the regular speeches that were made by that dictator President General M Ayub Khan - on the first of every month. What a routine that was. And how people were tired of it. How the state owned media projected it and how credibility did not matter. PTV, Radio Pakistan, the National Press Trust dailies and periodicals. Which makes it pertinent to mention that a lack of credibility is still not understood by officialdom even today.
Those nation-wide speeches went with Ayub Khan, if I remember faithfully, and today, the addresses to the nation are few, and many times the time specified is not adhered to. Indiscipline, like many of our other failings, is now built into our lives. I hate to call it a system. That isn't there, yet. Interestingly, every head of the state and government, generally speaking, left behind systems that the successors did not follow. We have such a distrust of the past - all these 62 years.
I am also reminded here of the recent reports there were about some very strong austerity measures that were to be announced by the government. Some progress was mentioned and the public expected that the austerity measures for the government (politicians and bureaucrats both) that would be taken from the top of the ladder, would be introduced atleast. In all the politics and the backstage dealings that are taking place, it has been sidelined, forgotten, or put off for another day.
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