Monday, May 04, 2009
The people of this country have been made fools for 60 years in the name of ‘national security’. With every new “Ghauri and Ghaznavi” launched, chants of Allah-o-Akbar were raised and we were told that we were safe. With each ugly replica of “Chaghi Hills” and these missiles installed on the road crossings we were assured that we had arrived on the world nuclear scene. So what if East Pakistan was gone but Kashmir would be ours one day, we were told. When independent analysts cried hoarse saying that governments and the state needed to do something to improve the quality of the human capital and divert resources from weapons and defence, they were labelled as traitors. And look where we are now.
The situation of Pakistan seems like that of a ‘jhuggi’ with 170 million hungry, illiterate and impoverished souls living inside it waiting for a miracle to happen. Outside there are tanks installed with nuclear bombs and missiles for the safety of the jhuggi-walahs. The ‘security guards’ who protect these jhuggi-dwellers are all well-fed and live in modern homes.
How many times have we — and the rest of the world — been assured by our political and military leadership that our nuclear assets ‘are safe”? Yes, they are safe, but what about the people, what about the nation itself — are they safe? It’s time to ask such questions and it’s time to raise our voices. Heads must roll, starting with a debate on holding those accountable who created these monsters in the name of national security.
Zarqa Javed
Islamabad
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