Military monkey-business~

A popular childhood tale comes to mind...once upon a time, two otters caught a fish from the river together. They divided it, unfortunately, in seemingly uneven "halves". An argument broke out on who deserves the bigger part of the fish. A monkey, seated on the tree, watched the argument with avid interest planning out his noon fiesta. He intervened as an impartial party who would best be able to divide the fish equally amongst the fighting otters. Taking a giant bite from the bigger part, he made it smaller than the other part, and consequently chewed off a huge chunk of the second part as well. While the otters waited for the clever monkey to even out their fish, he alternatively "attempted to equalize" both parts and in doing so hogged the fish on his own. The otters stood there watching helplessly, while the monkey filled up his belly on account of their feuding nature.

Analogy- the seemingly endless political turmoil in Pakistan.

Politics amongst the civil parties in Pakistan is akin to the Ludhiana family hosiery business. At the turn of the 90s, two major political leaders emerged with their families to try their hand at leading the nation- Benazir Bhutto (ever since the failure of her ex-PM-husband Asif Ali Zardari) and Nawaz Sharif. The two otters. Each ruled as PM for a few inconsequential years while the opposition tried their hardest (in ways moral as well as immoral) to pull down the ruling party. Now, this holds true for any civilian government of the world- it's pretty much the agenda of the opposition party to find flaws, ensure accountability and even throw chappals and rotten fruits to bring the attention of the ruling government on issues, problems and concerns (real or imaginary).

However, in Pakistan, the dynamics are vastly different. The military is known for its paternal calling to keep the country "under control". It is known for its "timely interventions" to seize power from warring civilian parties and rule with an iron fist...Gen'ls Musharraf, Zia-ul-Haq, Yahya Khan, Ayub Khan...

Each time, the army has taken advantage of the precariously positioned political parties and munched on a little bit more of the fish, lying right under the raging noses of the Pakistan Muslim's League and the Pakistan Peoples Party. Now Gen'l Ashfaq Kiyani doesn't mind claiming his rightful place as the "saviour" of the tottering nation, despite the bitter after-taste in the collective military mouths post-Musharraf's catastrophic exit.

Well, in this little twisted tale, the otters started to seem just a dash smarter. They joined forces to bring down the army rule in the past. The Nawaz-Bhutto coalition took place to form one unified civilian party... and then it broke, leaving the military to pick up where it left off again, chewing hungrily at the fish...the very soul of the nation... little by little...

Oddly, the popular Oasis song of the very same title is apt here...

The only way stability will come to the fore in these troubled times in Pakistan will be if the people forget their fanatic issues and regionalism to wake up and scream out the lyrics at all the ravenous creatures involved...

"Cos little by little
We gave you everything
You ever dreamed of
Little by little
The wheels of your life
Have slowly fallen off
Little by little
You have to give it all in all your life
And all the time
I just ask myself why
You're really here"