Pakistan shaking disclosures by whistleblower website WikiLeaks and celebrations highlighting the Sindhi Ajrak and Sindhi Cap sweeping the province of Sindh have put the impending national economic disaster connected with the IMF loan on the backburner.
Economic analysts and industrialists were crying hoarse to attract the attention of the country about the coming dark days, which may put the life of common man at the verge of disaster. But Sindh has left behind all these political and financial worriers and has plunged into an unprecedented week of celebrations to highlight the Sindh culture. The poor people of Sindh have forgotten their miseries inflicted by the devastated floods in which they lost their homes and hearths, livestock and the land which have provided them their livelihood for centuries. The poor have joined the bandwagon leaving behind all their worries in celebrating the cultural days announced by the Government of Sindh and supported by the TV channels.
The Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Day took root when an anchor of a TV channel criticised President Asif Ali Zardari for wearing the Sindhi cap while on an official visit to Europe. The Peoples Party made the criticism into a political platform to rally Sindhi people behind the President. There are no two opinions about greatness of Sindhi culture which has five thousand years old history behind it. But making it a political ploy and sweeping the burning issues related to poor under the carpet is incomprehensible.
Since the inception of Pakistan every ethnic group living in the national boundary has been free to follow their culture and their language. Never ever an effort was made to suppress these cultures. From the rugged mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the seashores of Sindh, people have lived and followed their culture which is reflected in their regional cuisine in their marriages and in their mourning.
PTV since its establishment in 1962 has provided platform to these variety of cultures by telecasting dramas, seminars and discussions. Political observers are of the view that the Government of Sindh headed by PPP has diverted the attention of the poor by involving them into the Sindh Unity Day.
The government has to give compensation of Rs100,000 to each flood affected family for which it had promised. But it has back peddled on its promise to give second instalment of Rs80, 000 pleading that it has no funds to give. The burning public issues have been set aside and there is hardly any talk of providing relief to the poor who still are living in temporary camps and facing untold and unseen difficulties and miseries.
Even the nationalists’ forces who were shouting on the top of their voices and criticising the government for not caring about the poor in Sindh have suddenly taken a “U Turn”. They are more interested in showing solidarity to the unity day than pleading the case of the poor.
Meanwhile, people who were zealously demanding release of the report of the commission set up by government to inquire into breach of Tori Bund is also swept away by unity day celebrations.
These issues may be revived when the heat and the emotion attached to the unity day die-down.
But it is expected that the government would come up with another issue to divert the attention of the masses from the miseries caused by the floods.
The allegations uncovered against the present rulers and politicians in the WikiLeaks disclosures is not getting much attention in Sindh whereas the issues raised by the websites is sweeping rest of the country like a fire storm.
However, the website disclosure undressed our politicians, who are more interested in getting power rather than resolving the issues confronting the masses who voted them into power.
The WikiLeaks disclosures have uncovered the faces and intentions of the politicians and other powerful segments of the establishment. It has proved beyond doubt that the power hungry top of the table politicians and others powerful agencies and individuals can stoop to any low to get favour no matter from where it comes.
America has emerged as a power which can make and break people in Pakistan and can reward them if they follow its directives. The political situation in Pakistan today is more chaotic than ever. The masses and the public in general are also more aware about the intentions of the politicians who can sacrifice of the good of the country and their own people for their own profit and benefit.
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