New Mistakes Committed in Pakistan - Altaf Hassan Qureshi

No matter how much time passes, the words of friends are remembered. Once upon a time I was very close to Hussain Syed and I was very impressed by his personality. He is a motley person and there is no difference between his appearance and his appearance, while big politicians also care a lot about their appearance and work hard to create their image. Nowadays, the entire business revolves around image manipulation. Syed started his career as a lecturer at Punjab University. He was a political science teacher. I also did my master's in the same subject and joined the journalism department. When the government of General Zia-ul-Haq came, there was a complaint about Mushahid Hussain Syed that he was misrepresenting the ideology of Pakistan and spreading intellectual confusion among the students, so he was dismissed from the university job under martial law. He was very pleased with this initiative of the government and he entered the field of journalism and became very famous as the editor of the daily 'Muslim' and entered the field of politics. There he got a big rise and I saw him rising to the post of minister and behind bars while pledging loyalty to his political party. Their greatest quality is their cheerfulness, their wisdom, and their righteousness.

In those days, he used to repeat a sentence in his conversation that our rulers should make new mistakes instead of old mistakes. Perhaps he meant to say that instead of sticking to the old digger, new experiences should be made. I found this to be very strange, but I could not openly object to it. Perhaps the reason for this was Syed Sahib's intellectual awe and glory. I kept wondering why Syed Sahib insisted on new mistakes. Perhaps they had this position that human beings are prone to mistakes and they keep making mistakes, so it is better for rulers and politicians to innovate instead of clinging to the mistakes of the past. Cultivate the adventurous spirit within. In the environment we are breathing today, the recognition of past mistakes has assumed extraordinary importance. Recently, our Supreme Court has openly admitted its mistake that there was no fair trial in Mr. Bhutto's case. This admission may have removed some wrinkles of our history, but it did not benefit Mr. Bhutto who has been put to eternal sleep. The real importance is that decisions of this kind should be completely avoided in the present and in the future, which block the paths of justice and fairness and smell of political revenge.

Our learned friend, Mr. Sohail Waraich, is very much emphasizing on confessing the sins of the past and seeking forgiveness from the nation for them. Their ambitious view is that those who want to join the caravan of democracy, must first confess the crime that they have been supporting dictators and nurturing undemocratic attitudes, and they are ashamed of it today. And they are asking for forgiveness from the public. Allah Ta'ala has given them a powerful pen which they are using correctly. Through successive columns, he wants to create an atmosphere that has nothing to do with coercion and violence, and politicians appear to be able to settle their differences through reconciliation, understanding, and negotiation, and they tolerate each other. Adopt a culture of doing. I think great change will not come through preaching alone. For this, we have to change the environment of our homes, institutions, and political parties and give prime importance to the supremacy of the Constitution.

I also feel that we have to make a radical change in the 'new mistakes' philosophy as well. Our effort should be to realize the mistakes of the past, to commit to avoid all kinds of mistakes and to take full care that decisions are made in a calm environment instead of anger, malice, vindictiveness, and excitement. It should be done after full consideration. The decisions of a single individual sometimes change the course of history. In order to be popular among his own people, Hitler raised the slogan that Germany is the best nation in the world, therefore only it had the right to rule the world. World War II started on this misguided theory and Hitler went on conquering the countries of Europe. He was an absolute dictator, his one decision changed the entire map of the war. Hitler attacked Russia with his pride and arrogance, and his blind action led to great destruction and a crushing defeat. The lesson we can learn from this example is that decisions should be made in consultation and after careful consideration of all aspects.

As far as new errors are concerned, we have become self-sufficient in this matter. We have a good number of hard-liners who go far in search of new mistakes and come with a long whip. Now new mistakes are announced every day and the dance continues till late and at last the spring comes. Look at the state of new mistakes that earlier the governments of Pakistan.