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Leaders without a sense of dignity

Reza Hossein Borr - 8/13/2008

Pakistan is a country of abundant dignity and generosity and shortage of shame and grace. Abundant dignity and generosity can be found among the ordinary people wherever you go and shortage of shame can be found among the elite classes, specifically the top brass. I have observed these two characteristics in many people years and after years. Once I went with few friends to the defence beach in Karachi. The friend who hosted us had lived in Pakistan for many years. He knew many people. While we were walking on the beach we saw a man with a turban carrying a long wood over his shoulder. One side of the wood was a kettle and on the other side of the wood was a tray of fire. My friend explained that the tea this man used to sell was one of the best and therefore he recommended all of us to buy a cup of tea from the man with the turban.

All of them ordered tea accept me. I said, "I don't want to tea." The tea maker thought that I did not agree for having a cup of tea as I could not afford it and therefore, he said, "You are my guest. Have the cup of tea. You don't need to pay for it." I looked at the man again. He was old in his sixties. I looked into his face and eyes. He was a man of dignity. He was generous to too. While you cannot find any coffee shop to give you a free cup of tea, he volunteered to offer me a cup of tea free of charge. That was a man who sold tea on the beach carrying a heavy wood on his shoulder with fire and kettle. That was the peak of dignity. That was generosity in its best.

I never forgot that man and his generosity. These are the people who make life worth of living. These are the people who make the world a better place.

When I left Iran without sufficient preparation I hurried my way across the border with the help of some friends in Pakistan. I was taken to a safe village and to the house of a person they knew. As soon as we arrived there, the host began preparations for dinner. I had never met these people before and I did not have the chance to meet them again to express my gratitude for their wonderful tradition of taking care of people they did not know but their lives were in danger. He prepared a delicious dinner and assured me that I and my friends would be safe over there. He also said that there was a truck on its way to the village which would leave tomorrow morning and I would go with that car.

The next morning I left with the car. The roads were rough and dirty. The car used to move very slowly. We reached a small town about one o'clock in the morning. The truck driver took us to a house where we slept. It was about five o'clock in the morning that somebody awakened us and told us that our dinner was ready. Just think about it. As soon as we had arrived at one o'clock at that house, the host began preparing the dinner as they thought that we did not eat anything the whole day. I witnessed in this family the spirit of humanity in action where a person you don't know treats another person he doesn't know with respect and dignity. And he does not expect any reward. Waking up at one o'clock in the morning and preparing a dinner at that time was just the indication of how good and great people live in this world especially if you knock the door of a house in the US at that time, it is very likely that the owner would shoot you.

Now compare this behaviour with another experience that I had in Pakistan with another person. I was in queue in the airport of Karachi to go to Islamabad. There was one person in front of me in the queue. While I was enjoying the moments of being close to the check point, a tall and handsome man walked straight in front of me jumping the queue. He disrupted my joy. There was a European woman behind me and she was getting late that day as several men of such kind had already jumped the queue before and I decided to stop the next one. Therefore I pressed my fingers on his back and told him that he had violated the rules of the queue and therefore he had to go back to the end of the queue. The tall man who had not expected such behaviour from me got angry and told me that I couldn't tell him what do. I told him he violated the law and the rights of all the people who were in the queue and therefore he had to go back at the end of the queue. The person turned back and looked at me and started laughing maliciously. "You cannot tell me what do, young man. You would be better off if you get quiet." He warned me.

I said, "I still insist that you go back at the end of the queue where you were supposed to be; respecting the right of these people who have come earlier than you.” The officer in the check point was listening to us carefully. He also was surprised by my action. When the passenger in front of me was served, the officer called and I went forward and the tall man insisted that he would go in front of me. The officer told him that it was my turn and therefore he had to wait. The tall man protested and threatened the officer and said, "Do you know who am I?" The officer said, “No. I am sorry but it is his turn,” pointing to me.

The tall man presented his card to the officer. He was the vice president of one of the biggest public companies in Pakistan. The officer looked at it. I saw the name of the person and his position too. It happened that the night before I was invited to a party in which I saw the president of that company and he gave me his card. As soon as I saw the man's card, I opened my briefcase and showed him the card of his boss. "Do you know this person?" I asked. The tall man looked at it. He was surprised and astonished. He looked at me and said, "This is my boss. Do you know him?" I said sarcastically, "He is a friend of my friend and my friend is his boss."

The man changed completely from being aggressive to be very submissive. He apologized and went to the end of the queue.

The reason that I protested against this behaviour was that I saw it regularly happening. The people with position always moved to the front of the queue regardless of those who have been waiting. The there was no any sense of right in the people who have high positions. To them, the rest of people didn't have any right in anything including the right of protest against violations of their rights. It seemed to them very natural to ignore the right oh the people who were in the queue and go straight to the check-in desk. I observed that was the case in everything else. The violation of rules begins with very simple things. Once the people in authorities see the public allowed that to happen, they give themselves the right of doing whatever they wanted to and violating the rights of everybody they wanted. There is no respect for law in their value system. They see themselves above the law and above the public. That is how Pakistan has plunged into complete circle of corruption, violation of human rights aand oppression. The worst thing is nobody feels ashamed of himself for corruption or violating the rights of others. In a way they feel proud of themselves.

I have met hundreds of Pakistanis in high positions. There are few common characteristic among most of them. They have no sense of shame to feel guilty for bad things they do and they do not have the grace to avoid embarrassment. In fact nobody feels embarrassed regardless of whatever he has done. Most of them still steal in the light of day and do not feel any sense of shame. They get into corruption and do not feel a sense of guilt and sin. Such politicians, civil servants, and generals have caused the present situation of Pakistan. Of course there are a lot of exceptions. Politicians, generals and civil servants trade accusations. Almost all of them are true, but nobody can prove them.

A country begins its decline when its politicians and leaders begin to lose respect for integrity, competence, performance of duty and serving people. These are the issues that can break down any country. No country can survive without integrity of its leaders. No nation can survive without competent professionals running the affairs of the country at an acceptable level every day. No nation would survive when its leaders do not have on lasting commitment for serving the people and creating conditions in which the masses feel that their lives get better and better every day. No nation can survive if oppression and brutality becomes the routine of the day with a sense of impunity in those who commit oppression.

If we look back at the history of Pakistan so far, none of its leaders had any dignity to realise their end and accept it gracefully. General Ayoub Khan dominated the country for some time. When his time was over he could not realise it and therefore he continued oppression. There were demonstrations against him everywhere. The public called him a dog and finally threw him out of power in disgrace. He came to power with pride, called himself Field Marshal and left like a dog.

His successor, general Yahya Khan was even worse than him. He caused the disintegration of Pakistan, massacred millions of Bangladeshis. His army raped thousands of women. He was the person who accused you Ayoub Khan of mismanaging the country and corruption, however he himself turned to become even worse than his predecessor. He had to leave and live in disgrace too because of not realising that his time was all over.

Z Ali Bhutto had the same fate. He took the power among celebration of the masses and he was overthrown in a coup after month of demonstrations by the same masses that brought him to power. He lacked the quality of respecting himself and honouring the demand of the masses to hand over the power with dignity and grace. General Zia hanged him for corruption and murder. Zia became the target of the same fate. He turned out to be much worse than Bhutto. As much as the people and foreign countries demanded his departure from power, he did not realise that his time was over. He did not hand over the power with dignity and grace until he was killed in an aeroplane crash.

Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both defied public. Both did not learn from the history of their predecessors. None of them retained their respect and dignity. Both of them were fired and sent into exile in disgraceful manners. General Musharaf took over the power from Sharif promising that he would clean the country and would bring prosperity and dignity to the nation though shortly after assuming power he followed in the steps of his predecessors and repeated their mistakes. Today he is the man without dignity. He has lost respect. And he would go in disgrace like his predecessors.

It seems that Pakistan is the land of disgraceful leaders. The leaders of Pakistan are either killed or sent into exile in disgrace, yet there are hundreds of army generals and politicians who would do everything possible to face this fate.

The Pakistani generals and politicians certainly know how to take over the power. They certainly do not know how to retain the power and how to manage and lead Pakistan. They surely do not know how to hand over the power gracefully and with dignity before they have lost all the respect. They come with grace and go in disgrace. They come with dignity and go without dignity.