When Pakistan Home minister's daughter was kidnapped ...!

This is an excerpt from the book ‘Altered Destiny’ by Suhas Inamdar. It is a fiction novel published in 2014.The passionate speech made by the Pakistan Home minister in Pakistan assembly echoes the suggestion made by Indian Prime minister recently – to manage its own territory better before casting its sight on additional piece of land.

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Khwaja Salahudeen said, ‘Respected Speaker sir and my fellow lawmakers of Pakistan, it is with great pride and happiness I inform you all that we have successfully rescued a young girl studying in 10th standard, from the kidnappers who held her in captivity for over 36 hours. That young girl happened to be my daughter. This incident nevertheless raises a few questions which we need to ask ourselves, including myself. The first and foremost question is: are we providing adequate security to the citizens of our country? If not, then it is a matter of shame for all of us sitting here. We are the elected Government of Pakistan, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the country and its people from any kind of threat. We are supposed to devote all our energy and resources for the welfare of our people and the growth of this country.

‘I am happy to inform you that we could rescue Maliha from the kidnappers without meeting any of their demands. Their demands included giving them a lot of money and also releasing 10 dreaded terrorists, who are currently lodged in our various jails. On the personal front, I had a fight with my family about not meeting their demands. I was not in favour of meeting these demands, as it would have further emboldened them to carry out more such kidnappings in future. Moreover, releasing the terrorists was a very demoralizing proposition, as it would have instantly demeaned the efforts of our brave police personnel who had risked their lives in capturing them.

‘Today Pakistan is on the threshold of a new era. The world around us is changing very fast. Countries are shedding their past and embracing the future with optimism and promise. We also need to change. We cannot keep harping on the painful partition or continue to fight over a piece of land called Kashmir. What we need to do is to look at the big picture. What is the use of Kashmir, if we are not able to properly use the much larger size of land already available with us? Are we making foreign policies just for satisfying our egos? We need to change.

‘Pakistan is a blessed land. We are the sixth most populous country in the world. We have a coastline of over 1000 km, which, if utilized efficiently, can boost our maritime business activities. Our Armed Forces are the eighth largest in the world. Our heritage and culture is one of the oldest in the region. We are one of the few nuclear powers in the world. Don’t these figures make us proud? Well, not in the current scenario. And the reasons are not very difficult to find.

‘Today, the common impression about a politician in the mind of our citizens is that of a corrupt person, who thinks and cares only about himself. Very few of us have done something worthwhile for our people. Most of the time, we think only about filling our personal coffers, building our own portfolio of assets and furthering our personal interests. This is injustice to the people of Pakistan. We cannot and should not neglect the people of our country.

‘Terrorism is gaining ground on our soil. We are not showing enough courage to tackle it for various personal and vested political reasons. Since it does not affect us directly, we do not think much about it. But out there, daily, dozens of people are losing their lives in the bomb blasts, which are occurring at very frequent intervals across our major cities. Just because we move around in bulletproof cars with full security around us, is it fair that we leave our countrymen to their fate like this? Who are we deceiving in the process? Is it really worth being a powerful personality in a weak country?

‘We need to think seriously about poverty and illiteracy. These two are the major impediments on our path of progress. If we are not able to guarantee food and basic education to our countrymen, I think we should leave our positions of elected office at once. Just because we have won elections, it does not mean that we can relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour for five years, oblivious of the stark surroundings. Our task is not complete till every citizen of our country is able to bear the minimum expenses of educating his children and providing them food, clothing and shelter.

‘I urge you all to think about Pakistan before thinking about yourselves. Feel proud to be a part of the process of change to lift our country from this mess to a glorious future. And remember, please do not think even for a moment that you are doing charity by doing so… you are doing this for your own children’s safety and well-being. Of what use is your wealth, if the conditions outside on the streets of Pakistan are not safe for people to walk?

‘Look at our neighbour India. Actually we are born out of them. See how they have made progress over the same years. It is not because they are bigger than us. If we talk about size, then Singapore, Japan and Dubai are much smaller than us. India is today far ahead of us in everything. The starting line in this race for development was the same for both of us. Yet they surged forward. There are reasons for their growth and development. It is about the tolerance of their citizens to diverse ideas, it is about the vision of their leaders, and it is about the passion of their industrialists to rise...

‘It is high time that we start considering India as our elder brother, seeking their guidance and support in our various endeavours. I am very sure that if our intentions are right, India will go out of the way to support us. India has already demonstrated its greatness by not attacking us even once, while we made three unsuccessful attempts to invade them. India has taught the entire world the meaning of truth and non-violence. They have demonstrated that with these two qualities alone, they could shake the rock-solid British Empire which ruled over them for 90 years. Today India is considered a giant power in the field of Information Technology. Had we not separated from them in 1947, we could have shared their growth and, if possible, contributed to it as well. After all, we are not different in any way from each other. We were one before 1947 and became two thereafter. As if to pay the price for our deeds, the eastern part of our country was dissociated with us in 1971 to form what is now called Bangladesh. This only proves an old adage… As we sow, so we reap.

‘So, dear colleagues, please join me in initiating this noble move to cleanse Pakistan of all its evils and start a new chapter. Let us take Pakistan to new heights with dignity and honour. Let us show our humble face to the world. Let our citizens be proud of their country. We may need to sacrifice many things on this path of progress, as the task is gigantic in nature. But there has to be a beginning. I have already demonstrated that I did not care for even my daughter, whom I love very much. I did not want to save my daughter at the cost of 10 terrorists roaming on Pakistani streets jeopardizing the lives of hundreds of daughters of Pakistan. Thank you all….’

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The book ‘Altered Destiny’ is available on Amazon, Flip Kart and Infibeam.

Everyone gained … Samajwadi Party lost.

The sordid drama, which unfolded in UP last week, for over 100 hours, has developed serious cracks in the foundation of Samajwadi Party. In the coming days, these cracks are likely to weaken the strong edifice, so carefully built by the patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav for the last 24 years.

It is unfortunate and a bit ironical that all the key stakeholders in Samajwadi Party have made wrong moves and even blunders in the time of grave crisis. Is this because their personal political ambitions have overshadowed their collective responsibility towards the party?

Let us analyze the wrong moves by the three key stakeholders of this thriller drama:

Mulayam Singh Yadav:

As is emerging now, his constant reprimanding of his son in public forums for the last few months has become a handy tool now for all the opposition parties. They are freely quoting his statements in their public rallies, which is causing a deep embarrassment in the rank and file of the Samajwadi Party. However, all his such utterances looked like benign praise when he burst out against his son after achieving a (temporary) truce between his brother and son last week. He said in no uncertain terms that Akhilesh is an incapable and undeserving CM, who had spoilt his (Mulayam’s) chances of becoming a PM in 2014. This statement from a 76-year-old founder of a party displays that his love for his unfulfilled personal ambitions is far higher than his love for his son. He did not even think for a minute the impact, which his statement was going to make on his son’s profile as CM of the largest state of India. He is definitely not naïve to assume that his son would take such scathing remarks lying low. However, what is surprising is that he is willing to take the risk of his son’s revolt. This is where his judgement could be erroneous. Given all the plus and minuses of Akhilesh in running the government for last 4 years, one thing is clear that his style of politics is diametrically opposite to that of his father and uncles. He talks about technology and believes in true development. He connects with the educated youth far better than the elder generation of Yadav clan. His dissidence could prove costly to the party and the family.

Shivpal Yadav:

The best way to describe Shivpal’s behavior during the entire drama is to compare him with the sullen mother of a groom demanding more dowry during a marriage. She demands full attention from everyone around and doesn’t budge from her demands. And she achieves it all finally. However, in the process, she loses the goodwill of everyone around.

Same is the case of Shivpal Yadav. He has contributed immensely in building the party along with Mulayam and obviously deserves significant share of power. However, he probably overstepped into Akhilesh’s well-defined territory far too often, resulting in him crying foul. His best option would have been to resolve all the differences with Akhilesh behind the closed doors. They could have involved Mulayam well in advance and not wait for the media to serve the orgy to its savoring viewers. That would have protected the dignity and strength of Samajwadi Party as well as the Yadav family. However, he chose to wash the dirty linen in public and the entire episode exploded into an unstoppable fire. So, even though the fire is doused for now, the damage is already done.

Akhilesh Yadav:

He has been made to eat the humble pie by his father and uncle. However, they conveniently forgot that he is also one among them, and has run the government for full four years. He is not new to the game of politics. He has many more promising years ahead of him unlike the elders in the family, who can remain politically active for just one more term or two. Displaying courage and magnanimity, he opted to blink first and get whacked royally in full public view, just to protect the honor and dignity of his family and his party. If, in the entire episode, there was one act of showing generosity of reconciliation, it was by Akhilesh in reversing all his demands and orders.

However, shrewd people see this sacrifice as an act of dousing the fire only. Before the smoke withers away, he shall be in sitting in his drawing room, sharpening his claws, licking his wounds and making much bigger plans for himself. He would not have the patience to wait endlessly for his elder generation to retire. He will come back with a vengeance at his uncle. He would not care much about his father, because he has already sort of ‘disowned’ him by ridiculing him in public and questioning his abilities. And this time when Akhilesh strikes back, he would leave no scope for any reconciliation. It would be a final goodbye to the current set-up. The most obvious thing would be to make Mulayam and Shivpal the Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi of Samajwadi Party.