The political underworld of Pakistan


March 17, 2012

Dr Haider Shah

Forget about the Godfather series of Hollywood or the gangster movies of Bollywood. Just watch the talk shows on these days and you will be thrilled to see how the underworld operates in Pakistani politics with impunity.

The lid on the much-awaited Asghar Khan case has finally been lifted after much hesitation by the Supreme Court (SC). The Pandora’s Box contains not only politicians’ dirty linen but also the manual on how the real state operates while we remain busy in watching the movie. It reminds me of Plato’s famous analogy of shadows in a cave. It centred on the notion of ideal forms that resided in the heavens, while on earth we only see their reflections. Illustrating the point, he gives the example of a person who is chained inside a cave and on the wall in front of him, sees shadows of objects moving behind him. If the prisoner was born and raised like this, he would treat the shadows as real. But if he is released and sees the real objects he would then realise that all through his life he had only been watching shadows.