There is a great deal of ‘TALK’ of yet another NRO in the offing—the stinking smell of which is causing a huge erosion of hopes in the minds that have been seeing ‘the breaking of a new dawn’ as an outcome of the epoch-making Panama case.
‘National Reconciliation’ sounds to be a healthy concept. The world first heard about it when there occurred a dialogue between South Africa’s national hero and acknowledged prisoner of conscience Nelson Mandela, and the leaders of the white racist ruling party that had practiced apartheid policy for decades in South Africa.
Mandela’s ‘National Conciliation’ was built on ‘admission of guilt’ on the part of those who had a ‘lot’— to tender their apologies for. It was linked with a Truth Commission.
In our political dictionary the ‘noble’ phrase stands for ‘Muk Mukka’—a kind of expedient settlement that creates an ‘exit space’ for the guilty. General Pervez Musharraf’s NRO with the late Benazir Bhutto had catastrophic consequences on our country. It’s first causality was Barazir Bhutto herself. Then it led to the formation underground of a vicious Axis of the three—i.e Asif Ali Zardari, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain — each one of whom is a Sicilian godfather of his own type and dimensions.
Another NRO to me is unthinkable— when I take into account the degree of integrity that our Judiciary and our Army have shown in the present conflict between the forces of the status quo and the voice of change.
But if the unthinkable happens, it will mean the creation of ‘an exit space’ for the forces that have fathered all that is evil in our society. This is a very resilient Nation. It has survived the East Pakistan catastrophe. It has survived the monumental corruption of the leaders of the two parties that have ruled this country for years. It has survived the shock of the Model Town massacre. It will survive another shock too if it occurs. But being an optimist if have good reasons to believe that the End is near for the Triangle of the godfathers.
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