The Black Rainbow

by Hussain Zaidi

  Maulvi Zia was impatient to talk to him about his address last evening but realized it was not the proper occasion. Maulvi Zia was on personal terms with some envoys from Muslim countries, who were also present there. They congratulated him on the election of Malik Naseem. Maulvi Zia also had a brief chat with the American ambassador.

  Suddenly, it was announced that the army chief General Obaid had arrived. Malik Naseem himself went to the main entrance to receive the general, who was in civilian dress and was undoubtedly the un-acclaimed chief guest of the event. Every one present in the reception wanted to talk or at least shake hand with the general. Though he addressed Malik Naseem as ‘sir’ and as respectfully as it is possible for a Pakistani general to address a civilian, it didn’t require a genius to guess who the real master was. The general, who was the last to arrive at the reception, was the first to leave. He was followed by the American ambassador and other guests.

  Maulvi Zia and Sharif Khan also decided to leave. They went to Malik Naseem to say him good-bye. As at that time Malik Naseem was alone, Sharif Khan complained to him that his staff had forgotten to invite Maulvi Zia to the reception.

  “I’m extremely sorry for that Maulvi sahib. As we’re new to each other, they don’t really know who my friends are,” Malik Naseem explained.

  “It’s all right,” Maulvi Zia said in a rather cold tone. “We all make mistakes.”

  “I know you have a lot to talk to me. Could we meet tomorrow?” Malik Naseem asked him. And without waiting for an answer he said, “My staff will tell you the exact time.”

  “Ok,” Maulvi Zia assented.

  “Didn’t I tell you that Malik Naseem is a friend of friends? Now when you meet him tomorrow, frankly tell him what you want,” Sharif Khan told Maulvi Zia as they drove back to his residence.

  “I just want him to fulfill the promises he made to me,” Maulvi Zia replied.

  “He’ll certainly do so,” Sharif Khan said. “Just give him some time. The list of the new ministers will be finalized by tomorrow, I suppose. Do you have any nominee?”

  “No, not at the moment. But I guess you are certain to make it.”

  “Yes I have been offered the portfolio of tourism. But I have told Malik Naseem that it’s a useless ministry. A country ravaged by the war on terror is no place to attract foreign tourists.”

  “But then which ministry are you eyeing?” Maulvi Zia queried.

  “I want either the ministry of industries or the commerce ministry. Both ministries are very lucrative. Zia sahib let me state it frankly. For me politics is the art of earning money and I’m in politics only for this. Serving the people and the country is meant only for public consumption.” Sharif Khan was candid.

  “I appreciate your frankness, though I don’t agree with you that politics is meant for earning money. To me, politics is an instrument of serving religion. I’m in politics to promote the cause of Islam,” Maulvi Zia explained.

  “Though I offer my prayers regularly, I’m not a religious person like you,” Sharif Khan said.

  “You didn’t tell me what did Malik Naseem say in response to your demand for a ministry of your choice?” Maulvi Zia enquired.

  “He told me these two ministries were in high demand. You know taking part in elections is a very expensive business. My election campaign cost me at least 20 million rupees. The same goes for most other parliamentarians. Far from serving the people, politics is an investment, where you want handsome return on your capital. So at the moment there is intense competition for ministerial slots.” Sharif Khan said.

  “You are very close to Malik Naseem. Do you think his government will terminate the operation against the militants?” Maulvi Zia asked.

  “I really don’t know for the simple reason that I’m not interested in that. But being a Pathan, I can safely tell you that the militants would never lay down their arms. If forced to make a choice, they would prefer death to surrender.”

  “Actually I was expecting that Malik Naseem would immediately announce the end of the military operation, but I am disappointed,” Maulvi Zia again complained.

  “Well, you should talk to him directly about this. I would again say that Malik Naseem is a man of his word and whatever he promised to you, he would honor it. Just give him some time.”

  Maulvi Zia kept silent and after a while left for the White Mosque.

  The next day Maulvi Zia received a message from Malik Naseem asking him to see him at the prime minister’s house at seven in the evening. The message rejuvenated the maulvi, who until then was constantly speculating whether Malik Naseem would contact him.

  At 7 pm sharp, Maulvi Zia reached the prime minister’s house. He was taken to the PM office and was asked to wait and he had to wait longer than he expected. On enquiry, he was told that the PM was busy. At last, at 8.45, he was let in the PM’s chamber.

  “Assalam-O-Alaikum Maulvi Zia sahib,” Malik Naseem said as the former stepped in. “I’m sorry that I kept you waiting. But there was some urgent business that I had to dispose of.

  “I can understand this,” Maulvi Zia remarked looking at the bundle of files lying on the prime minister’s table.

  “Without wasting time, let’s come straight to the point. Is there anything I can do for you?” Tomorrow I’ll announce my cabinet. I can take couple of persons of your choice?” Malik Naseem made his offer.

  “Thanks. But at this point my interest is not in your cabinet. I just want to remind you of your promise,” Maulvi Zia said sharply.

  “If I’m not wrong, you are alluding to the war on terror?”

  “Yes you are right. I’m glad you haven’t forgotten your word. I’ll be happier if you fulfill it,” Maulvi Zia said.

  “I’ll definitely, But just give me some time.”

  “May I remind you that you had promised to wind up the operation against militants immediately after coming into power? And I was severely disappointed when there was no mention of it in your public address,” Maulvi Zia complained.

  “Just as you fathom the depth of the ocean when you are in it, you know the constraints of the government when you enter the corridors of power. At this point, the powers that be — and you know who they are — are opposed to what you want and what I want. I’ll have to create space for that for which I need time.”

  “I can give you time. But the people who are behind me are not willing to do so.”

  “Come on maulvi sahib. The militants hold you in the highest esteem and you have a lot of influence on them. So please make them understand. Tell them to be patient. It’ll be good for all of us. If any person can get the operation stopped, it’s me. And I’ll certainly do so. But right now I’m on a sticky wicket and can’t afford to play a rash stroke. Ask the militants to stop their activities. This will help my government halt the operation against them. I think you understand what I mean.”

  Maulvi Zia held his peace.

  “Forgive me but I ‘m to chair an important meeting in a while,” Malik Naseem said and rose from the chair. “Zia sahib you’re a far wiser and knowledgeable person than I’m. So it makes little sense if I give you some advice. I only request you not to nourish any doubts as to my intentions. I’m with you and my government is with you. We both want peace and an end to foreign influence. But you’ll appreciate that there is always a lag between desire and its fulfillment,” Malik Naseem sought to reassure Maulvi Zia and opened the door for him. “Allah hafiz. I’ll stay in touch with you.”

  ‘Justice is the securest basis of society’. That was the topic assigned to the philosophy class for their weekly group discussion. Dr Junaid was the moderator. He introduced the topic briefly and then invited the class to discussion.

  Naila was the first to pick up the thread. “It’s a very easy topic in that we all including Ali can speak on it at length. And I don’t think there can be major disagreement among us on that,” she remarked looking at Sara.

  “If you don’t mind, please don’t speak for the entire
class. Just speak only for yourself,” Sara objected.

  “I know what prompted you to say that,” Naila spoke back looking first at Sara and then at Ali. “However, to save time,” she continued, “I’ll come straight to the discussion. It’s justice for which society, at least a political society, is established. Justice is the bond which keeps society intact. If people don’t get justice, they’ll fight among themselves and the entire social fabric will crumble. So I support the view that justice is the securest basis of society.”

  Riaz was the next to speak. “From the Islamic standpoint,” he maintained, “justice lies at the basis of society. In Islam, justice means absolute fairness. In an Islamic society, no one is above the law; all including the ruler are equal before law. The western view that sovereign can do no wrong has no place in Islam. Muslim history is replete with examples where the ruler appeared before the court like an ordinary person and accepted the court ruling. But alas that lofty tradition was discontinued, which more than any other factor led to the downfall of Muslims!”

  At this point, Dr Junaid addressing Naila and Riaz said, “I have a question to you two. Is justice natural? Or is it merely a matter of convention. I’m asking this question, because in ancient Greece there was a lot of discussion on that. The Sophists, and you must be well familiar with them, considered justice merely a matter of convention, while Socrates and his pupil Plato, regarded justice as natural. The significance of the nature-convention controversy is that if we regard justice as merely a matter of convention, then the meaning of justice varies from society to society, age to age. But if we think justice to be natural, then justice will have universal meaning.”

  “May I answer first,” Naila asked Riaz and receiving a nod from him remarked: “I believe justice is natural. We all have a sense of justice. It is another thing that most of us don’t live up to that sense all the time.”

  “I endorsed Nail’s view,” Riaz said. “Justice has universal meaning. Though it may be defined differently in different legal systems, these differences are for the most part formal or linguistic, rather than substantive or material.”

  “But how do you define justice,” Ali enquired.

  “It’s simple,” Naila replied. “Justice means giving every one the treatment they deserve. It is justice to hang a murderer and acquit an innocent; reward the virtuous and punish the wicked; promote good and suppress evil.”

  “You defined justice as giving every one the treatment they deserve. Is not the treatment that one deserves a matter of convention?” Sara asked.

  “Pardon me, but I don’t really understand what you are driving at. Would you be so nice as to elaborate?” Naila asked.

  Sara looked at Dr Junaid, who endorsed Naila’s request.

  “Ok I’ll explain,” Sara said shrugging her shoulders. “Deserving or not deserving something is essentially a value judgment and values differ from society to society. Here are some examples. In the western society, prostitution doesn’t evoke the same condemnation as in a Muslim society. Taking liquor is not looked upon with disapproval in the West, while among Muslims it’s considered haram. In European countries, no crime however heinous it may be deserves capital punishment, while this is not the case in many other countries including ours. For conservative Muslims, couples who are guilty of illicit relations deserve death by stoning, while for the vast majority of people such a punishment is barbaric and uncalled for. For Europeans, torture is an unlawful means of extracting confession but Americans don’t see any problem with torture if it is the only means of extracting information from accused persons. I can give many such examples. But my essential point is that the concept of justice is rooted in the very ethos of a society and every society has its own ethos. Hence, justice is a matter of convention. There are thus no immutable principles of justice.”

  “I think Sara has made her point perfectly clear,” observed Dr Junaid. Now it’s for others to respond.”

  “There was complete silence in the class as everyone seemed clueless after Sara’s remarks, who was smiling triumphantly. But Naila was not prepared to give in. “But at least you accept that justice is the priority of every society,” she remarked to Sara.

  “I never said that. Nor does what I said imply this,” Sara returned. “I was just responding to your argument that justice is not a matter of convention.”

  “Ok. I stand corrected, “Naila remarked. “May be you‘ll enlighten us on your views regarding the place of justice in society. But I challenge your proposition that justice is simply a matter of convention by showing that such a position leads to absurd conclusions.”

  Naila paused for a moment to catch her breath and then continued, “If justice is regarded as simply a matter of convention, then there cannot be any universal view of justice. Every society is then entitled to have its own view of justice. It is perfectly legitimate for one society to conquer another, for one people to enslave another; for one country to destroy another. Such an approach will make international cooperation and peaceful co-existence of states impossible. Besides, since normally every culture consists of two or more sub cultures, within every society there are different concepts of justice and each concept is equally valid. In that event, it’s well-neigh impossible to decide who is right and who is wrong, who is on a high moral ground and who is on a low moral ground, who is justified and who is unjustified. The result is that it will be impossible to resolve conflicts even within one society. The terrorists who have their own concept of justice are as much on a high moral ground as those who are after them.”

  “Wonderful!” Riaz exclaimed, as Naila finished. “It’s game, set and match for you Naila.”

  “I’m a big admirer of your eloquence Naila,” Sara remarked. “But I’m afraid your argument is not convincing; at least it hasn’t convinced me. Your argument doesn’t explode my position that justice is a matter of convention. As for rivalry among nations and people, the cardinal cause is not disagreement over what is just and what is unjust or what’s right and what’s wrong but the impulse for power and dominance. Even if all mankind agrees upon a universal definition of justice, peace and order will not ensue, because conflict is built into individuals and societies. It’s, if I’m allowed to say, in their DNAs.”

  “But you agree that justice is the securest basis of society?” Javed asked.

  “With all my regard for your sensibilities, I doubt this,” Sara replied. “It’s not justice alone that makes society secure. We need to look for other factors as well. A society characterized by absolute justice may come to ruin if it does not have the capacity to respond to the challenges it faces, which may be internal as well as external. Justice doesn’t ensure progress in society. Nor does it ensure its bare survival. A completely just society may be destroyed by an epidemic for which it has no cure.”

  “I think it’s enough for now,” Dr Junaid said. “We’ll try to arrange another discussion on this topic. Thank you very much for this animated debate.”

  Chapter 17

  From his conversation with Malik Naseem, Maulvi Zia had realized that the new prime minister wasn’t inclined to halt the operation against the militants, at least not immediately. So he decided to speak to his confidant Dr Junaid and chart the future course of action in consultation with him.

  When they met, Maulvi Zia gave a detailed account of his meeting with Malik Naseem and how he had ignored his calls and how he had forgotten to invite him to his reception.

  “Either Malik Naseem himself doesn’t want peace with the militants or the establishment doesn’t approve of such a step. In either case, we shouldn’t count much on the new government,” Dr Junaid opined.

  “This means for us the change in the government has proved a futile exercise,” Maulvi Zia lamented. “We wasted our time, energy and money on a wrong cause.”

  “It appears so,” Dr Junaid agreed. “But ours is not a totally lost cause. With the previous government, we had no hopes; with Malik Naseem we have at least some
hope.”