Extraordinary Rendition

By: Hakim Hazik

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny. We paid two billion dollars for it. The time has come to redeem that pledge and take delivery. In a star studded ceremony in Dallas, the Air Chief Marshall was handed over the first batch of the F16 aircrafts.

He may be a small man taking part in great events, but these are such epochal events that some of the greatness falls on him as well. This is the culmination of the monumental effort undertaken by the nation. The journey to success was never easy. There were setbacks and stumbling blocks. But adversity is not without its uses. It always brings out the best in our nation, as indeed in case.

Two billion dollars is not a small amount of money. It is larger than the entire budget of many small nations. It would be wrong to say that we have not made financial sacrifices. It has brought together the whole nation in the spirit of 1965. Rich and poor, young and old have all contributed in their own way. The ministers have forsaken private jets and have gladly put up with the indignity of travelling first class on commercial airliners. Prudent financial management has restricted the size of the federal cabinet to a mere one hundred ministers, out of a potential three hundred.

But it is really the poor who deserve our generous and unreserved praise. Every hundred infants out of a thousand have gladly died to support the sovereignty and security of the nation. Half the children have stayed out of school and have welcomed infestation with hookworm. Where leadership and glory of the Ummah is at stake, hookworm cannot be allowed to come in the way.

It is however true that no silver lining is without its cloud. The nation has been appalled to read the details of the Kerry-Luger bill. It makes the hair of all decent citizens stand on end, including the surgically implanted ones on the head of Mian Nawaz Sharif. This is a complete mockery of civilised behaviour and a blatant interference in our internal affairs, including the many billions that our generals have internalised.

No sovereign nation can put up with the humiliating and demeaning demands made in this cowardly bill. It is shocking to note that all the money is to be spent on schools and hospitals, roads and power projects. When the nation is facing an existential threat, it would be insane to spend money on these luxuries. We are a sovereign nation. Our destiny is in our own hands. The incompetent Zardari government has sleepwalked into signing away our national honour.

We do not need polio vaccinations, we need Predator drones. We don’t need roads, we need tanks. We don’t need audits, we need munitions. We don’t need civilians, we need soldiers. We need to defend our borders against an enemy that is callous and ruthless but resourceful as well.

We will overcome any challenge armed with Flying Falcons and hookworms.

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