Waiting for Saladin

I HAVE a confession to make: in all my travels, Saudi Arabia has never figured on my itinerary.

And with good reason. Why would I go to a country that deliberately destroys its historical heritage, flogs and beheads people, and treats foreign workers worse than slaves? With so many pleasant places to choose from, Jeddah and Riyadh are very low down the list.

But if retired general Raheel Sharif chooses to spend his twilight years there, who am I to object? Frankly, his post-retirement plans don’t interest me much. As far as I’m concerned, he did a good job as army chief, and has called it quits on the appointed day. Time to move on.

To judge from all the hysteria about his reported move to Saudi Arabia, one would think he’s stabbed us in the back. But hey, folks, lots of people get jobs abroad and move. In fact, most Pakistanis would jump at the opportunity to make some serious bucks overseas, even if it is in a cultural wasteland.

So why so much angst over Raheel Sharif’s new job? Some commentators and regulars on social media have made the point that, as a retiring full general, he doesn’t lack for money or property. But when has that ever stopped the well-off from wanting more?

Then there’s the chorus complaining that the 34-nation military alliance he is supposed to lead exists only in the figment of the Saudi royal family’s imagination. So? Surely our retired hero is due some rest and recreation: why should we object if he gets paid a vast amount?

I suspect the real reason so many people are worked up is that they had projected their image of a national saviour on Sharif, and are now shattered at his decision to take the familiar route to the Oily Land. Our history is littered with figures we built up into facsimiles of Saladin, only to be disappointed when they came crashing down to earth.

Why so much angst over Raheel Sharif’s new job?

This perpetual search for a saviour who would solve our problems has been a regular refrain, with dictators being welcomed, only to be exposed for the ambitious, ruthless men they really were. Currently, millions have pinned their hopes on Imran Khan. While wishing them luck, I would only point out that changing institutions and attitudes is very hard work, and doesn’t happen overnight.

Even bloody revolutions are no panaceas. Clearly, those who, until recently, were urging Raheel Sharif to take over have not learned from our coup-littered history. To his credit, Raheel Sharif spurned the invitation as he probably knew that he had no answers for all that ails the country.

In Pakistan, institutions have been so enfeebled by years of misrule that it is relatively easy for a dictator to bend them to his will. The higher judiciary might be showing its teeth now, but for decades, it was the main facilitator for military rulers. The bureaucracy was more than happy to salute the new dispensation, and the media was easily subdued.

In Pakistan, institutions have been so enfeebled by years of misrule that it is relatively easy for a dictator to bend them to his will. The higher judiciary might be showing its teeth now, but for decades, it was the main facilitator for military rulers. The bureaucracy was more than happy to salute the new dispensation, and the media was easily subdued.

With this background, Raheel Sharif’s many fans were rooting for him to either get an extension, or simply take over. I wonder what has happened to the shadowy organisation that pasted the general’s face on walls from Karachi to the Khyber Pass. I do know that TV chat show hosts and columnists who were urging Sharif to stay are now having to eat humble pie. Chilli sauce, anyone?

But ultimately, this search for a messiah says more about us than it does about Raheel Sharif. After all, if he has accepted the job, he would be doing what most in his position would have: take whatever is coming his way.

Many pundits have superimposed a regional/sectarian view on to his future role as a generalissimo on the Saudi payroll. The Saudi-Iranian proxy war has been invoked, and Pakistan’s own Shia-Sunni tensions have been made part of this discourse. Saudi Arabia’s vicious bombing of Yemen has been advanced as yet another reason for him to refuse the role of commander of the ghost battalions of the Sunni coalition.

But since when have mercenaries questioned the cause they are paid to fight for? When Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-nation coalition, some of the member states — Pakistan included — expressed their ignorance of the honour conferred on them by Riyadh. After this, the so-called alliance practically disappeared from the scene until Raheel Sharif’s retirement.

I suppose our ex-army chief will first have to go around a reluctant Muslim world to drum up support for the hare-brained scheme. And no doubt there will be a Saudi princeling in the background with an open chequebook.

Here’s when he will learn the Saudi way of fighting wars. And as he recedes into a well-paid obscurity, his days of being a hero to the Pakistani people will quickly fade away.

The Article First Appeared In Dawn

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