BY

Scene 1 : The Prime Minister arriving at the Islamabad Airport after a "triumphant" sojourn abroad. The innumerable Ministers, Advisors, Senators, MNAs, MPAs, Party leaders, the Diplomatic Corps (why them ?), the Armed Forces’ top brass, the District Administration, the glitterati, etc, are at the tarmac welcoming the leader back home.

Scene 2 : The arrival of the President / Prime Minister / Governor / Chief Minister at a meeting or convention is turned into a party "jalsa". It seems that elections are never over in Pakistan. Democracy in Pakistan means that each and every occasion is turned into a political festival.

Scene 3 : The Chief Minister moving about in town. His car is surrounded by police, providing him a security blanket befitting an Emperor. Overnight there is a metamorphosis from being an ordinary mortal to becoming an exalted majesty.

Scene 4 : The Ministers / Advisors riding haughtily in their Landcruisers / Pajeros with not one but two flags on the car, windows tinted, over-speeding, yet never arriving on time. They too are chaperoned by their personal bodyguards and supplemented by a police escort.

These familiar scenarios have become part of the country’s environment. The concept of "protocol" has been used, abused, and misused by one and all, including Parliamentarians, Party hierarchy, and even the personal staff of VVIPs. This has now become a national joke. It seems that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy by over-enthusiastic, security-conscious, follow-the-book administrators to wedge a perpetual gulf between the leaders and the Awam, so that they can make sure that the rulers never come close to pounding the flesh with those who voted them or their Party into power.

Karachi is at a greater disadvantage whenever a VVIP is in town. Each visit consumes the already spent energy of the local Administration and the police. The whole absurd exercise of deputizing the big-wigs of the District Administration at the beck and call of the VVIPs right from arrival at the Jinnah Terminal to the exodus is getting just too much. It has reached a point where the smooth functioning of the City is neglected because the Administration is playing Mr Good Host. The innumerable problems besetting the City are put on hold because the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, SDM / ACs, DIG, etc, etc, are at the airport or with the motorcade, and making sure that the security arrangements are at top alert. The DIG and the SSP /DSPs are acting like ordinary sentries, ensuring safety and making sure that the "undesired" elements are kept blocks away from the presence of the VVIPs. At the airport, the security people are in a state of nervousness. God forbid should even a car backfire. It would result in a siege at the airport, most probably dwarfing even the volatile atmosphere in Bosnia.

The whole charade of protocol-mania has gone too far. The sad part is that no leader wants to end it or avoid it. General Zia did not want any car parked right from Karachi Airport to the State Guest House because in his convoluted mind, he felt that Karachiites would bomb him out of existence. Syed Muzzafar Shah, the erstwhile Chief Minister, acted out his own role as the Shah-in-Shah of Shahrah-e-Faisal. He truly enjoyed the sadistic pleasure of making the citizens, and especially his neighbors, suffer. The Jam of Sindh was another such person. The former Corps Commander too enjoyed the highly conspicuous motorcade. The present Chief Minister and his merry band of Ministers / Advisors / have kept the opera going on to the next scene. It seems that these trappings of power are enjoyed by them to boost their inflated ego or to prove their so-called high worthiness.

Is that so ? Is that an eternal facility for them ? What about the day when they will be outside the orbit of power ? What will happen to their ego when the security people and the intelligence sleuths will be outside their residences, monitoring their every movement ? And, the only time they will meet the press will be at the hackneyed press conferences they or their party will host to denounce the party in power for being corrupt, opulent, and wasting national resources. Why don’t they contemplate now before it is too late ?

One should however give credit to a couple of past Governors of Sindh who truly shunned all such pomposity and never displayed ostentation. They actually were paradigms of modesty, simplicity, and humility. Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Mahmud A. Haroon deserve kudos for reducing protocol to a bare minimum. The paraphernalia of officialdom did not spoil them.

The latest resident of the stately mansion behind Bagh-e-Jinnah is a honest-to-goodness, down-to-earth, non-pretentious personality. He is eager to listen to the voice of the people. He does not want to hide behind a facade of over-protective, more loyal-than-the-king, zealous band of armed personnel (and hanger-ons). He is not showing any signs of feigned superiority. He should not become a victim of this extravaganza, this atrociously asinine show of force and colonial mentality by his security chaps. He too should travel with minimum security, with no ballyhoo, and without disrupting the flow of things. He should ensure that his people do not trumpet his every arrival by explicit shows reminiscent of British Raj.

So far, the trappings of the Governor’s status has not spoiled him. This is a good augury. This positive demeanor can enable him to very conveniently and radically alter the existing protocol manual, not only for him but also for the other VVIPs whose pompousness is a big source of pain for the denizens of Karachi.