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| 31/05/1993 |
| STATURE, NOT HEIGHT |
ON THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON 26 MAY 1993, RESTORING PM NAWAZ SHARIF
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| Belief in reincarnation, perhaps the relic of our Buddhist Gandharan days, has become a fundamental element of modern Pakistani life, for how else can one explain the profligacy with which we squander the vaporous minutes of our lives? We waste time and resources frivolously, we postpone vital decisions, we procrastinate, we put off to another day what we should have accomplished the day before yesterday, and we want general elections every two years. Only a people confident that they have another lifetime to squander can afford to be so spend-thrift with their present. |
| We have adopted in part the Buddhist concept of the wheel of destiny or dhramachakra, for do we not also believe in the inexorability of retribution? Have we not seen Shahs and Kings being humbled, presidents, princes, communists, socialists, nihilists and democrats alike ground into a common chaff? Have we not witnessed the wheel of fortune rotate in smaller, tighter, every decreasing circles until nowadays, one does not need to wait for the Day of Judgment to hear the verdict on one’s actions. It takes place, as the French writer Albert Camus said, every day. |
Published in THE NATION 13 May 1993, and reprinted in THE ARMLESS QUEEN (1994). |
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| 31 May 1993 |
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| All Articles |
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