Ali Baba and Chalees Chor (40 Theives)

Were Ali Baba and his forty accomplices (chalees chor) only mythical characters and are not found in our real life, in our present history? Do the characters we find in our politics, civil and military bureaucracy and business field not typify the characters of Ali Baba and his 40 comrades in Arabic book One Alf Lailah (Thousand and One Nights) alike them? Of course there is difference in behavior and nature of them. The acts of thefts and killings by the fictional characters we read in the ‘Alf Laila’ started accidentally and were happenstances and had not lost all the qualities of fellow feelings and humanness. But the live characters, we experience, are merciless and tyrannous. They are grasping, opportunists, selfish and uncompassionate.

Plundering the national resources and making money through every means is the part of their greedy nature. Field of politics is their choice because they find it the best way for exploitation and manipulation. They have many faces but are alike in their evil nature. May they be politicians, civil and military and bureaucrats, businessmen or industrialists, always remain hands in gloves to protect each other’s interests.

In our history of about 63 years, in fact, these characters held sway over our entire political, social and economic system. They have been changing their appearances and cloaks. They may bear different names, belong to different families, ideologically may stand apart from each other and their political parties may disparate, but ugly features of their character remain the same. They are heavily tainted with forgeries, lies, and beguiling. A word of truthfulness takes decades to get uttered from their lips and when this happens it is not without any expediency and vested interest.

Consider Ch. Shuja’t’s disclosure that 50 to 60 men killed in military operation in Karachi were buried in the hills of Islamabad. This Ali Baba refrained from disclosing in which operation these men were killed? When he himself was interior minister or when Nasirullah Babar was on this post? Why the man kept his lips sealed for such a long time? Under the military dictator he enjoyed the status of prime minister for about 7 weeks, and he was head of ‘kings party’ the main power sharer in the previous regime. MQM also kept on tasting the joy of power in previous and still is the part of government. Why not a judicial probe was not demanded then in the killings, now a subject of hue and cry going on now? They are in habit of deliberately keeping their statements ambiguously worded. Their stance on different issues in the evening goes different from that which they stand for in the morning.

Ali Baba-ism, now has become considerably sophisticated and revamped job. Now under a big Ali Baba there are dozens of subordinates. If the chief Ali Baba is in the White House in Washington, his lackeys in Islamabad carry out the task assigned to them from there. Each of these dozens of Ali Babas’ has his own group of 40 accomplices. Amplitude of this job has taken it from the caves and jungles to the power centers of the world, in prime minister and president houses. Insulated by many layers, it has now covers of different departments working under the auspices of the ministries. The looted wealth is kept in Swiss and other famous banks in London and other capitals of Europe and the gulf countries and not as Ali Baba and his 40 chor used to hide in the caves. Ali Baba and his 40 collaborators used to keep their wealth in gold coins but modern Ali Babas’ invest in real estate, make plazas, buy plots in big cities and own costly houses in London and Dubai. Gone are the days when desultory cases of looting just a few people used to happen.

Now the methods have been invented to grab the income of millions of people within minutes. For example the cohorts of Ali Baba are the owners of flour and sugar mills. All of a sudden the stock of these very basic needs is hoarded, necessities of life disappear from the stores and the people are taken in by an artificial scarcity of flour and sugar in the markets. Prices swiftly go up and the pockets of the buyers are picked within moments. This is going on right now and such chalees chors have made billions within weeks through this dirty game.

We often find carrion eater animals pouncing on each other while gnawing the carrion. Exactly same is the case of Ali Babas’ and their chors. When a difference occurs in distributing the catches and their interests clash they harshly quarrel with each other. They are indulged in mudslinging and disgracing each other. There is a notorious ethnic group having mastery over exploiting and aggrandizement was power sharer in the previous regime and confederate in the crimes committed by Ali Baba of that time. All the partners of previous regime were equally responsible in the worst military operation in Balochistan, Lal Masjid in Islamabad and FATA. PML (Q) and MQM not only kept silent but also ardently endorsed the policies of Musharaf. Now at the beck and call of their masters abroad and within the establishment they are out to vex another Ali Baba who demands the trial of Musharaf for treason and trampling the constitution.

The ethnic group raised no objection on ruthless military operations during Musharaf rule now wants a judicial inquiry why Nawaz Sharif failed to stop the military action in Karachi in 1992 in which MQM’s noose was tightened for its crimes. Is it not strange that being part of federal and provincial government and extremely close to Musharaf for five years and now with Ali Baba of this time MQM remained remiss in the alleged murders of its workers but all of sudden a retired military brigadier’s mysterious transpiring has caused a clamour. A good chance to divert attention from ‘chors’ involved in sugar scandal, high level corruption in Sindh, particularly a Nazim of a city government and one more ‘shikar’ with the same arrow to save the most wanted Ali Baba (Musharaf) from trial.