Review of the book Surviving the wreck
A civil servant personal history of Pakistan
Review Published in Pakistan Today
http://issuu.com/abidoon/docs/dna_issue_94
Memoirs
of a bureaucrat
The narrative seeks to cover the author’s experiences under
the changing structures of civilian and military governments inexorably
affecting political and administrative institutions and the quality of the
civil services in general
Syed Munir Husain belongs to the
early generation of civil servants in Pakistan – well known for their
professional competence, personal integrity, administrative acumen, and
commitment to duty. A Lahorite by birth, he is the scion of a respectable
family genealogically connected with men like Justice (Retd) Syed Fayyaz Hassan
Shah, Syed Fida Hassan, Syed Shabbir Hussain, Group Captain (Retd) Syed Fayyaz
Mahmood, Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Saghir Hussain and Syed Anwar Mahmood. He joined
the coveted echelons of the civil service of Pakistan in 1952.
The title of the book would remind
one of Susan Osborn’s novel Surviving the Wreck (1994) but the
analogy ends there as here the canvas is broadened to incorporate a civil
servant’s personal history of Pakistan as against the fictional narration of a
distressed female’s personal tragedy in the earlier work.
The book is comprised of sixteen
chapters describing its author’s personal life, his civil service career
starting from the KPK Province (then NWFP), the three Martial Laws and their
impact on the socio-political life of the country, civil-military relationship
on the issues of governance, President Ayub Khan’s election and the 1965 war
with India, role of radio and the abdication of President Ayub Khan, the merger
of Swat State, the East Pakistan debacle, the Marri tribe insurgency and
deployment of Army in Balochistan, 1977 general elections and their aftermath,
1982 population census and repercussions of Russian invasion of Afghanistan,
cleavage between President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and PM Muhammad Khan
Junejo, restoration of the civilian rule, civil services under Martial Law and
civilian rule, need for a durable governance, and nation’s capacity to address
its painful past.
‘The writer has inserted in the narrative his thoughtful
personal observations, reflections, and comments on the fluid state of affairs
in the country with a view to educating the readers on the cause and effect
cycle of events culminating into a series of some significant but crucial
episodes in the history of Pakistan’
Besides, the commonplace questions
that the author has ventured to explore and answer in the book relate to the
surety and sanctity of constitutional dispensation, extremism and violence, the
demon of malpractice and corruption, institutional decline in the general
standard of education and other fields, and the dilemma of population
explosion. The narrative seeks to cover the author’s experiences under the changing
structures of civilian and military governments inexorably affecting political
and administrative institutions and the quality of the civil services in
general. He laments that ‘this short and important history is characterised by
constitutional abrogation, dire ineptitude of civilian rule and a pathetic
degeneration of the bureaucracy’. While portraying the dismal scenario of the
politico-administrative governance of the country in his near 40 years long
tenure as a privileged civil servant, the author has relied more on objectivity
and his benign catholicity of temperament than on any personal egotism or
prejudice.
Bereft of his parents in early
childhood and falling under the care and guardianship of his maternal
grandparents, Syed Munir Husain had to work very hard to assure himself of a
berth in the highly prestigious civil service of Pakistan after meritoriously
passing MA in Economics from Government College, Lahore and serving as a
Lecturer in the subject at the University of Punjab for over a couple of years.
Without lapsing into unnecessary details, he has summarily highlighted his
childhood and its eventual transition into a promising youth destined to
traverse on the winding path of an eventful existence, with courage and
conviction.
The quality of an autobiography is
assumed to be directly proportionate to its readability which stipulates
judicious selection of material, a racy style, and a lively portrayal of
characters. The instant work displays these attributes in a reasonable measure.
Omissions of proof-reading apart, the author is fully conversant with the
niceties of expression in a foreign language that English is. His choice of
persons and events is very pertinent and engaging, too. He has seen the rough
and tumble of the highly volatile political scenario in the country across the
latter half of the past century, His discreet asides on characters and events
is sure to facilitate readers’ apprehension of the eventful saga. Being an
astute analyst of the human psyche, his wise deductions from the anecdotes
narrated in the book do also serve to enlighten the common reader on the
enigmatic contours of our socio-political history sprouting from the partition
of the sub-continent.
A civil servant’s role in the
affairs of governance has always been controversial in our scheme of things.
Bureaucracy is often maligned for its alleged collusion with the ruling top
brass, political or military, for self-serving ends preceding the interests of
the nation and the country. That is not perhaps the whole truth. The author
gives a graphic account, mingled with some amazing inside stories, of his
direct or indirect interaction with the ruling elite of the country including
Iskander Mirza, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Gen Muhammad Ayub Khan, Gen Agha
Muhammad Yahya Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Gen Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Muhammad
Khan Junejo, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and Ms Benazir Bhutto besides a host of
politicians and other men of substance which presents a sordid picture of how
Pakistan has all along been governed down the years after its celebrated
founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his trusted lieutenant Liaquat Ali
Khan, the first prime minister of the country.
‘His choice of persons and events is very pertinent and
engaging, too. He has seen the rough and tumble of the highly volatile
political scenario in the country across the latter half of the past century,
His discreet asides on characters and events is sure to facilitate readers’
apprehension of the eventful saga’
The writer has inserted in the narrative
his thoughtful personal observations, reflections, and comments on the fluid
state of affairs in the country with a view to educating the readers on the
cause and effect cycle of events culminating into a series of some significant
but crucial episodes in the history of Pakistan like the language riots in
‘East Pakistan’, the formation of One Unit of West Pakistan, the Martial Law of
1958, the 1965 War with India, the Martial Law of 1969, the dissolution of the
One Unit, the 1971 War with India and the dismemberment of the country leading
to the emergence of Bangladesh, the rise and fall of ZA Bhutto, the Martial Law
of 1977, and toppling of the elected governments of Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in the dying decades of the last century.
The
format of the book, purported to be an autobiography, is impressionistic yet
comprehensive, and the redeeming feature of narration is that the narrator is
far from self-righteous in his avowals which enhance its credibility and,
ultimately, readability. The recipe for good governance, as hinted by him, is
‘adherence and commitment to constitutional rule’. And he concludes his
declamation on an optimistic note thus: ‘The obvious course for the armed
forces and civilian setups is to stay within their respective callings under
the framework of the constitution’.
Surviving
the Wreck–A
Civil Servant’s Personal History of Pakistan
Author: Syed Munir Husain
Publisher: Ilqa Publications,
Gulberg II, Lahore
Pages: 304; Price: Rs
995/-
Extracts
Story of Pakistan by a Civil Servant
1951-2013
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