THERE is a theory of sociology that every society goes through from “70 years of reset (some theorists call it 70 years of the reboot of society)”. This reset is done by the third generation that is raised after the independence of any country that does not trust and respect the set of norms transferred to it and this generation not only raises doubts and questions about political, social, religious and administrative norms but rather rejects them and moves forward for creating its own norms.
This phase for any society is critical because some societies form new rules for good, some break away for some decades and some of them even dissolve in the gushing waters of time. Pakistan is facing a similar phase and that is the reason that the credibility and admissibility of almost every institution are under question. Taking the advantage of this phase, senior journalist Agha Iqrar Haroon who is covering politics, foreign affairs and defence of Pakistan as a reporter since 1988 has come up with his latest book titled “How Does Superclass Rule the Nations? A case Study from Pakistan.
Everybody irrespective of the political divide is talking in Pakistan that the elite has eaten up this country and there is nothing left for the common man and this same proposition is based on Iqrar’s books spreading over 50,000 words and 200 pages with 40 chapters.
While referring theory of the Superclass introduced by an American famous writer David Rothkopf, Iqrar claims that like the elite in David’s book “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making”, Pakistani Superclass also runs a network of business, the government, military through having financial interests in largest corporations, the powerhouses of finance (banks) and the media.
Iqrar indicates that Pakistan’s superclass is not different from the global superclass described by David Rothkopf and the only difference is that the Pakistani superclass has a larger continuum as it is interceded, intermingled and intervened through intermixed marriages. Pakistani superclass is formed mostly by civil, military and judiciary bureaucracies, landlords made by British lords, business tycoons and paid writers and intellectuals.
The author of the book is of the view that lack of knowledge and blind trust in the superclass are two weaknesses of a common person and he pays the price in the form of subjugation or becoming a victim. Unfortunately, trust in the superclass has been a part of South Asian DNA and hero-worship is an integral part of our semiotic system thereby we are always in search of the hero to safeguard our souls and mostly this “Avatar” later becomes our subjugator who protects interests of the superclass that keeps coining new dictions to keep ourselves confused. In the last decade, the superclass had been beating drums that enemies had launched Hybrid War against Pakistan.
When we go through the work of philosophers who dealt with propaganda and Governance in the last 3,000 years, we find that hybrid war is not a new concept as many social anthropologists believe today. Creating fears, hopelessness, a deficit of trust among the masses against their rulers and developing fault lines among social groups are old techniques and the same had been used against the Pakistani nation by the superclass in the last 75 years.
—The writer holds degrees in Masters of Philosophy and Masters of History from Government College Lahore (GCU).
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