The Leopard and The Fox: Taming the nature of the beast
Jawed Naqwi writes:
IT WAS way back in 1985 that the BBC commissioned Tariq Ali to write a TV play — The Leopard and the Fox, A Pakistani Tragedy. As rehearsals were about to begin, it was agreed that Zia Mohyeddin would play General Zia, and India’s Naseeruddin Shah would play Z.A. Bhutto. Then suddenly, under pressure from the British Foreign Office, the BBC decided to cancel the project.
I got my hands on it recently when Seagull Books in UK finally published what comes across as a fairly credible dramatisation of Zia’s coup and Bhutto’s dubious trial and execution.
The play runs into 106 short scenes. But in today’s context, with one former prime minister dispatched to a second exile in Saudi Arabia (an old Muslim habit, considering what Emperor Akbar did with Bairam Khan, his once trusted aide) and another bracing to wade into Pakistan’s political quagmire, perhaps the most important scene to ponder in the play is Scene 20.
It opens in Gen Zia’s office at the military HQ. It shows Zia involved in a serious discussion with General Azad, evidently an officer whose name the author has changed because of the BBC’s libel policy. The men are sipping cold drinks, just to give a flavour of the times, with Zia exuding a friendly demeanour.
Azad: In 1971 the army was finished. Finished! If Bhutto had hanged 20 generals in public, the people would have applauded.
Zia: You think I don’t know what Bhutto did for us? But it is no longer a private matter. Americans are very angry because of nuclear programme.
Azad: We pressured Bhutto to start our nuclear plans. Zaman (another changed name) said, ‘Sir, we cannot sit back, while India tests nuclear devices.’ So Bhutto told the world.
Zia: Correct. But what worries Pentagon very much is civilians controlling nuclear weapons. Unstable. Unstable. In Fort Bragg they made it very clear that even their president in the White House was not completely independent. He is always flanked by military advisors. General Barnes laughed and said to us: ‘You see, we have a permanent semi-martial law in our country. No one objects.'
More on Jawed Naqwi's article in the Dawn >>