Honoring Boucher (07012009)

President Asif Ali Zardari conferred the award of Hilal-i-Quaid-e-Azam on US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday. The award has been conferred on Boucher for his services to Pakistan. The citation read out on the occasion said, "As Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Boucher has been instrumental in promoting a stable, broad-based and long-term Pakistan-US relationship."
The award has evoked following reaction from intellectuals "Just because Richard Boucher has twisted the Pakistani arms entitles him to receive Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam? What on earth has he really done to receive such a lofty civil award of Pakistan? Well, Zardari is the president of Pakistan and he may award such national emblems to the people, but somebody must tell him that these awards are from the nation and nation doesn't even want to see the arm-twisting thugs like Richard Boucher in Islamabad, let alone giving him the Hilal-e-Qauid. But this is not the first occurrence of such fawning nonsense. On 23 March, 2005, dictator Pervez Musharraf awarded the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam to US senator Jan Warner and US Prof Jan L Osito among some other people. US senator was himself amazed as how on earth anyone could give him the award, when he was shooed away in his own constituency back home".
The anger of the people, a sample of which is narrated above, is justified given that United States has done everything in its power to keep Pakistan under pressure, violated sovereignty of Pakistan by repeated Drone attacks and incursions inside Pakistan, as well as, by engaging directly with not just the politicians but also the civil servants, the military officers and the judiciary, and has always taken the side of Indians in any conflict. The statement of Boucher after receiving the honor is a testimony in itself.
The people of Pakistan would like to know exactly what services were rendered by Richard Boucher for Pakistan? It is a well known fact that Mr. Zardari has come into power with the full blessing of the United States and it does not require a genius to figure that Richard Boucher being the top dog at the State Department dealing with Pakistan must have facilitated President Zardari's elevation to power, but it is a moot point if that is service to Pakistan or to the United States, most Pakistanis think otherwise.
Furthermore, it has become a practice for despots, dictators and corrupt politicians to confer national awards like plots in Lyari (the slums in Karachi) with no regard for the honor of the nation or the sentiments of the people. This practice must not be allowed. There is a dire need to put in place a system whereby the national awards may only be given on the recommendation of a joint committee of the parliament (comprising both Senate and NA members) and if there is no parliament in session then there should not be any awards. The only exemption may be the military officers who may be given awards in accordance with well established criteria within the Armed forces.
Today a lot of people, many of them of military, are recipients of the high honors, even though the military history itself portrays them more as villains than heroes. Honesty demands that we purge the nation of these lies by removing the honors given to these people, even if they are dead. Similarly, many heroes have never been recognized for their brave efforts, we must set the records straight and put the history right by atleast being honest, this is the least that we owe to our future generations.