The Puppets and the Puppeteers : By Faheem Aamer

The September sky over Geneva was true blue. A diverse crowd gathered in front of Gare de Genève, the rail station, eager to attend an international puppet show at a nearby carnival. A question about dancing puppets sparked a reflection on the state of affairs in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, where political parties are likened to puppets controlled by external forces. A group sang, “The Puppets and the Puppeteers” by William the Conqueror. Little did they knew at that time, when a sentence uttered as an answer to become an integral part of the economic and political landscape of more than 96 underdeveloped countries! Someone in the crowd asked, “Do you have dancing puppets in your country?” and the reply was, “There are no dancing puppets as the puppets are just lifeless, spiritless, feeling-less, and spineless structures that cannot dance. They just move the way the puppeteers want.”
Pakistan has been kept among those 96 underdeveloped countries for 77 years. They don’t dance, just move the way the puppeteers want.
Pakistan’s mounting external debt, lack of debt management strategy, and political maneuvering for power highlight the country’s economic challenges. The recent fuel price hike went unchallenged by political parties, further alienating the populace. The narrative shifts to the role of
political parties, national institutions, and external influences as puppeteers manipulating the economic and political landscape.
After 2024 polls, an extensive display of jumping elite political parties has been witnessed. All of them were desperate to secure positions on the treasury benches, despite the country’s significant debt burden. They aligned themselves with fundamentalist groups and feudal individuals to strengthen their influence in the government.
Just a few months ago, in November 2023, the puppeteers raised fuel prices by 141%. However, none of the political parties criticized or addressed this economic exploitation, as the people of Pakistan and their issues have never been their priority.
The US Post recently spoke to a newly elected Member of the National Assembly from Khanewal, who claimed to be unaware of such news. Instead, he liked to express his intention to establish a medical college in Khanewal Town and a girls’ degree college in Makhdum Pur–Khanewal. This individual has been elected for the third time to hold a seat in the parliament. This indifferent attitude of political parties and leaders has led the people to political alienation. The IMF argued that the fuel price hike was necessary to address the increasing debt burden. However, the governments must be held fully accountable for such actions, but beggars are no choosers.
The capital that they are investing is not to bail out economies. Instead, they use finance like a weapon to control the puppets.
The concept of fallen angels possessing humans is used metaphorically to describe the distractions and control exerted by these puppeteers. A Sunday school teacher explained once with clarity that all the people, concepts, and the words that create distraction are the demons. Now, see around us, the people are being distracted by all the institutions mentioned above. These demons, these puppeteers do possess our economy, at times in the name of bailouts and sometimes in the name of peace.
Peace itself is a mirage as the puppeteers have just named their control as a decently acceptable term of “peace” or all they strive is to have control over our economic resources. Likewise, when we study the massacres in history, most of them are done in the name of faith and so-called patriotism. This proved to be extremely venomous for society.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan’s statement on freedom versus partition is critiqued as another distraction from the harsh realities faced by the population. The lack of access to basic necessities, healthcare,
education and justice underscores the pervasive control and manipulation by the puppeteers.
Are the billions of our students free to become scientists, who studied just one faith in every subject they read? These are certain distractions and yes the ominous ones. How can the victims of our judicial system breathe in peace when there is the no presence of justice and no absence of war?
Before I cross the word limit, I can only wish for the metaphorical song, the Puppets and the Puppeteers would remain just that—a song—and not the foundation of a broken socio-economic and political system.