The irrelevance of our parliament and the criminal complicity of the ruling political elite have been patently and humiliatingly evident. The US marauders launched two assaults in FATA within twenty-four hours of the passage of the joint parliamentary resolution that called upon our government to block the NATO supply lines if the drone attacks did not stop: “The government would be constrained to consider taking necessary steps including withdrawal of transit facility allowed to NATO/ISAF forces”. There has not been even a condemnation of the horrendous attacks from the servile government quarters. A critical facet of the ISI Chief’s reported deposition that has been purposefully overlooked is that Raymond Davis was released upon the instructions of the president and the prime minister, thus further strengthening the perception of the governmental complicity with the US designs to continue attacking our strategic interests.
One knew that the whole exercise of an in-camera briefing was nothing more than an eye-wash in the wake of major security failure to locate Osama bin Laden found living within a kilometre of the leading military training academy at Kakul and the government’s inability to take effective preventive and corrective measures after the stealth attack. It has gone on about the job like nothing really has happened. As expected, there have only been gross polemical outpourings with no concrete steps unfurled that would stop the May 2 disaster from visiting us again. There also has been little progress on the formation of the independent commission as envisaged in the joint declaration that would be supposedly empowered to look into the debacle.
Even the pundits who would repeatedly repose trust in the existing system as being the panacea of all ills that have struck us over the past three years seem to be grudgingly losing hope. There is a string of concerned voices heard that, after all, there is an inherent flaw in the system that is currently operational. These flaws are not difficult to unravel. The self-perpetuating embrace of a self-proclaimed democrat with the military dictator of her time vide the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), declared void ab initio since, provided the crutches for the PPP-led government to be installed at the centre. In spite of an ‘opportunity’ that the unconstitutional and illegal bargain may have provided to the party, it has failed miserably in observing even the most elementary nuances of a democratic government. It has surpassed all previously-set standards of corruption and lack of governance. Instead, it has only promoted and nurtured a chronic culture of mal-administration and abdication of governance to criminal mafias who have erected their own fiefdoms to safeguard their ill-gotten riches with the active support and participation of the ruling elite, at the centre and in all the provinces.
In spite of a veneer of democracy, the absence of legitimacy remains the principal factor plaguing the working of the incumbent government. The crisis is that it is unwilling to heed any advice that it may have received in this context because of its insistence that there is nothing wrong. Digging deeper into the quagmire of corruption and insensitivity, it is moving further away from the prospect of any remedy. Such has been its degeneration that it appears to have lost the distinction between right and wrong. They follow the path of corruption with indescribable lust, greed and hunger. There is no satiation, hence no stopping.
But, it is with judiciary that I have a major grievance. I have stated this in the past and am constrained to do so again. There are a large number of monumentally important cases pending adjudications for long while it remains engrossed in issues of lesser relevance. Understandably, the Supreme Court feels that any further orders would go the way of its previous injunctions. But, does this fear absolve it of the inherent responsibility of issuing edicts and, if not honoured, taking the necessary constitutional path to forcing the government to do so? The previous instance of the armed forces having refused to come to the aid of the Supreme Court when called upon to do so should not be construed as a permanent deterrent in this regard. Since all other constitutional methods to bring about an improvement in the working of the government have either failed, or have been effectively thwarted with the connivance of an inept and fearful opposition, judiciary remains the only constitutional recourse available to show the right path to a perpetually erring government. The parliament has literally proclaimed its impotence and irrelevance. The executive is in cahoots and benefitting from the corrupt ways of the political elite. The opposition offers little by way of a meaningful initiative to combat the marauding onslaught of corruption out of fear that the army may intervene. This argument is nothing more than a pathetic cover-up for an inherent incompetence and unwillingness to put its weight behind any corrective measure – may be, because it is only waiting for its own ‘turn’ to indulge in loot and plunder!
An independent Election Commission (EC) has not been constituted. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is not being allowed to work according to its charter. Political bargains are being struck to save tottering coalitions and advance personal agendas: the ‘killers’ of yesterdays have turned the best of buddies today. There is palpable governmental connivance in acts of aggression against Pakistan’s national and strategic interests which has been further proven by the pregnant silence in the wake of the continuing drone attacks on our soil and the repeated incursions across our borders.
Are we really beyond remedy? Far from it! It is in utter darkness that even a feeble glow looks the brightest. In Pakistan, there are strong reverberations of a change in the offing. But, there is no meaningful change coming if we persist with the current system and its attendant corruption and malfunctioning. Pakistan needs a new voice, a new security charter, a new social contract. But, time is fast running out.
The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com