The real existential challenge that Pakistan faces
The decision of the Supreme Court leading to the slashing of the CNG prices by more than Rs 30 per kg will come as a welcome relief for the inflation-stricken people of the country. But, it raises innumerable questions about a government whose performance continues to slide by the day if not by the hour.
Technically speaking, the court should not be intervening in the administrative matters. I also believe that the incumbent SC does not want to do so either. It is only when the government, instead of acting to relieve the sufferings of the people, becomes an active agent to add to their miseries that the court is left with no option but to act in aid of the people. So is the case with the CNG issue.
There are two basic questions that the SC has addressed in passing the order: that of adding an exorbitant operational cost of Rs 20 per kg and linkage of the CNG prices with petroleum products. On both counts, the government conceded through its secretary that it was in the wrong. Consequently, the court’s order was not only correct in content but also in intent that was directed at bringing a much-desired relief to the common people which had been fraudulently taken away by the government.
Linked to this is also the SC observation about the unfairness of a weekly review of the prices of petroleum products. While the upward shift in the prices is almost always huge, the downward slide is only cosmetic. Also, why is it that, in a country where more and more people are sliding unstoppably below the poverty line, the government remains adamant on pursuing policies which can only aggravate their state? Has this something to do with the paucity of ideas and policies, or does it reflect insensitivity on its part as its members remain engrossed in filling their personal coffers? May be one, may be the other, or may be both.
The price of CNG is not the only issue that rattles the brain. It is just about everything that has anything to do with either policy-making or its implementation which is subject to question. The former appears to be totally missing as, instead of policy-making, we have transitional coinages that are motivated to keep the gang of the corrupt together. It is best achieved by allowing every component of the government, be it political, legislative or administrative, a healthy chunk of the booty that is illegally secured. As far as the implementation aspect is concerned, that appears to be guided solely by the need to leave loopholes and provide avenues for its operators to exploit. The plethora of scandals that have surfaced during the tenure of the incumbent coalition-government surpasses by far anything comparable in the past. The corruption of this government has set new benchmarks that will be extremely difficult to match. Or, may be, I am wrong as the existing record proves that every new government has been more corrupt than the preceding one. So, in this case also, the next ‘democratic’ government may have its own benchmarks that it would endeavour to meet.
The SC decision in the matter of the Asghar Khan case has shed ample light on the nature and extent of corruption plaguing the political elite of the country. These leaders who don’t tire of lunging into frequent tirades against the so-called establishment were, not so long ago, willing recipients of dole-outs from the same establishment for rigging the national elections. Just look at the list of the ‘noble’ elite that never tires of haranguing in morality to others and also the humiliatingly meagre amounts for which they allegedly sold their souls to the devil himself: Nawaz Sharif for Rs 3.5 million, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi for Rs 5 million, Jam, Sadiq for Rs 5 million, Zafarullah Jamali for Rs 4 million, Mohammad Khan Junejo for Rs 2.5 million (this literally shocked me!), Pir Pagara for Rs 2 million, Syeda Abida Hussain for a paltry one million, Jamaat-e-Islami for Rs 5 million. There were others including some journalists and lawyers. While the living among the long list are always eager to target the military and other components of the establishment for destabilising the ‘democratic’ governments, they forget that they have been the principal tools to execute the job.
By ordering the incumbent government to prosecute General (retd) Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani and also initiate investigation against the errant political leaders who are reported to have accepted the dole-outs, the SC has created an uncomfortable situation for it. While it would like to score some points by attacking its political adversaries whose names have been tainted, it does not command either the legitimacy or the power to initiate any prosecution proceedings against the former military generals. If it fails to do the latter as appears to be the case, any proceedings that it may initiate against the alleged political leaders would ultimately degenerate to being an exercise in semantics.
This is not the first time when the credentials of the political leadership have been put to serious question: do they really deserve to be where they have been placed by an unsuspecting people? And if that be so, does a flawed system have anything by way of hope for things to improve in the future? And even if a million elections are held, wouldn’t people of the country be stuck with the same quality of leadership comprising fake-degree and dual-nationality holders, plunderers of state exchequer, initiators of ever such innovative practices in corruption and indulging in shameless shenanigans to hang on to power endlessly?
This constitutes the real existential challenge that Pakistan faces today. It encompasses essential ingredients that deprive people of their right to progress, generate poverty through corruption and abdication of governance and sell out the interests of the country in exchange for their personal survival. Today, tomorrow, any time in the foreseeable future, as long as the incumbent system remains, there appears no prospect for anything changing for the better. Indeed, it is a predator government we have to live with.
The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com