Politicisation of institutions and services

Like foot-soldiers of a private army, they advance the cause of their political masters

The services are the backbone of the state. Governments are formed, governments are defeated. Prime Ministers come and go, ministers come and go, but you stay on. Therefore, there is a very great responsibility placed on your shoulders. You should have no hand in supporting this political party or that political party, this political leader or that political leader. This is not your business”.

Quaid-e-Azam’s address to the Civil Servants, Peshawar, April, 1948

Of all the ills that plague Pakistan, the systematic and criminal politicisation of its institutions and services is the most bedevilling. Still worse, there is no hope that this pernicious process could be reversed anytime soon.

As part of the social contract between the state and its citizens, an individual cedes his or her personal sovereignty in return for protection, collective security, financial sustainability and numerous other provisions which are covered in the constitution. In order to fulfil its responsibilities, the state employs a certain number of functionaries to work for various institutions including the armed forces, the judiciary, the law-enforcement agencies and the ministries, departments and divisions under its control. In a democratic polity, the citizens also elect their leaders to form the government and manage the state and its institutions, collect revenue and spend it judiciously through its functionaries who are expected to perform their duties in accordance with the highest principals of service, honesty and transparency. For them to do so, it is imperative that their allegiance remains firmly wedded to the state and not to any individual, or a group of individuals, no matter how powerful!

That is where, unfortunately, we have gone wrong. There are numerous skeletons in every political leader’s cupboard. They must collectively bear responsibility for contributing to the spate of rampant corruption and the irremediable nature and extent of politicisation of the government institutions and services that has taken place. From Raiwind to Bilawal House to 90 Azizabad to the palatial abodes of the Chaudhrys, there has not been a Machiavellian trick that these so-called ‘elected’ leaders have not employed to politicise the entire spectrum of governance. In the process, they have further perfected a detestable legacy to leave behind for posterity. The Bhuttos and Zardaris may have their Salman Farooqis and Ahmad Sadiqs, the Altafs and Chaudhrys their own servile outfits of cronies, but the way the Sharifs continue to criminally politicise the state institutions and its services has far eclipsed any competition. In the process, the essential spirit of service has been destroyed. Instead of maintaining their allegiance to the state, they have been reduced to becoming foot-soldiers of a private army assiduously nurtured for advancing the cause of their political masters – and, in the process, their own!

Leading this charade of corruption and culpability are the members of the decrepit bureaucracy who are malevolently violating not only the letter and spirit of the Quaid’s directive, but also the requirements of their own office. They do so as a matter of routine to secure lucrative benefits from their political mentors. They have virtually become part of the personal retinue that the corrupt political elite have routinely hanging onto their coattails. They have sacrificed their dignity and compromised their honour. They have sold their souls for a slice of the empire that their political masters have accumulated through use of dishonourable means. Instead of blocking corruption as required by their call to duty, they have become complicit in further spreading the contagious scourge. They have transformed the art of subservience into a deity and bow before it morning, afternoon and evening.

In addition to the members of the bureaucracy, these rulers also select as heads of various institutions people of culpable integrity to promote their self-serving designs. There are numerous instances of illegal and dishonest appointments made by the PPP government which are still sub-judice including the infamous cases of OGDC, NICL and OGRA. The corrupt spree continues unabated in the Sharif era. Already, there is the reported case of the controversial promotion in PIA of two brothers of a sitting PML-N senator. This kind of transgression is possible only when heads of the institutions are individuals who lack integrity and honour – as is the case with the one who has been handed over the reins of PIA. A corrupt leader would facilitate the spread of the virus through all echelons of an institution. Among the other ‘assets’ of the advisor on aviation is also the reported court-martial from the air force on charges of ‘moral turpitude’. Such are the people who are ideally suited to furthering the interests of the corrupt political elite and their cohorts who have brought the country to the verge of ruination.

One understands that the Supreme Court (SC) has asked the government to respond in the matter of the said advisor with regard to his dual-nationality. The setting aside of the appointment of the interim chairman of PIA is also a good omen, but numerous concerns regarding the appointment of the advisor on aviation which have been expressed at various forums are of a much more serious nature and should be taken up by the SC. I also wonder why doesn’t the ‘clean’ prime minister take notice of the situation himself and annul the appointment? Obviously, if that were to be, such people would not be inducted in the first place. They are here for a specific task: to promote the illicit interests of the corrupt political elite. This depressing scenario finds quintessential resonance in Haile Selassie’s prophetic words: “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

Pakistan presents a classic case of the triumph of evil over good. The hugely humiliating and debilitating saga that has been set in motion through the adoption of a system that is rooted in corruption, dishonesty and lack of transparency, accountability and delivery is likely to push the state further towards ruination. For it to survive the wickedness of the corrupt rulers and their accomplices, this vice-like stranglehold of corruption and politicisation of the institutions and services will have to be broken as, otherwise, the state will inevitably succumb under the mounting pressure of this monolith that rolls on unchallenged.

The writer is a political strategist. He can be reached at [email protected]