Melancholy awaits the dawn of another year

Prospects and challenges under the lengthening shadows of regression

When this piece is published on Sunday, the dawn of 2014 would be a couple of days away. In the deepening dark that engulfs us today, what can the nation expect of the New Year that it would bring in its wake?

2013 has been a year of transition from one political government to the next. Though the nation can derive a level of satisfaction from this first-time-happening, yet, more realistically, the year oversaw the demise of one corrupt government and the taking over of another as the country continued reeling under a plethora of deepening crises with its people heartlessly abandoned to suffer the cruelty of times made unbearable by the anti-poor policies of those who occupy the corridors of power.

Will 2014 be any different? Will it bring hope that the rulers would finally begin trying to cope with the existential challenges that the country is confronted with? Will it finally dawn upon them to put to rest their self-serving paradigm and begin giving shape to a national charter that would fulfil the genuine ideals of Pakistan’s creation and guide it along a course to gaining emancipation from the chains of captivity and enslavement that it has been tied to for decades? Will the year somehow help the country go back a full circle and objectively survey the reasons why, through all the sixty-six years since its independence, it has been a downhill slide which does not appear to be ending anytime soon? Will the gruesome loot and plunder end and will the billions scavenged from the state coffers be brought back to be spent on making life just a little bit more bearable for those who have been taught to survive on the morsels disdainfully left unconsumed by an arrogant minority that controls all state institutions to pocket the generous showering that they milk from there? Most important of all, will we somehow be able to cultivate objectivity and transparency to review where we went wrong and how can we cure the cancer that we appear mortally afflicted with?

The Pakistan People’s Party’s government was a Machiavellian compromise among a number of heterogeneous self-seeking groups, each dedicated to realising its personal ambitions and goals which always impeded the attainment of the minimum national objectives. Additionally, because of a lackadaisical commitment to safeguarding the illicit stakes of criminal mafias in exchange for political support for the PPP, it was also a weak government which failed to deliver on its election-time promises made with the people. For most of the electoral term, the PPP remained occupied with its devilish efforts to tackle the controversy and the consequences surrounding the abominable National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) after it had been mercifully thrown out by the judiciary. During the course of overseeing the implementation of its verdict, and because of a blatant refusal of the government to comply with its directives, the judiciary sacked one of its prime ministers for contempt of court. The second incumbent of the top executive office escaped the guillotine only when he finally wrote the dreaded letter. But, by that time, the NRO matter had become time-barred and there was no prospect of recovering the $60 million allegedly received by the Zardari couple in graft.

_____________________________________________

‘The gravest travesty has been the virtual personalisation of the government that is overflowing with the close family members of the Sharifs and their attendant slaves and foot-soldiers. The schemes announced so far have a preponderant political angle and their promulgation also carries a huge risk for the national exchequer as has been the case during the family’s numerous stints in power in the past, both at the centre and in the Punjab.’

_____________________________________________

For all this while, and even during the remainder of its term, the government failed miserably in tackling any of the challenges that the country faced including the growing spectre of militancy, a sinking economy that survived only on borrowings and printing currency, an energy crisis that became worse with the passage of time, the affliction of corruption that absolutely knew no bounds and the absence of any credible policies that would turn the course of events for the better. While tensions persisted with the neighbours, Pakistan’s relations with the US rode a roller-coaster with the worst moments occurring during the unilateral US incursion to get Osama bin Laden and the attack on the Salala check-post, leading to a seven-month virtual suspension of all bilateral interaction. The controversies surrounding the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Memogate scandal also impacted the relations to a great measure.

But, by far, the worst manifestation of the bankruptcy of governance was the ruling elite’s persistent endeavour to confront the judiciary by refusing to conform to its adjudications. That virtually paralysed the administrative arm of the government as it transformed the habit of lying into a consummate art form that it kept improving upon throughout its disastrous tenure in power. Every institution was plagued with the demon of corruption that was inevitably traced to its ministers, one of whom was even interned for a considerable period of time. The sole institution empowered to be the watchdog of the working of state and private institutions and individuals remained plagued with self-saving controversial appointments to the top position, reducing it to the status of a hand maiden of a corrupt government. The fact that it had been elected through a democratic process only brought shame to the system and raised serious questions about the practicability of the institution of democracy in the presence of leaders soaked to the brim in corruption and lacking in capacity and capability.

About the PML-N government that has now been in power for more than six months, the least said the better. This is the time that should have been invested in introducing policies to address the key challenges that the country is faced with. Instead, the precious time has been wasted in meaningless shenanigans signifying a pitiable lack of seriousness to come to grips with multiple crises. Ever eager to trace the causes of all ills to its predecessors, the incumbent government has invested little effort in undoing the damage of the past. Instead, through continued inaction, the crises have only aggravated which are now perched on the verge of inflicting a fatal blow to the national prospect of survival.

The key failure has been the lack of ability and initiative to formulate coherent and pragmatic policies to address the multifarious challenges that bedevil the country, be it in the annals of militancy, economy, energy or transparency of governance. The gravest travesty has been the virtual personalisation of the government that is overflowing with the close family members of the Sharifs and their attendant slaves and foot-soldiers. The schemes announced so far have a preponderant political angle and their promulgation also carries a huge risk for the national exchequer as has been the case during the family’s numerous stints in power in the past, both at the centre and in the Punjab. The economy continues to bleed with disproportionate borrowings from the IMF and the local banks leading to a massive escalation in the cost of living, thus endangering the survival of a bulk of the country’s population. The latest figures indicate that almost sixty percent of the people now live below the poverty line, making it impossible for them to have two measly meals in a day. Additionally, they suffer from disenfranchisement, gender bias, violence, malnutrition, absence of educational facilities, subservience of the rule of law to the whims of the rich, the mighty and the powerful, challenges of terrorism, a deep-set discrimination along religious, colour, caste and creed demarcations and a woeful lack of access to opportunities for survival. In short, the future holds a potent threat to their continued existence as they will be increasingly challenged by the vagaries of nature and the cruelty of an unjust, inequitable and non-transparent system.

Most important of all, it is the absence of a pragmatic narrative that poses an existential challenge for the country. The policies are, by and large, cloaked in regressive apparel rendering them inherently discriminatory and delusional. There is nothing in them for the poor who are being inexorably pushed beyond the threshold of survival. The policy of appeasement and initiation of parleys with ‘stakeholders’ who have mercilessly butchered over fifty-thousand innocent people in the last ten years is a grievous distortion that is contributing to further accentuating the existential challenge that Pakistan faces. The rulers in power have been notorious for protecting and patronising the militant groups in their traditional stronghold. They have even struck political bargains with some of them to add to their power base. This has not changed and their stress on initiating a dialogue, fully aided and abetted by the religious right and the neo-religious claimants to the right-of-centre vote, raises the prospect of surrendering the state and its sovereignty to the violence-driven militants who are irretrievably wedded to the cause of turning Pakistan into a theocratic state where only those who submit unconditionally before their diktat will be able to survive.

In the absence of cohesive policies emanating from a pragmatic narrative and a liberal and egalitarian commitment as enunciated by the Quaid in his August 11 address to the Constituent Assembly, the crises are only bound to aggravate with the passage of time. The existent regressive policies have led to a speedy decline in the state’s legitimacy and transparency as well as the weakening of its power base and, consequently, its resilience and ability to withstand adversity. This is a harrowing enactment, but utterly relevant.

_____________________________________________

‘The latest figures indicate that almost sixty percent of the people now live below the poverty line, making it impossible for them to have two measly meals in a day. Additionally, they suffer from disenfranchisement, gender bias, violence, malnutrition, absence of educational facilities, subservience of the rule of law to the whims of the rich, the mighty and the powerful, challenges of terrorism, a deep-set discrimination along religious, colour, caste and creed demarcations and a woeful lack of access to opportunities for survival.’

_____________________________________________

The need is for the state to go back and adopt the enshrining principles of a genuinely free, emancipated, progressive, enlightened, transparent and non-discriminatory polity. It was eloquently prescribed by the Quaid during the course of outlining his vision for the yet-to-be-born state: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State”. Not willing to leave any doubt, he went on to elaborate further: “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State”. The problem occurred because we reneged from the path so clearly enunciated by the Quaid and adopted a regressive and discriminatory course to deal with citizens, thus instilling in them a feeling of deprivation and denial.

The PPP had a handy excuse for their lack of delivery: they did not have a majority on their own in the assemblies. They were dependant on the support of multiple other groups, not always at peace with one another. The PML-N government has no such excuse. They have a comfortable majority of their own in the national assembly with an unflinching control over Punjab. They have their Mamnoon Hussain in the presidency. They have elected the COAS of their own free will and a new Chief Justice has also taken over. Yet the portents are not encouraging – at least going by what has been achieved so far during their tenure and what the future appears to hold for the country! The problem is widely known. The prognosis is not a secret. It is a gruesome combination of unwillingness, inability, lack of capacity and sincerity, greed and corruption of the ruling elite as well as the regressive narrative that they are hell bent on imposing on the people that lies at the heart of the absence of any progress that the country is making. The problem has to be traced to its roots to begin the arduous journey to salvation.

Having been ravaged incessantly through 2013, the New Year is not likely to bring any ray of light to the dark and dinghy alleys the poor inhabit. On the contrary, the acceleration of decline in the economic, social and security sectors will further compound their deprivations and their ability to cope with increasing challenges for survival. The rulers would continue to inject doses of antibiotics to cure aliments that require comprehensive surgical procedures, cleverly backing them up with grandiose and demagogic proclamations about the onset of better times. But that would, of course, not offset their inherent inability and lack of sincerity in dealing with the woes that afflict the poor and the downtrodden.

Pakistan suffered from a paucity of policy directives and formulations during the PPP tenure in power. The abject lack of performance in the first six months of the incumbent concoction and their apparent insincerity reflect a likely onset of complete paralysis. The combined effect of internal chaos and external pressures, coupled with increasing economic, social and security woes is likely to gravely impact the prospect of national resurgence. It may even make continued survival an unbearable challenge.

The writer is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Regional Peace Institute. He can be reached at [email protected].