On the maturity of our rulers
There’d be no wars were women to run the world, goes a popular joke, just a bunch of countries not talking to each other.
A misogynist joke? Yes, especially since, in Pakistan’s case, this kind of passive-aggressive behaviour is being exhibited by men, powerful men at that, more than women.
Consider, for instance, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister. His absence during the prime minister’s visit to Swat was conspicuous to say the least. No, the prime minister is not the chief minister’s boss. But his absence during the prime minister’s visit to his province is a clear violation of government protocol.
And the League shouldn’t be one to complain. They had a similar attitude during the last government, when the prime minister would come to the Punjab, which was often; the current prime minister isn’t a KP native, but both the prime ministers of the previous regime were from the Punjab.
The British, from whom we have inherited our government apparatus, were big on appearances. And it showed. For behind the seemingly arcane set of dos and don’ts was a lot of thought. This is not about wearing the right dinner jacket and knowing which fork to use with which course. No, it pertained to the seriousness of both governing and appearing to govern. That even the harshest of disagreements were expressed without raising voices. Not all the time, of course. One look at the House of Commons and one would understand why the opposition and treasury benches are “two swords lengths apart.” But were there to be any event that required the presence of both sides, they would be there and be smiling when posing for photographs.
The problems before us as a polity are more complex than ones we have ever seen. They aren’t waiting a single rider on horseback to slay. There has to be cooperation between governments, spread out not only over space but over time. Governments have to accord a measure of respect to their predecessors and realize the utility of continuing certain policies, what to speak of cooperation between incumbent counterparts in other provinces or other tiers of government?
The chief minister is said to be peeved at the federal government’s lack of follow-up to the centre’s addressing the province’s concerns over the handover of the PESCO. An important matter, of course, but not speaking about it trivializes it, not places it higher up.
