Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri have brought the country to a standstill
The administrative system introduced by the British in Imperial India was based upon the country being divided into districts which were headed by a Deputy Commissioner (DC) who was almost always from the elite Indian Civil Service (ICS). The head of police in the district, the Superintendent of Police (SP), reported to the DC. The DC was responsible for controlling the crime and the welfare of the district. The SP was responsible for collecting all intelligence collected by the police and DC was kept informed of it. The police could not open fire without the orders of a magistrate. The ICS and the DC were two kingpins of this system.
After independence in Pakistan the ICS was renamed to Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) and the system worked well till early 1970s. The CSP was abolished by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and replaced with District Management Group (DMG) and lateral entry was introduced. This weakened the CSP and eventually the administrative system itself but it still worked though less effectively. During Pervez Musharraf’s regime the administrative structure was totally changed. The post of the DC was abolished and replaced with an elected entity. The so called police “reforms” were introduced. The result is that today there is hardly any control of the police. There is no enforcement of law. Hence incidents like Model Town can take place.
Bhutto’s abolishing of CSP and Musharraf’s abolishing of the district administration system have resulted in the present law and order situation in the country.
The above example illustrates that it is easy to break and destroy an existing system but it requires vision, imagination and wisdom to replace it with a better system. We need to ponder over the dire consequences of our past mistakes and learn the lesson and not continue to repeat them.
In India the ICS was renamed Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The British-introduced district administration system was retained. In India the DC is still the kingpin and IAS is an elite service. However an elected Punchayat now assists the DC. In fact, his role has been considerably expanded and overall the system is effective and works well.
No system is perfect. With experience one notes the shortcomings and weaknesses and the sensible way is to make improvements by removing the weaknesses rather than abolishing the system completely.
The self-proclaimed Sheikh-ul-Islam Dr Tahirul Qadri wants a new constitution for Pakistan. He talks of creating scores of provinces. One wonders who has given him the mandate. He should first renounce his Canadian nationality that puts his loyalty and allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, and wait till 2018 elections. As of now he has done enough damage to the economy of the country and it is time he called off the sit-in.
The 1956 Constitution was also a consensus constitution. Ayub Khan abolished it in 1958 and replaced it with his 1962 Constitution which did not have the approval of the all the political parties and the stakeholders of the country. This consequently led to the splitting of the country in 1971.
One does not see leaders having wisdom wedded to the ideology of Pakistan, seeking only the country’s interest and prepared to accommodate in national interest. Does one see leaders like Bhutto, Sherbaz Mazari, Mufti Mehmood, Professor Ghafoor, Attaullah Mengal, Achakzai, Wali Khan or Qayum Khan who with give and take gave the country the 1973 Constitution which was agreed to and signed by all the political parties representing all the stakeholders in the country. It is a consensus constitution.
We are not in 1970s. If the existing consensus 1973 Constitution is abolished, it will open the Pandora’s Box.
Imran Khan wants to create a New Pakistan. For over a month he has been coming to the sit-in every evening to bad mouth and threatens almost everyone and gives new dates for his “New Pakistan”. He sits in the comfort of his fifteen million rupee (1.5 crore) self-contained, bullet proof and air conditioned container while his followers sit in the rain. As a consequence of his sit-in, the government in Islamabad is more or less paralysed. There is a security situation in the capital, the stock exchanges have tumbled, the rupee has lost about three percent of its value, direct foreign investment is frozen, the Presidents of Sri Lanka and Maldives have cancelled their visits and the visit of the Chinese President is in doldrums. Conservative estimate of the loss to the country is of about rupees one trillion. This is what this sit-in has achieved.
Devastating floods caused immense damage in Punjab while Imran and his crowd were dancing to pop songs every night. The flood waters now threaten Sindh and Imran is now calling for rebellion.
The statement by the ISPR unambiguously stated the armed forces’ position. This refutes and puts to rest all speculations and references by many media persons and analysts.
The question now is as to whose game Qadri and Imran are playing. For that one has to see as to who does not want the China-Gwadar economic corridor consisting of a railway line built, who wants anarchy and rebellion in the country so that it can be said that our nuclear assets are unsafe?