It takes decades to build a nation
Whenever there is a natural disaster, security crisis or terrorism acts, writings start appearing in op-ed sections of major newspapers praising the work done by our men in uniform. We should certainly praise good work but these men are doing their jobs just like any other army would do in any other country. In all countries armies are responsible to deal with natural disasters and security issues as they are the well-resourced and trained arm of the state. Pakistan army is no exception and has produced many world class soldiers. But the focus of these writings is to justify that army is better equipped to lead the nation in political arena rather than remain focused on their professional responsibilities. This kind of allure of the military creates national security risk and should be avoided.
Wars are not fought by armies but nations and our war on extremism and militancy will be no different. But the impression one gets after the decisions made by the Peshawar terror incident is that this war is between the military and the militants. The convicts hanged in last ten days are people that were involved in attacking the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Pervez Musharraf and attack on military headquarters in Rawalpindi. It is important that terrorist acts against our soldiers should not go unpunished but there were over 30,000 civilians that also died in these terror incidents and the culprits for these should also be punished to send a strong message.
Military courts may be a short term solution but is not a replacement to resolve the real issue of fixing our justice system. It is about time that judges of the Supreme Court, lowers courts, judicial council, ministry of law and bar associations come up with a reform package to make our courts more efficient, affordable and productive. Parliament should then adopt legislation based on these recommendation. We need to also ensure that witnesses and judges are well protected against terrorism when they award verdicts against militants.
Our politicians have repeatedly failed the nation throughout the last 67 years. According to recent survey and research report by PILDAT, Pakistani political parties fall way short of being run as democratic institutions. The reports suggest that PTI has 49 per cent democratisation while the other two national parties, PML-N and PPP, lag even more behind on this factor with just over 30 per cent democratisation. This means that these parties are run more as monarchies or dictatorships rather than representative of public trust. Anyone who rises up to question the decision making of party’s central leadership and demands respect for party constitution, is labelled as enemy of the party and sidelined through suspension of membership or a show cause notice. It is because of this lack of institutionalisation a talented young man/woman cannot rise through the ranks purely based on his/her capability, work and merit. There is only one way to progress in Pakistani political parties which is to become loyalist of the top leader. This makes these young people hesitant to join politics to serve the nation. This blockage of dignified career progress in political parties is one of the reason that these young men are turning to militant organisations to break the system that does not work on justice and merit. The parties in return are unable to perform and deliver because they are stuffed with cronies and yes men.
An important step we have to take in our nation building efforts is to demand institutionalisation of political parties and liberating them from the clutches of a handful of political elite. It is one of the most difficult objectives to achieve because the culture we are promoting in our educational institutions is one of submission to authority whether it is just or not. Iqbal’s idea of Khudi is still far from realisation in our nation as well as Quaid’s vision of Pakistan being an Islamic social welfare state. During my recent visit to Lahore I went to Minar-e-Pakistan and found that it was circled with barbed wires so that people cannot reach it. For me it has the symbolic message that people that are the true sovereign are being enslaved by the elites just like the Minar, a symbol of people, is barbed wired to become inaccessible to masses. Then I went to the Mazar-e-Allama Iqbal to pay my tribute and found that it was experiencing the same kind of treatment.
In other words our politics has shifted from Gora sahib to Brown sahib after independence. These Brown sahibs still work as proxies of other powers and prefer to meet in Dubai and London to devise NRO, Charter of Democracy and other kind of scripts. It is foolish to think that our top politicians will be meeting in London and British intelligence will not be eavesdropping on them or influencing the outcome to serve their own strategic interest. The revelation by Snowden that British and American intelligence listen to conversations of leaders of allies should have opened our eyes. It is because of this reason that they are more informed about the thinking of our politicians than the nation. Secondly, if a politician is holding large assets in a foreign country, how can he be independent in his thinking to make decisions for the nation? This conflict of interest and divided loyalties have hurt us in the last 67 years through wrong decisions.
The truth that we are all trying to hide from is that since independence both our military and political leaders have failed the nation. One reason for that is because they have not tried to focus on the responsibilities assigned to them. Our military leaders have been keeping one eye on the seat of the power while the other in discharging their professional responsibilities. This split has caused errors and omissions in securing the nation with an iron fist and a steely resolve. On the other hand, our politicians have been more interested in controlling the party through which they can rise to the power to protect their own narrow vested interests rather than work wholeheartedly to serve the nation. It is time now for them to realise their past mistakes and correct their course. Failure to do this will continue keeping this nation weak and its future questionable.
We will emerge as a stronger nation when we allow grass root development of future leaders through local government elections, democratised and institutionalised political parties, respect for constitution, eradication of conflict of interest and institutional balance between state organs. This is a common sense recipe that everyone is aware of but no one is daring to create a national consensus around it. In the long term we have to build a new generation by reforming our education system and inculcating national pride and civic sense in them. A nation in which innovation, creativity and independent thinking is appreciated and encouraged. This requires consistent efforts of at least 30 years.
It takes decades to build a nation. We should be ready and prepared for the long haul.
