Annus horribillis

Is 2015 going to be any better?

If 2014 was annus horribillis for Pakistan, is 2015 going to be any better? 2014 was a bad year ending on a very sombre note, but in the process waking the nation from its deep slumber. The realisation that it can no longer be business as usual finally hit home. However, a lot of scepticism is being expressed by the commentarati about the government’s sincerity and more so, its capability to combat terrorism.

In a rare show of camaraderie the khakis and the muftis are working in unison to devise a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. Of course combating this hydra headed monster, partly created and nurtured by our successive rulers, both military and civilian, is now being viewed as the existential challenge facing the country.

In the backdrop of the PML-N government’s lacklustre performance in the past one and a half years there is little room for optimism. But it is a stark reality that alternatives to the present civilian dispensation are even less attractive.

Critics contend that since the Peshawar incident there have been numerous high-level meetings and interaction between the military leadership and the prime minister without any results. A feeling that nothing is happening on the ground has become so pervasive that Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, after a corps commanders meeting, had to say that the entire nation was looking towards the civilian and military leadership to take bold and meaningful decision leading to stern action against terrorists and their sympathisers.

Unfortunately, the debate about the modalities of setting up military courts has become so divisive that its supporters consider them as a sure shot panacea to root out terrorism. Ironically, opposition to amend the Constitution to set up these special courts has mostly come from political parties and human rights groups who have also been the prime victims of Taliban terrorism.

This is understandable, as they are the ones who have been in the forefront of opposing military dictatorships and the struggle for restoration of democratic institutions. In this context PPP stalwart and legal activist Senator Aitzaz Ahsan gave a workable formula, according to which military courts could be set up without amending the Constitution.

Like some of the insidious clauses inserted in the Constitution by late dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in the name of Islam, an amendment to set up military courts would be difficult to scrap in the future. Opponents of military courts through an amendment to the Constitution contend that it would distort the democratic bedrock of the Constitution.

Like some of the insidious clauses inserted in the Constitution by late dictator General Zia-ul-Haq in the name of Islam, an amendment to set up military courts would be difficult to scrap in the future

Of course the universal demand for setting up military courts is a strong denouement of our deeply flawed legal system of which judiciary is a major component. Unfortunately former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry unshackled the judiciary thanks to unflinching support from lawyers, human rights activists and a wide political spectrum.

But apart from massaging his own ego and of some of his fellow judges, Chaudhry did not lift a finger to reform the judiciary. As according to the oft-repeated idiom: justice delayed is justice denied, the judges felt they were free. But perhaps not the judiciary.

Reforming the judicial and prosecution system is only one aspect of a multifaceted conundrum facing Pakistan. There are other equally important steps that need to be taken consensually not only to remove anomalies but also to ameliorate the malaise itself.

For starters, a jaundiced worldview across the board needs to be discarded. And this is not confined to the civilian leadership but the military as well. A societal change including the media’s narrative has to be changed as well.

There is a lot of clamour about bringing in new laws – some of them draconian – to sort out the terrorists. But who will implement them? Even laws already on the statute books are not being implemented in letter and spirit.

Take the case of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). It is a toothless body headed by a retired police officer.

There are unlicensed Islamic television channels that continue to operate. Hate speech on many channels by anchors and their guests is the order of the day. Rules about showing foreign content are violated with impunity by powerful media houses.

On the prosecution front the government does not have the gall to book those who flout the law of the land without any compunction. Warrants of arrest of Maulana Abdul Aziz, the de facto cleric of Lal Masjid (ostensibly a government controlled mosque), have been issued. But nobody has the guts to nab him.

Already powerful religious lobbies including the Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-F are up in arms against tinkering with these retrogressive institutions. And why shouldn’t they be? It is their bread and butter

Basically it boils down to governance, the lack of which is a subject of much discussion in the media. Nevertheless without an uncluttered vision the goal of good governance will remain elusive.

If the objective remains consolidating power come what may, coupled with a flawed concept of economic development bereft of any social responsibility, terrorists will have a field day recruiting converts to their cause in the name of religion.

The liberal elite cries hoarse about the so-called madrassah culture, warning that they are the training grounds for homegrown terrorists. Successive governments, owing to political expediencies, have however failed even to register them, let alone close them.

Already powerful religious lobbies including the Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-F are up in arms against tinkering with these retrogressive institutions. And why shouldn’t they be? It is their bread and butter.

That the state is unable to provide jobs or free education remains the nub of the problem. Owing to misplaced priorities, our budgetary outlays on health, education and other social sectors stubbornly remain dismal. That is why by international standards Pakistan’s social indicators are at the bottom rung of the ladder.

Ironically Pakistan is a nuclear power, with a well-trained and reasonably well-equipped army. There is a yawning gap between a well-armed national security apparatus on the one hand and abject poverty on the other. The subsequent jahalat amongst most of the populace is a recipe for disaster.

It is already too late in some ways as the barbarians are not at the gates, they are amongst us. With our present flawed security, economic and social priorities, it is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible to extricate the country from its present morass.

It is unfair just to blame Sharif for the mess we are in, he is only the symptom of a much deeper malaise afflicting us. If the year 2015 is to bring any hope, it should be a year of deep introspection as to how to set a fresh course.

Those who are expecting wonders from marathon meetings being held at the prime minister house should carefully ponder at what is eating us from within. No quick fix answers will do. Welcome to another year of despair?