While other provinces face no fear of accountability
Over the previous few months, Sindh has had more than its fair share of news stories – not for very desirable reasons. The sword of accountability that has been unleashed in Pakistan apparently has one target – Sindh and its major political parties. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), one of the major national parties, had the most to lose. Earlier it had to face the establishment’s axe, and recently Dr Asim’s case owing to the charges of facilitating terrorism, has done even more harm to the party.
Two years back, this situation would have been very unfamiliar to the party. Growing under constant slogans chanted for the revival of Bhutto’s ideology, PPP had always appealed to the common man. The deprived masses of rural Sindh specifically had found PPP’s ideology resonating with what they wanted with life.
But the tables have turned now. Not only is it at loggerheads with the accountability authorities, but it also has had to wade through particularly unpleasant situations in the local body elections. However, the term accountability has broad meanings. And definitely it does not mean being limited to Sindh and PPP only. While the accountability wave is promising for a country like Pakistan, let us not get carried away in the prospects, and evaluate how things really are.
Democracy can hardly function if the relevant institutions are not held accountable. This is precisely why all the eminent political scientists have included accountability in their models of a well-functioning democracy.
“As far as the process is concerned, accountability is necessary for democracy,” said Qamar Zaman Kaira of PPP.
Yes it is, but what kind of accountability?
The problem with Pakistan
Pakistan as a country is plagued by various vices; corruption, terrorism, nepotism, underutilised infrastructure and so on. These factors therefore make accountability a must. But the relevant stakeholders do not seem very happy with the way accountability is carried out in Pakistan.
“In Pakistan, accountability has been selective and still is,” eminent political scientist and analyst Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi stated while talking to DNA.
“Some are persecuted while some are not. There is widespread corruption but there is selective pick-up because of political reasons. The process has to be non-discriminatory.”
Democracy can hardly function if the relevant institutions are not held accountable
Kaira thinks on similar lines, and this is both logical and obvious, since PPP probably has had enough of the accountability fiasco – a vendetta of sorts in PPP’s case.
“The accountability style and system in Pakistan needs serious reforms,” he asserted while getting his statement recorded. “Only one province and one party are the focus and this is not good.”
It has also been alleged that accountability in Pakistan is merely a means of breaking old power structures, and forming new ones. This might well be happening.
“Majority of accountability was done by dictators to pressurise politicians and to make people change loyalty,” said Kaira.
Moreover, the presence of rampant corruption and lack of transparency in our society makes things really difficult.
“Corruption has become rampant and decision-makers are generally partisan,” Dr Rizvi explained. “Non-partisan decisions are not being taken. First law on corruption was formulated in 1949, when there was very limited corruption. Today it has become manifold when compared with 1949, but we have not been able to control it.”
This statement points toward the fact that due to inefficiency of the accountability mechanism, we have not been able to curb a vice that we had legislative safeguard against right after inception.
Power hungry and unbridled government officials form the basis of all these hurdles. Due to lack of checks and balances, the government servants generally end up blurring the not-so-fine line between personal and public resources, as pointed by Dr Rizvi.
“Distinction between personal and public domain is gone,” he explained.
“The personal things of government officers are covered by state expenditure. When this difference is wiped out and corruption becomes rampant, accountability is always selective. There shouldn’t be this discrimination.”
Obviously selective accountability is not doing the country any good. This leads to a culture, where the stakeholders spend their life figuring out whose good books hey should be on in order to engage in unbridled corruption. You just have to be on the safe side, and not mess with people who are in the position to frame you.
Dr Rizvi thinks it is just a matter of filing cases, and the accountability always gets proven – since it is always there.
“Corruption has become so rampant and so deep that you can hardly find anyone free from it,” he commented. “So a few cases are selectively hand-picked and since corruption is present it is generally found out.”
However, things are not all so bad. Salman Zaidi, a very prominent security analyst and deputy director at Jinnah Institute, thinks that finally some positive changes can be seen, and Pakistan seems to be on the way to a changed narrative relating to accountability.
“In Pakistan, we have seen over the last one year, greater moves on accountability both by civil society members and by political parties themselves, regarding governance, security and infrastructure as well,” said Zaidi.
“The working of not just the federal government but the provincial governments has improved as well. And new impetus has been added by thus entire drive in Sindh for chasing terrorism. There is not just a need for accountability, but a demand as well articulated by the civil society members, political parties and the media.”
However, other stakeholders choose to differ. Not only is selective accountability a problem, but the involvement of rangers in the process is also some problem. Kaira thinks this is not what rangers should be doing anyway.
“Rangers area federal force, who on demand of any province come to address law and order situations,” he explained
“Rangers have helped curb extremism and terrorism. Rangers do not have anything to do with accountability. They have done very well in their own domain, but this is not their domain. This is the job of NAB and relevant provincial authorities.”
So while it is good to see the narrative of Pakistan changing about accountability, we cannot really overlook the dubious aspects of accountability. An accountability wave has been launched, but what is even more important is ensuring that it is accountability per se. We are still evolving, and we need to ensure that the system is transparent and does not really use power to level past scores.
Sindh asked for it?
This is not a prejudiced notion. A lot of analysis has gone into it. Sindh has been in the news in the recent past for all the wrong reasons. Therefore it is important that it is thoroughly held accountable. Yes, other provinces need to be scrutinised too, but anyone with a management background would know that tasks have to be prioritised. Some tasks are urgent, while others can wait. Accountability cannot be kick-started simultaneously in all the four provinces for obvious reasons. Therefore, a start had to be taken.
Still, this has been labelled as selective accountability.
“Corruption is there of course,” commented Dr Rizvi. “But the criticism is why this accountability is limited to Sindh only, why not elsewhere.”
However, Salman Zaidi thinks that Sindh houses a lot of problems, for whom it needs to be held accountable. And since PPP holds the reins in the province, obviously it is the one facing all the music for now.
“I think the drive is not about Sindh but about other issues,” his stance was clear.
A main reason behind it is Karachi, the financial jugular and economic hub of Pakistan that has been transformed into a simmering cauldron ready to explode. Things have improved after the rangers operation, and that is what renders the accountability process credible. Earlier, DNA asked the opinion of Karachi residents on the issue for a feature, and they totally thought that the operation had contributed positively. Karachi being in Sindh makes Sindh the obvious first steps in the accountability wave.
Salman Zaidi explained these facts.
“Sindh badly needs it as is evident by all indicators,” he stated.
We also need to do something about the notion that accountability in Pakistan has always been selective
“Sindh is now a problem because of Karachi and as we know both Sindh and Karachi are ruled primarily by PPP. PPP has failed to address the issues and the reason of MQM’s relative success in the local body elections is due to the fact that PPP hasn’t done well on a number of scores. The security situation has not been addressed. Then there was the drought. Before that, doctors were on strike, PIA on strike. These are all problems of Karachi and government of Sindh has to respond to them.”
Therefore, apparently the gaps created in Sindh due to lack of seriousness of the provincial government had to be dealt by other actors with an iron fist.
What comes next?
The logical question in this sequence is where we are heading, and what exactly the next steps are? A major flaw with the process of accountability is it that it does not involve the democratic means.
Dr Rizvi however thinks that these kinds of actions become inevitable, and we need to see the reasons rather than chanting slogans about the process being democratic.
“Which democracy has done anything in this regard?” he questioned. “Even in USA, a very successful democracy force has been used for these matters. So how is this undemocratic?”
Kaira thinks that the presence of democratic shields is important.
“The parliament should come forward to make the process transparent,” he suggested.
“Whole process is controlled. The only way forward is institutionalisation of the process. CoD should be enforced. And all political parties should be made accountable.”
These steps are important of course. Meanwhile, we also need to keep reminding ourselves that we have already lagged behind in holding various stakeholders accountable. We cannot and should not delay the process any longer.
Moreover, we also need to do something about the notion that accountability in Pakistan has always been selective. Other provinces should also be brought under the axe, and their actions should be thoroughly scrutinised. Moreover, proper constitutional frameworks should be adopted, and proper methodology be devised to ensure that the process goes on smoothly.
Yes, we had to take the start from some single point, but no one should be spared. A very major problem in Pakistan is that accountability means holding the civilians accountable. What about military? Democracy cannot be ensured and enforced, unless all the institutions operate in their own constitutional spheres. Giving democracy the space to grow and flourish is important; however we as a nation have always let democracy grow in a very strangling environment.
This is more or less about it; let us see what the future holds for us. I hope there will be good news, and not some rude awakening.
