Change, as always, comes from within
In last two weeks many interesting things have happened that points towards the underlying trends emerging in the country. The departing chief of UN Development Program (UNDP) Mr. Marc-André Franche recently gave an interview to Business Recorder in which he advised that elite of Pakistan have to decide whether they have a country and if they do then they have to be ready to give sacrifices for it. He suggested that these elite should pay their fair share of taxes, avoid corrupt practices and keep large chunk of their investments in the country. Mr. Marc-Andre stayed in Pakistan for over three years making him one of the longest serving chiefs of UNDP which means his comments should not be taken lightly rather considered seriously.
The other interesting thing happened in NA63 by-election reported by Dawn News. Voters in village Langar of Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan in district Jhelum decided that none of the candidates are capable to solve their problems so they decided not to cast their votes in protest. In other words they used their democratic right to express their displeasure with the current state of governance and quality of politicians presented to them on the ballot paper. We all know PML N and PPP are parties of status quo but this decision was a slap on the face of PTI that call itself party of change. This symbolic boycott is a message for PTI to take another look at its politics, quality of candidates and the manifesto they are offering to people.
Another interesting development was the decision of MQM Karachi to break its association with MQM London by presenting a resolution in the assembly as well as introducing amendment in its constitution to curtail powers of the founding rehbar (leader). It is first time in the history of Pakistan that the founder or his family of a major political party will not be controlling it. Jamat Islami has that tradition but they have a quasi democracy where only a small percentage of their total members vote in party elections. It is still not clear whether Dr. Farooq Sattar and his team will be able to pull it off and keep the party together in the absence of the overwhelming influence exercised by the founder. The key to his success will be to make sure they reach out to Mustafa Kamal. It will be a test for Mustafa Kamal also that he has community interest at heart rather than to satisfy personal ego. If this succeed it will be major milestone for the nation to cross. This could inspire activists in other parties that are suffocated by the top leadership who giving tickets and titles to their loyalists as well as not taking them into confidence in party decisions. This will be a major defeat of the status quo that is struggling to retain control of these political parties.
The last development was presentation of a new bill in the assembly to amend the people inquiry act. This was PML N way of settling the Panama Leaks issue by using its majority in the assembly to present a new law that at best guarantees continuation of the corrupt practices. As usual PPP made a symbolic protest about it suggesting some more noora queshti for public consumption before they accept it. PTI as usual was absent from the assemblies to make any difference and further the debate for structural reforms. They are busy taking people around a chorangi without any direction. The only thing Imran Khan is achieving through these frivolous agitations is to tire its grass roots which is already down to a trickle because of frequent political errors committed by him and his advisers that are mostly from PML-Q. People don’t see any benefit for them in PTI agitation so are disinterested in it.
Despite these emerging trends showing desires for change it seems there is no public movement on the horizon to form a platform that could lead the efforts to introduce structural reforms in the system. This failure means the status quo will remain in place and continue exploiting the system for its parochial interest. Traditionally middle classes in a country spearhead reform movements and develop platforms to achieve it. In the 1970s Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tapped into it but later abandoned it without facing any resistance from it. PPP still maintains some contacts with middle and poor classes but its decision making and power levers are largely controlled by elites of Sind and Punjab. MQM tapped in to the same urban middle class and we all know what happened there. Recently Imran Khan was able to tap into this discontent in the middle class to create a wave that took everyone by surprise. But within no time the middle class once again lost control of the movement to the elites without any resistance.
The question then arise why is Pakistan’s middle class so docile? There are many reasons for it. First is our education system – which demands conformity and submission to authority – this produces citizens that are subservient to those in power. The second is our family unit where the patriarch of the family demands complete submission without any question of dissent. Third is cultural aspect where unquestioned conformity is appreciated while dissent and disagreement is considered disrespect and cause of disharmony. In other words dissent has to be punished rather than taken into consideration. Fourth is that middle class has almost disappeared because of rising cost of living and declining growth in income. They are too busy dealing with their own family needs to have time to think about larger community. Last is the fear of retaliation from the elite in the absence of rule of law to prevent any unlawful aggression against them. It is for these reasons whenever they see a personality emerging they join it with the hope that it will lead to a better future. But they are used as pawns by the savior to acquire power for himself rather than to work with them as partners to improve the system.
As you all know we have been active inside PTI demanding institutionalisation of the party through respect for constitution, merit and ideology. We rely on the middle class that joined the party in droves to give it a lift. But as outlined above majority of this core constituency hesitant to rise up to question Imran Khan demanding joint ownership of the party rather than let him control it as a dictator. The struggle is still going on and odds are slowly improving in our favor as the underlying trends mentioned at the start of this article favor our struggle.
