Prioritising the needs of the citizens

All the participants of a recently held citizens’ convention in Multan, expressed raged against the Multan metro

Citizens’ needs have never been a priority of any government in Pakistan. But never before have the rulers’ greed and people’s needs clashed so visibly, with the Sharif dynasty excelling in creating this contrast. Conspiracy theories abound: first, the government let PIA go to ruin and turned it into a financial burden so that it could be sold cheaply to a crony. Isn’t it true that the massive ads that appeared in the media about PIA’s privatisation were based on the argument that PIA is facing huge losses?

But at the same time, the government has started new mega projects, which are bound to face the fate that has met PIA. For instance, both the Lahore and Islamabad-Pindi metro services are causing losses in billions each year, which are being covered through subsidies. The Multan metro and Lahore Orange Line train will greatly increase the burden. The government can’t defend two contradictory positions simultaneously — one for PIA’s privatisation and the other for the Orange line train. These projects are also poorly designed and being implemented without a proper environment and risk analysis being conducted and according to UN experts, the government has no resettlement policy for the displaced families. And these costs have not been added in any feasibility study. No wonder they have become extremely controversial, as most citizens and experts believe that they are white elephants. Many people also believe that the hidden purpose behind these included business interests, kickbacks, publicity and increasing of the vote bank.

Let’s leave aside the financial aspect. If we believe what the government claims — that the metro and Orange Line projects are for the comfort of the public — then why are concerns of safety and smooth flow of traffic being ignored completely during their construction? No wonder citizens in Multan perceive the metro as a serious problem because most of the route of the metro was widened only six months back. All the participants of a recently held citizens’ convention in Multan, expressed raged against the metro.

Beside Multan, similar conventions were also held in Islamabad, Dera Ghazi Khan and Khanewal. A large number of councillors, lawyers, social activists, representatives of associations, labour unions and political parties participated in the events. They prioritised the following problems through a rigorous participatory process: price hike, unemployment, contaminated drinking water; gas and power outages, disempowered local councils, religious extremism/terrorism, sub-standard and inadequate educational and health facilities, spread of Hepatitis C, lack of justice, thana culture, rising crime rates, corruption, poor sanitation/pollution and discrimination against women.

The citizens’ preferred problems confirm what various social indices and studies revealed. For instance, most Seraiki districts of the Punjab are as poor and suffer from multiple deprivations as of upper Sindh and Baluchistan. The infant and maternal mortality rates of Pakistan are highest in South Asia. In spite of this, the Punjab government earmarked only Rs166 billion for health and Rs310.2 billion for education for 2015-16, for over 100 million people of the province. This means the per head allocation is just Rs1,660 and Rs3,100 for health and education, respectively. While the government is spending as much as Rs170 billion on Orange line train construction, the per head cost will be Rs1 million, as it will serve just 250,000 persons a day, out of the 5 million residents of Lahore.

In order to bring people’s priorities to the rulers’ attention, the participants of the above-mentioned conventions formed committees in each district, which would launch campaigns in their respective districts. The citizens’ campaign will adopt a two-pronged approach: ascertain a pledge of support from special interest associations (SIAs), renowned writers, poets and scholars; and to build pressure on MPs, local administration and local councils for improved governance.

For a long time, both political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs) ignored one very important and the largest section of our civil society. This error must end.  We have, roughly, 200,000 SIAs. Few of them are extremely powerful, for example, the chamber of commerce and industry, while some of them are moderately powerful, like bar associations. But a bulk of them represent marginalised classes — labourers, peasants, drivers, sweepers, teachers, clerks and nurses. Despite this differentiation, one common characteristic of these associations is, they are membership-based, self-financed and above all, democratically run, as they hold elections on a regular basis.

Despite serious weaknesses, the CSOs could play a pivotal role in this regard. They have to act as catalyst in order to unleash the hidden potential of the SIAs. Their rich experience in organisation, mobilisation of members and peaceful struggle, their negotiating skills and their democratic credentials could make huge impact if collectively moved.

In almost all European countries, the labour unions have played a pivotal role in transforming national security states into welfare states and in the deepening of democracy. In our country too, labour unions attempted to play a similar role, but failed. The current political leadership tends to continue with their exclusive approach. Hence, the vast majority of labour unions will remain isolated from the political processes. The European model has failed. Therefore, we need to evolve our own model.

SIAs should also think and plan beyond their trade as their members face more problems outside of their workplace. With some variation, whether you are a lawyer, a teacher, a nurse, or a factory worker, you breath the same polluted air, drink the same contaminated water, consume spurious drugs and adulterated food, use the same broken streets and live in an unjust governance and fearful life due to the same terrorism, but hardly join hands to improve the situation. Labourers may have teachers, nurses, shopkeepers, lawyers, and clerks in their neighbourhood and beyond. This proximity bonds all in one community and desires collective articulation and action against common problems.

In order to make an impact, this may require a two-way approach: bottom-up and top-down. Members of various SIAs living in the same neighbourhood rank their issues and take them to their respective SIA. The SIA coalition processes the datasets of various neighbourhoods, ranks the issues and then prepares a joint position followed by a joint action plan, which is implemented by members of SIAs in their respective neighbourhoods and by the leadership at the district level and beyond.

In Multan district alone, more than 1500 SIAs, Islahi Committees and CSOs exist and roughly, they have 0.6 million members. Should they join hands and mobilise even 20 per cent of their members and voice their problems collectively, the rulers would surely feel its heat and be pressured to respond to the needs of the citizens. As mentioned above, in four districts, SIAs, CSOs and newly elected councilors have taken a humble step in this regard. Should more SIAs join this initiative, the citizens’ priorities could become rulers’ concerns. We never tried to put the last first in this manner. Let's try the above model.  

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2016.

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