In search of normal politics

Having watched and listened to the same cast of political actors again and again over the decades, one is overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. The same groups, leaders and families have been in power for more than 70 years, with the new entrants to the political game coming in through the agency of military rule in the country. What are their individual and collective contribution towards the betterment of the people, the country itself and the state of Pakistan? For the answer to this question, you don’t need to refer to an expert analysis. Just look at what one set of party leaders say about the others. Before and after the grand political ‘reconciliation’ between Pervez Musharraf and the PPP, and then later between the PPP and the PML-N during the entire era of ‘democracy is the best revenge’, there is hardly any crime on the record books of politics that all these various actors have not accused each other of. What is the record of probing and doing something about these ‘crimes’? You know the answer. The institutional, legal and judicial mechanisms have been beaten down so much that everybody involved in these ‘crimes’ gets the ‘clean chit’.

This is what constitutes a weak state and shallow politics. The other side of this politics is that it is issueless, personal and often condescendingly aggressive as one side portrays itself to be better by painting the opponent in black. It seems nothing, or very little, has changed since the peaceful ‘democratic transition’. Obviously, there is something wrong with our politics, institutions, the political class, and certainly, with the dynastic parties and their leaders. The ruling groups and their defenders have to answer for many wrongs, failures and systematic plunder of the country. It is because of their willful acts of commission and omission that the country continues to remain poor, corrupt, and in many places, ungovernable. The country has lost time and opportunity, while the problems have kept accumulating and the corrupt have continued to have a field day.

There are many strategies in play to confuse the people about who is really responsible for the problems and the challenges the country faces. First, blame the outside forces — the ‘enemies’ that have agents in Pakistan working full-time to destabilise it. Second, keep on harping on what the great powers have done in Afghanistan and say that this is why we continue to suffer. Third, turn your guns on society, its traditions and culture. At the end of the day, the poorest of the poor must be blamed because it is their poverty which is driving them to embrace ‘extremism’. These are mostly half-truths based on manufactured ‘facts’. These narratives are spun every day on the media and serve the political and ideological interests of the ruling cliques.

These narratives are meant to deflect attention from the ruling elite’s conduct when they are in power. When a succeeding regime timidly files cases against its predecessor, this is always termed ‘political victimisation’ of innocent politicians, bureaucrats and their comrades in arm. The mutual blame game that follows and the failure to prove that the accused have actually committed wrongdoings diminish the credibility of the institutions of accountability. The end result of this charade is that the failures of the ruling elite and the wrongs they have committed against the people and the country are deemed to be a normal affair.

Political issues — national reforms and reconstruction in the wider sense — must have a political solution. There is no other alternative. For that to happen, we need to engage with fresh ideas, new social movements and the empowerment of citizens. Ensuring justice in the economic and social sense, adhering to the rule of law as well as equality among citizens are some of these ideas. But why would those in power either reform themselves or be held responsible? That will require empowered citizens and a questioning civil society.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th,  2016.

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