Should Rehman Malik resign?

Like an unwanted guest who sits and chats well after dinner, Pakistani politicians can never figure out when they have overstayed their welcome. While resignations are fairly common in our politics, they are rarely an act of principle or acknowledgement of failure. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who has overseen more disasters than most, has become a master of excuse-making and rationalisations. No matter what happens, he is always on hand to point out that it was someone else’s fault. Sometimes he may even be right but what is most galling is that, at a time when the country is in mourning, the last thing we need is a government grandee who seems affected not by the unfolding tragedy, but at the thought of losing his cushy job.

Malik indulged in a particularly crass form of blame-shifting in the wake of minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti’s murder. In defending his actions, or his inaction in providing sufficient security to Bhatti, he ended up blaming the late minister himself, saying that Bhatti had refused extra protection. That may well be true, but now was hardly the time to bring it up. Malik’s tone veered between defensiveness and belligerence, neither of which suited the sombre occasion. Instead, he should have declared that he would resign his position were an independent inquiry to find that he had not fulfilled his duties.

Sadly, Malik is far from the only politician unwilling to consider resignation for dereliction of duty or even on a point of principle. Just recently we have witnessed former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi launch a crusade against the government for its role in the Raymond Davis case. As is typical, he didn’t see the need to publicly speak out while he was still foreign minister, preferring to wait till he was stripped off his office. In fact, the history of Pakistan politics is one of leaders insisting that the buck doesn’t stop with them. They prefer to blame their failures on conspiracies hatched by their enemies. Even if they don’t resign, it would be refreshing to see a politician admit to a mistake occasionally.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2011.