What would it take?

It is devastating to imagine that those in charge of safety, welfare, progress have no sense of responsibility

I have often wondered what it would take for elected officials and senior leadership of this country to take real responsibility. What would it take for them to resign when the lives of ordinary citizens are taken away, when they stoop low through their statements and when their public stance brings embarrassment to the country and their office? I don’t have an answer — but I hope some readers do. This is not a problem in the current government; the rot is deep and has been shared across party lines. Let us examine some evidence from the last five years.

In 2014, Thar saw the deaths of hundreds (yes hundreds!) of children due to malnutrition, asphyxia, respiratory distress syndrome and preventable causes — all due to the local government’s serious negligence. Chief minister Qaim Ali Shah didn’t budge. No resignation, no responsibility. It was the fault of the poor children and their families.

In 2016 in the halls of the Assembly, defence minister Khawaja Asif stooped to the lowest levels of misogyny. There was widespread condemnation, but no resignation by the minister. A lame non-apology is all we got. The same party had other ministers, federal and provincial (Abid Sher Ali and Rana Sanaullah), who in 2018 weren’t far behind their colleague in using vulgarity to describe PTI workers. Once again — no resignation, no action.

Let us now switch to the great change of July 2018. Not much has changed in terms of responsibility. In some ways, it got worse. Federal science minister who, under public pressure, was removed for bullying homeless neighbours and significant abuse of power (Azam Swati) was brought back in the cabinet quietly. Punjab cabinet was not to be left behind: Fayyaz Chohan who had used extremely inappropriate language against Hindus was kicked out in March 2019 (with PTI claiming the high morality card) and quietly brought back in June 2019. So much for moral high ground! Other ministers used highly inappropriate language about contraception (Fawad Chaudhry), mocked earthquake victims (Firdous Ashiq Awan) or made highly questionable and problematic statements about air pollution in Lahore (Zartaj Gul Wazir) — without any action taken against them.

This takes me to the most recent tragedy associated with Pakistan Railways. The Prime Minister, before taking office, clearly stated on record that when a railway tragedy happens anywhere in the world, the minister must resign in order for an impartial inquiry to take place. Not one, but many tragedies have taken place on Sheikh Rasheed’s watch — the most recent one being one of the worst in the last decade or so. But neither the PM nor the Minister is interested in real responsibility — and to quote the PM (from not so long ago), “real inquiry”.

Perhaps this is how we do business — without even a shred of sense of responsibility or concern for the people. The fact that there is no culture of resignation or real responsibility can mean three things. First, there is no real moral compass and recognition of responsibility towards the people. Second, public pressure and outcry doesn’t matter. And third, those who are the bosses of the ministers, are either incapable of demanding a resignation or simply not interested.

My hypothesis is that in Pakistan it isn’t one of these three — it is all three combined. It is depressing and devastating, but also terrifying to imagine that those in charge of safety, welfare, progress and development have no sense of responsibility and driven exclusively by self-interests and a zest for power.

As I was mulling over what it takes for people to take responsibility — I spoke to someone who had seen a few more seasons than I have. She said, “Hamid, we lost half the country and no one resigned. Why would anyone do that for a train accident?”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2019.

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