Today, Pakistan is one of those unfortunate nations where people don’t matter. It may sound unconventional, since we have a sort of an elected government, but for practical reasons it is true. One may argue that the people of Pakistan get a chance at the time of elections to choose among candidates with different competing party labels. In the last elections, they did vote for the lot that now govern us at provincial and federal levels. So what is this fuss about? Let me argue the point.
First of all, even if people get the right to vote, as they have exercised in one form or another since colonial times, it may not matter because the choice they have is between two familiar rivals coming from the same social and economic background. In much of the country, tribal chiefs, caste leaders, pirs and land-owning gentry consider it their birth right and — by social compulsion — a family and clan duty to participate in the electoral arena. So it remains an undeniable historical fact that the same groups of families and clans have dominated electoral politics of Pakistan, except in some of the major cities. The current state of political violence and the rise of power groups are equally discomforting.
Democracy enables one to make a choice between two different alternatives on an ideological plan, programme or manifesto, a definition of national purpose and a vision about the state and society. Sadly, on everything minor to major, all political parties speak the same language and use the same political idiom — with the exception of one popular leader in the opposition, Imran Khan. However, the big question is whether or not he will succeed in converting personal appeal and credibility into sizeable parliamentary numbers. If a leader with a 69 per cent popularity rating cannot win a majority, then there must be something wrong with the electoral system — since people vote for parliamentarians not for the chief executive. Or one must dig deep into the political sociology of an electable class that keeps the people within its sphere of political influence.
The constituency dynamics of electoral politics in the rural as well as urban constituencies are driven by caste, ethnicity, tribe and clan affiliations. It may take many runs of democratic elections before the caste-based electoral block breaks into political and civil community associations. Unless that happens, the people will remain parochial, seek security in narrow social webs and vote for candidates irrespective of what his or her performance has been and what his or her party did to the country and people at large. Oh, yes, a few times they have changed their horses, but they are of the same breed, run the same political distance and belong to the same ruling club.
The question that why Pakistan is in such dire straits today has many answers, but the most important one is that the common man possesses hardly any power to hold those in power accountable. He confirms political legitimacy on them, and they in return rob him. This is the common view of the political class no matter which corner of Pakistan you travel to, but the mystique of Pakistani politics is that the same groups dominate us, define us and gladly we continue to give them power to lead us to chaos, disorder and maybe an impending collapse.
Another mystique of politics is that thugs and robbers can be rulers in democratic garb, if people are ignorant, helpless and lack the courage to jettison parochial interests. Good luck people!
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2011.
COMMENTS (23)
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@Max: Dear Max: I agree with you that values, conventions and institutions that would support democracy to mature are weak. But elements of democratic governance have been with out for well over a century, as I indicated my piece. The electable class has willfully undermined the capacity and growth of them--rule of law, judicial independence, autonomy of bureaucratic institutions to maintain their personalized rule. I really don't know who you are but can only guess somebody with an academic bent or professional line. Best, Rasul Bakhsh Rais
@hariharmani: Dear harihrmani: Thanks for inviting my attention to the structural issues of our subcontinental society--caste, creed, domination, power and violence. Also to the Mogul history. I have agonized over the fact how the Moguls treated their sons, and brothers, notably Aurangzeb. Perhaps, the history of the subcontinent would have been different if Dara Shikoh and his values, beliefs and world view had succeeded. Prince Murad was brilliant, so a threat to the ambitions of Auranzeb. Off thousands of tragic stories of the subcontinent, the tragedy of prince Murad has touched me the most. There are many parallels in tragic death and destructions of our fellow human beings but each story is unique, and so is that of Murad. How helpless he was when blinded, taken into captivity of Auranzeb in his expeditions in the south and then his merciless beheading. Harimani ji, life is struggle for us in India and Pakistan. We must live for effecting change, as your rightly say so, and that makes lives of tens of thousands of India social activists, thinkers and thought leaders there and in Pakistan purposeful. I believe change is possible and one must acknowledge and enjoy when it happens even in small measures. The story of Auranzeb and Murad is instructive for understanding the dynamics of power (ruthless) arrogance and elimination of resistance. We live in different age, we have made progress since the end of the Mogul era but there is long way to go to have the comfort, freedoms, security and a sense of fulfillment that the men and women generally have in the stable, democratic and industrial societies. Thanks for your comment. Rasul Bakhsh Rais
@Mirza: You stated: "I have never voted in Pakistani elections . . . Democracy is a process similar to sieving. After a few elections good people emerge from the ground up . . ."
Hmmm, me thinks you are the Sherriff of Nottingham.
Dear Max,You miss the irony of my comment,did you read Shakespeare and mark Antony speech,with Ceaser's body?"And Brutus is a honorable man"",sorry if I did not go further.I thought guys like you will get my drift.
@hariharmani: Oh please do not call Aurangzeb as great pious Emperor. He was nothing but a bloody murderer. Shikoh and Murad were his brothers and everyone knows what he did to his father. Alamgir means one who wants to maximize his control of the world (in other words despotic with a lust for ruling the world). Hitler comes to mind when I think of Aurangzeb. I have more to write but am on my way to work.
Come on, people ... KICK those LOOTERS out. Just do it.
Everyone agrees that there is an Oligarchy that rules Pakistan. A State that gives primacy to religion over individual is really not a Democracy, it is a hotch potch Theocracy. Thus the Objectives Resolution was passed and an blasphemy Law too found favour. This severely curtailed the ability of the masses to put critical questions to their rulers and robbed them of the fruits Democracy offered. It is now no longer possible to challenge the national narrative propounded by the rulers That the Judiciary also subscribes to some of these narratives has destroyed its independence and severely affected the rule of Law. Now the citizens are forced to align themselves with groups of vested interests as much due to fear rather than any ideological leanings. No one wants to become a statistic in the missing peoples list, of course for the sake of National Interests. "Why poke my nose and have it cut so I did not see, will not do" There is a solid reason for the apathy..
Learned political scientist is right to say that our political system has intentionally been framed to support and protect the class which are the extant of colonial rule after independence. In our political system neither leadership nor policies(manifesto) change but the faces are changing in the same family with the same policy of protecting class interest. The another unique dilemma with our system is that the political dynamics viz political parties, interest groups,pressure group and lobbyist belong the same class and ultimately they perpetuate the same class dominance in our social and particularly politcal fabric of so-called democracy.
The land where people don't matter is a great topic for discussion if analyzed honestly. I have never voted in Pakistani elections when I was living there. The reason was simple that my vote did not matter. In fact election results did not matter it was only the uniform that mattered. Pakistani has been mostly ruled by the uniformed masters. Why did they not break the pir, bradari, feudalism, landlords, tribal chief, etc? They had dictatorial powers to take army action in East Pakistan, violate and mutilate the constitution and throw the politicians and judges in jail and even hanged them. An honest analysis would have been to include all the rulers who had real powers and not the army puppets. In fact the above list of evils in the society are the ones that army preserves, protects and uses them to legitimize its unconstitutional rule. PML-Convention, PML-N, PML-Q, PPP-Patriot and likes are the examples of the means with which the army destroyed and corrupted Pakistani politics for ever. Democracy is a process similar to sieving. After a few elections good people emerge from the ground up and not from the top down like PTI. India is not much different from Pakistan, except their army is not out of control and there have been elections regularly to keep the country moving in the right direction. As the saying goes, democracy is the worst form of govt except all the others!
Today, Pakistan is one of those unfortunate nations where people don’t matter. You gotta be kidding me. They don't matter to politicians "ONLY" but to each other they even matter more than ever before.
The author may want to read this post from Jeffrey Sachs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/budgetary-deceit-and-amerb907684.html Budgetary Deceit and America's Decline
Democracy has worn out as a system. It has been beaten flat by the manipulators and now is so deformed that it is virtually unrecoverable. We must look for new horizons. 'Meritocracy' as a system is need of the times. http://www.chitralnews.com/Meritocracy.htm
Dear Rasul Saheb,I read your column and I feel and share your anguish,I felt the same way when Democrats with their stupedity lost 2000 election to Republicans,that the nature of the beast,and bane of all democracy,so should we all fold our tent and break down like cheap umbrella when the rain and wind is hard?How can you in despair write this sad tale,though everything you penned is pretty much accurate,if this is any solace,most democracy suffer from this drawback only the degree and magnitude differ.Sir,when next time,if your pen can,do not allow spouses of dead leader,young kids as old as 16,take over the reiin of the state.Period,that is why I left India as it is beyond my control,I can not prevent a 41 year novice to P.M. of the complex ountry like India,but all you can do is let your mighty pen do the writing.We are feudal society to the core,our core is rotten,you have to throw away the apple,it can not be saved,yet we must struggle for our childern,what will they say,we were coward!As you said it will take election after election before we get it right,we humans are flawed,there is no two way about it.Religion,caste,sub sect,language,region and god knows what drives us,sure good sense is not one of them,we kill for silly things,rationalise even gross injustice,if the guy is of once caste or religion,tell me if I'm wrong,we do not even consider friday and mosques out of bound for violence,tell me how many place of worship blown away.I will tell you a true historical tale,I will try to be very brief,readers do your own research.Prince Murad was offering Namaz in captivity in Gwalior fort,The great pius Alamgir(ARUNGZEB),couldn't wait for him to finish his prayer,beheaded him.But Alamgir was a honorable man and a great true Muslim.Such is our hypocracy.Same fate to Dara Shiicko,the other brother,we need to study true history,when fed garbage,only garbage comes out,yet we must strive to not to despair,keep up the good attitude.I'm not of your religion or country,yet I can not bring myself to say or do anything to hurt any one feeling,you do not jump up and down when you are down and hurt a fallen man even if he is your opponent,it is how stand up man acts.I write to even to change one mind for good,I consider a life well spent.Good luck Pakistan,fairwell.
A couple of things: Social change does not occur over night. It requires concerted efforts of all those involved. We also need to understand that Pakistan falls into the category of societies where primordial loyalties dominate (Clifford Geertz). Second, Pakistan does not have necessary infrastructure that may lead it to its democratization. This includes but not limited to rule of law, secularization of laws and society, universal concept of human rights, mass literacy, elimination of rural-urban, and dismantling of lord-peasant relationship. The last three happen in less than hundred years, and these may also bring some attitudinal changes in the first three, till then everything is up in the air. But let us keep our fingers crossed at least for the future generations. Professor Sahib, by now you should know who is this MAX guy?
Very enlightening article -- you've hit the nail on the head, again. Indeed the electoral system of Pakistan is dysfunctional to a very large extent.
Has any one noticed the enthusiasm of awam today in a PTI jalsa in Faisalabad. The wind of change is blowing. It is a matter of time now. Change is the idea whose time has come. Yes the corrupt political parties and their patronage network is very strong but there seems to be light at the end of tunnel. Remain hopeful my countrymen.
Sir, no doubt you wrote a good article, but all of us know about the big stumbling block between Pakistan and prosperity. You can take any problem and you relate it to population explosion. poverty, energy crises, conservatism, religious fundamentalism, shortage of water etc. This is the quagmire in which we are heading. The ultimate cause of every dilemma. our politicians no doubt are thugs and robbed taxpayers money, but we are just creating a mess by doubling the number of Pakistanis and then our slogan is this that as a Muslim this is our duty to create more and more Muslim, no matter what how they would taken care of.
Professor Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Sir - I salute you for focussing on the singular and fundamental issue that is the biggest stumbling block for Pakistan's progress. Any discussion about how Pakistan can progress under the leadership of thugs, crooks and criminals is a shameless waste of everyones' time and mockery of the ordinary person's intelligence.
Well Said. Time is not Pakistan's friend. Pakistanis suffer while Brazilians and Turks prosper. The rulers whose power base is rural are sowing seeds of own power base demise due to aquifer loss and soil fertility loss. This is a bigger issue in India,but Pakistan is not immune to it. Even a mature democracy can start deteriorating with elite capture. This is a problem that is troubling many Americans. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/27/corruption-financial-crisis-business-corruption09_0127corruption.html Corruption And The Global Financial Crisis http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-pht-newscorp-britain-corruption-idUSTRE76J25L20110720 Analysis: Is Britain more corrupt than it thinks?
Even if Imran comes into power, he can’t turn everything on its head. Foreign and defense policy is dictated by the army which won’t just give away its 6 decade old privilege. Army won’t allow anyone to touch the defense expenditure which is about 25 percent of total budget. Economy in a capitalist world cannot be drastically altered. Exports, foreign investment and IMF/World bank loans are linked to the foreign policy. Traders and businessman would just shut down the entire country if any taxes are imposed. Unions in government organizations won’t allow privatisation or rightsizing. Bureaucracy would block all kinds of reforms to preserve its privileges. Ethnic killings in Karachi cannot be controlled without political compromise.Terrorism and sectarian violence can’t end in 30 days as he claims. Corruption cases cannot be proved so easily in courts. Pakistan needs decades to reform; there are no revolutionary short cuts available.
Like they had 4 cast in Hindu system PAK seems to have some 40 odd casts starting from the MILITARY then BUREAUCRACY then politicians and then local sectarian and ethnic groups and then some Sugar Mafia, Cement Mafia E.T.C and then you have POLICE , Rangers seem to have their share recently. Then you have Judiciary, media NGOz and then you have TALIBANs and then BAD TALIBANS and GOOD TALIBANs aka "Strategic Assets" etc.
Then a recent class of laywers and then the burger A/O level class and then the "peela school" class etc.
PAK is best place for any researcher on Psychology.