Higher national cause vs dynastic politics

While the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) picked up momentum last month and the media zoomed onto its broader narrative, one major missing aspect has been the higher national cause vis-à-vis expediencies of dynastic politics.

It may be important to look at pitfalls of dynastic politics in the contemporary world, see how parliaments and legislatures are transforming and where Pakistan stands today.

Dynastic politics has remained predominant in Europe, Asia and even Africa before the advent of parliamentary and representative democracies. As Europe and North America became more liberalised and democracy gained strong roots, dynastic politics took a back seat with fewer MPs from famous dynasties remaining in the parliaments.

In contrast, the developing world, where parliamentary or the presidential system started taking roots, remained almost hijacked by dynastic politics. In South Asia, dynastic politics and cronyism has actually become the second name of democracy.

A book edited by Kanchan Chnadra and titled Democratic Dynasties State, Party, and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics, may be of interest. It states that dynastic politics, usually presumed to be the antithesis of democracy, is a routine aspect of politics in many modern democracies. It argues that the roots of dynastic politics lie at least in part in modern democratic institutions — states and parties — which give political families a leg-up in the electoral process.

Is dynastic politics a violation of democracy; especially when the power is transferred from one generation to the second, third and even fourth without sharing it with party members outside the closed circle of a particular dynasty?

Looking into Pakistan’s dynastic politics, one is amazed at the way power has been monopolised by a dozen families and the survival and wellbeing of a particular party is enmeshed with survival and wellbeing of a family. From Bhuttos, Sharifs and Khans of ANP to Mufti Mehmoods, Achakzais and Chaudharies of Gujrat, parties have become dynastic dominions. This gives birth to cronyism, demand for unflinching loyalty and awarding the inner circle, irrespective of the cost to the state and country.

Coming down to the next level of regional and district level politics, the dynastic factors prevail through feudal dhara bandi, biradri and clans. There are hardly any districts and regions where independent minded and party workers find any space in parliament.

Another important factor in dynastic politics is the grooming of leadership and ability to lead Pakistan in the 21st century. A contrast with parliamentarians and representatives in developed and developing world indicates that Pakistan is far behind in grooming parliamentarians to meet today’s challenges.

Currently 95% of the members of the United States Congress and 90% of British MPs have a college degree and, more than two dozen members have PhDs in the US and the UK.

The Iranian parliament is probably the most qualified: out of 290 members, 111 have doctorates, 147 are master’s and the rest have a bachelor’s degree

The National People’s Congress of China has 2,980 members with 17% PhDs, making it the most qualified assembly in the world. The elite politburo, composed of 25 senior Communist party officials, boasts seven doctoral graduates including President Xi, that’s 35% of the senior ranks, indicating how educational qualification is given importance in China.

Coming to Pakistan, a FAFEN report published by this paper August 17, 2018, highlighted that the 12th National Assembly of Pakistan, which was elected in 2002 during Musharraf’s regime, is still known as the graduate assembly of Pakistan since it was binding for the legislators to be at least a graduate by qualification. However, this condition was later removed, paving the way for many politicians without a university degree to become MNAs. 

The current state of educational qualification of Pakistani parliamentarians is below that of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Nepal. Is that sustainable?

The quality of debate and discourse on critical national issues within the parliament and on media indicates the grooming of parliamentarians. No wonder it appears to be nothing more than barber-shop gossip, with no offense to the hardworking barbers though.

The second decade of 21st century is coming to an end and the world has entered the post-truth era where people are more likely to accept an argument based on their emotions, biases and beliefs, rather than on facts. Expert opinions and policy discourse take a backseat 

while populism, tribalism, trivia and social media flak takes main stage. If in doubt, watch Modi and Trump or tune into any Pakistani TV channel during prime time.

Taking help from our previous piece published in these pages, we tried to summarise the strategic environment of Pakistan and the region with a view to drawing attention of our political leaders as to what should be their areas of focus, other than barber-shop gossip:

Pakistan shares a challenging neighbourhood with giants — a geographical factor that keeps impacting Pakistan’s relations with its neighbours and internal polity. It has witnessed some positive developments, where the entire gambit of chaos woven around Pakistan seems to be coming apart.

Internally a complete chaos brigade, hell bent at spreading despondency, was busy targeting the military and the people through a doomsday campaign, and it appeared as if the fall of Pakistan was inevitable. However; past three years witnessed a reversal of this trend as the US realised that its longest war was unable to settle the Afghan question through military means. Thus, Pakistan emerged as a pivotal player in the Afghan peace process and helped the international community in bringing the warring sides to the negotiating table.

Another strategic shift in the region happened in May 2020 along the Indo-China LAC in Ladakh. China reclaimed approximately 1,200 square kilometres of its perceived territory and the Indian military, the third largest in the world, could not mount any worthwhile response.

Earlier in February 2019, Pakistan military re-established nuclear deterrence in South Asia through Operation Swift Retort and displayed to the entire that India was a paper tiger, this action boosted Pakistan military’s prestige at home and abroad.

Domestically, Pakistan, like any other nation, is grappling with the menace of Covid-19. However its performance has been appreciated globally, it should be a matter of satisfaction that the leadership in Islamabad and provinces came together to build a resolute and sure footed response to the pandemic. Unfortunately this silver lining in the sky, which has been globally acknowledged, has not been projected as a success story by our parliamentarians.

The macroeconomic indicators are also improving, with CPEC entering the next phase and industrial output growing, Pakistan looks to 2021 with optimism.

To conclude, the higher national cause should always remain supreme, that can only be projected if the political leadership develops ability to conduct an informed debate and guards the core national interests through bipartisanship. While the nation can go along the current political dispensation, despite its shortfalls, there is a need to develop and groom young leadership equipped with tools and expertise that can make it the mainstay of Pakistani politics without relying on the ossified system of dynastic politics.