Political problems and fallacy of administrative solutions

The coterie of ruling elite is overwhelmed with problems of unprecedented magnitude. On the political landscape, the instability and uncertainty continue to beleaguer the country with unresolved baffling question of legitimacy of installing the present government headed by a Prime Minister accused of money laundering. The economy, held hostage to IMF with recurrent episodes of mismanagement, state of non-decision and absolute submission to IMF dictates, continues to flounder and worsen the plight of the people. The despondent mood of the nation in the wake of yawning political cleavage, mammoth price hike and bourgeoning unemployment finds expression in the recurrent incidents of social unrest and fierce protests all over the country from Gwadar to Gilgit.

The ubiquity of the crises, in fact, contextually relates to the sordid saga of crude power struggle orchestrated and engineered by the ultimate adjudicators between the transitory-divergent and expediency-based coalition of initially 11 and now 14 parties of PDM and PTI. The political, economic, social and mal-governance cost of this engineering is ghastly dreadful to the country. The assiduous denials and the associated cognitive dissonance seem to have further widened, with each passing day, the credibility gap between the citizens and the institution erstwhile most revered, respected and acclaimed in the country. The power-inebriated-arrogant mores characterised by blames being externalised and claims being arrogated have detached the top leadership from the acrimony of the objective reality obtaining on the ground. Never ever in the history of the country, the institution witnessed the decline and descent of its renown and repute to the present state of decay and degeneration.

Be that as it may, the government’s response to the chaos is perhaps best portrayed by ‘a ship lost in the fog’ syndrome. It audaciously seeks refuge for its unpreparedness, incompetence, ineptitude and lack of a clear vision under the pretext of the pathetically poor PTI legacy. In its rampant quest for quick fix and hasty remedies, it is resorting to ad hoc, provisional and often feckless measures opting ad nauseam for the administrative and quasi administrative solutions as panacea for resolving the pervasive political, economic and governance problems. The administrative machination to influence the criminal justice and accountability systems and the manipulation of mega-corruption cases speak loudly of government’s tactics and ploy. The brute use of police personnel e.g. violation of the sanctity of the provincial assembly on 16 April 2022 to impel Chief Minister’s elections, the pre-May 25, 2022 long march crackdown by police on PTI members, imposition of section 144 of CPC to ban assembly, the infringement of the privacy of the homes and the indiscriminate detention of political workers under MPO adduce irrefutable evidence of the administrative excesses resorted to by the government to curb and quell the political dissent. This was followed by wielding the state’s coercive power on May 25 especially in Punjab and in Islamabad to intimidate the protesting citizens and the post-May 25 registration of fake criminal cases against political opponents even under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. This was in contravention to the right of political protest and peaceful assembly enshrined in Article 16 of the 1973 Constitution and even sanctified by Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) to which Pakistan is a signatory.

These administrative measures, instead of yielding positive results, brought bad name to the government and its commitment to restore ‘democratic order’. To further aggravate, instead of realising its folly, the government spokespersons extolled and eulogised the Interior Minister as a hero. What an ignominiously indelible mark on the canvass of our history!

On another front, the administrative tinkering of the voters’ list, the alleged posting/transfer of hundreds of government officials by the Punjab government during the pre-by-election period and the use of development funds are clear deviations and infractions of the prescribed norms and rules. If that were not enough, the government notified on June 3, 2022 the ISI as the Special Vetting Agency for screening the recruitment, promotion and posting of civil servants. There are potentially severe consequences in terms of demoralising civil servants, enhancing army’s domination over the civil bureaucracy and deepening its role in governance function. ISI does not have the ‘idle capacity’ nor the luxury to ignore or dilute its original mandate and core operations of gathering, processing and analysing information and intelligence from around the world to guard national security and safety. Moreover, its engagement in civilian affairs, in due course, is likely to foment corruption, dishonesty and malpractices in its modus operandi which Army as an institution could ill afford.

The institution is well advised to reflect and indulge in a thorough introspection to identify the etiology of what went wrong, why issues which once were forbidden are now openly and relentlessly debated in the national and social media to its great detriment and why its public approbation is on a road to decadence. While the rationale, intent and objective of progressively acquiring the omnipresent role in almost all spheres of national life may be noble, there will perhaps be a stark realisation too that expanding the space beyond securing the territorial integrity of the country into solidifying political stability and economic security is not a prudent choice. It needs to rewind and roll back in the larger interest of the country and confine itself to its Constitutional role. As the plethora of historical evidence suggests, army is always the loser and the handful of canny, avaricious and unscrupulous politicians manage to outwit those in uniform at the pyramid of power, make colossal illicit gains and inflict massive collective punishment to the helpless, voiceless and defenseless people.

The succinct upshot is that the political problems must be solved in the political space without recourse to cursory and cruel administrative measures or external and extra-constitutional intrusions. The independence of judiciary which is responsible for providing the ultimate remedy must be guaranteed and human, civil and political rights respected. Bad, inefficient and coercive administrative governance, as one-size-fit-all recipe, should be strictly eschewed to solve the political, economic and social problems. The ordinary citizens must have ready access to the political space which is inclusive, de-monopolised and participatory and which allows freedom of expression afar from the myopic interest-based narrative of the ruling elite. A vibrant pluralist culture which promotes fertilisation of ideas and opinions is sine qua non for establishing a robust democratic order. There is a real urgency for serious political reforms else this saga of gloom and doom will continue imperiling the future and destiny of our country and its people.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2022.

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