Principles have no right to die

If we had principles and believed in Pakistan we would be willing to put opportunist politics aside and get to work.

Politics in Pakistan is a funny thing, it has been known to make people do the oddest things. A case in point being the latest position taken by the MQM over Dr Aafia Siddiqui. Here we have an avowedly secular, staunchly anti-terrorist, anti-Taliban party wander in to and occupy space which, until a few days ago, was the exclusive domain of the Jamaat-e-Islami. This is not an about turn you can just led slide it is a total ideological shift. Politically prudent and in sync with popular sentiment this shift was not about the due process or a malfunctioning justice system but all about buying in to and capitalising the need to be popular, which was more important than principles.

So do principles really have no right to die? They don’t but that is assuming that we have principles to start with. This week has been a ‘fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants’ kind of week in politics. The government was on its way out on Monday, or at least some part of it and just about pulled back from the brink. Sources close to the presidential palace tell us that democracy will be protected and that the army chief will die protecting it. Sources also say that the army chief, having been gently nudged in that direction by they who must not be named and who for arguments sake we will call the United States and Britain, will ensure that there will be some semblance of governance, that there will be fewer cronies and a regular culling of corrupt ministers and bureaucrats. That there will be some respect for the rule of law and courts. A tall order and if that is the remit it appears that it is being met by stiff resistance in most quarters. Abdul Qayyum Jatoi may have resigned but there has been no disciplinary action taken against him. Which allowed others to follow suit. Latif Khosa and Khursheed Shah then said their piece, though last heard Khursheed Shah was required to recant.

It is rather odd that we need the army to ensure the democratic dispensations survival, what happened to parliament? That August house filled with people who spend millions to get elected, get richer while in power and pay no tax. Why is it that they have not been able to come together today, when the country is faced by possibly the worst disaster to be faced by any country in decades, and agree that these are exceptional times and that they need to take exceptional steps to deal with today’s problems? Unless some exceptional steps are taken and changes are made at home how can we expect the rest of the world to come forward and be part of the solution. Will the prime minister follow his own advice and convince the parliament to expand the tax base even if not in the interests of its members though in the interests of the country? Will government agree to trim its fat before asking a starving nation to tighten its belt? Will the interests of citizens come before vested interests? Will parliament see this as an opportunity and authoritatively seize it and use it to build its own credibility? Will we all drown in Senator Waqar’s sea of self-publicity? Will all the chatter stop and will hopelessness be replaced with a sense of purpose? Will we stop using every opportunity to shut down? Given the state of our current economic health we can’t afford to close for a few hours, forget days.

Before it writes the cheque, the international community has required that the government of Pakistan show them what Pakistan is willing to do to meet the challenges. There are lots of great ideas and people out there to implement them. From reform in agriculture, health, education to removing the bottlenecks and hurdles to doing business in Pakistan, there are solutions available, there are people thinking and creatively all that is required is the political will to do it. If we had principles and believed in this country we call Pakistan we would be willing to put opportunist politics aside and get to work.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2010.