Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
Democracy is in danger. But from those who rule in its name & can't grow beyond level of their own abysmal mediocrity.
So every time incompetence bubbles to the surface, democracy is in danger? Every time a half-baked, self-proclaimed revolutionary limps into town and starts foaming at the mouth, democracy is in danger?
Almost on cue, various shades of politicos emerge from the woodwork to save the democratic damsel in distress. A series of knee-jerk reactions then ensue. Some cry foul about the ominous intentions of the Brass, others see scheming technocrats behind every door, while the Judeo-Christian conspiracy-peddlers are not far behind either. The cacophony that substitutes for debate ultimately reduces itself to a simple discourse: Pakistan is teetering between weak democracy and failed dictatorship.
This is the worst debate we could have at this stage.
For too long the democrats have justified their sins by pointing out that these are miniscule compared to the alternative, i.e., army rule. The debate thus got skewed between two sets of undesirables. And the relevance of this to today is? Don’t we have a duly elected government, legitimised by all and sundry to govern for five years? Don’t we have a functioning parliament, a consultative cabinet, a focused prime minister and an obedient president? Don’t we have an endless line of ruling party members parroting the official truth every day on TV screens? Isn’t this boisterous society — arguing, bickering, blaming, cursing, shouting — just what democracy needs?
Sure it does. But what it also needs is a serious reality check that reminds us that we have got to grow out of the fears that justified everything that the ballot box threw up on us. Jokers in the pack will always be around. So will carpetbaggers and dirty, rotten scoundrels who continue stalking the land smelling for any opportunity to bare their fangs.
But they are not the only one with bared fangs. There is so much that is wrong with the right system. Electoral legitimacy comes with electoral baggage and electoral mentality. And it comes with a mandate to spend billions and billions of taxpayers’ money on whatever project the democratic hearts fancy. Having the right system through the ballot box does not hide the fact that it is a broken system. It is in this system that the people are neglected but concrete structures are not. It is in this system that institutions decay while vanity projects shimmer in the sun. It is the same system where elections have been stolen in the past, where corruption and mal-governance have touched new highs and where kith and kin have every single time trumped merit. It is a system that reeks of biradirism, tribalism and nepotism. It is a system where the police are used as political henchmen, where the taxman is used as the official hatchet man and where the bureaucrat is used like a personal servant. Generalisations? Sure to some extent, yes. But what do you say to a system — and those who run it — when they refuse to recognise the abominable condition of this political entity? What do you say to them when they just do not comprehend the value of the life of a citizen? What do you tell them when they are unwilling, or incapable of, understanding that right and privileges of a citizen are a million time more important than the ease of his travel?
The misfortune is that this ailment, this basic deficiency is not confined to one leader, or one party, or even one province. In fact, this is what makes it truly frightening because it touches the very core of the tragedy that befalls Pakistan: No one is even talking about the real problem.
The House Sharif has its Metro Bus fetish. And it may yet be the ruin of us. But what do the others have? The PPP has run Sindh like its personal fiefdom and continues to do so. Parts of Interior Sindh are a century behind Karachi in terms of basic development — and Karachi is no shining model of modernity by any stretch of imagination. The PPP feudals have ravaged their province and exploited their people to an extent which would shock the living daylights out of any reasonable person. But to them this is life. Normal life. Yes, these people would buy billions of rupees of equipment for the police; they would happily spend more than three billion rupees on a new swanky Sindh assembly building, but money for basic needs of the people? Dream on.
Sometimes it looks like Pakistan is a play thing for these political grandees. They weave magic through the ballot box and then happy days are here for them and their circle of influence. They ride around in their big cars with huge escorts, they enjoy the perks and privileges of office and they lord over the institutions of the state like they do over their party machinery. Punjab, the model of development, is controlled by an iron-web of a brutal and savage police. People are tormented and tortured as a routine. Lahore shines like a beacon but most areas of the province are plunged in darkness and despair.
Sindh is an epic disaster. The PPP continues to be shockingly incompetent. Balochistan remains in the stranglehold of a tribal system that has frozen the area and its people in the past. K-P holds promise but we still await the wonders promised by the PTI.
And still democracy is in danger? Yes it is. But from those who rule in its name but cannot grow beyond the level of their own abysmal mediocrity.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2014.
Almost on cue, various shades of politicos emerge from the woodwork to save the democratic damsel in distress. A series of knee-jerk reactions then ensue. Some cry foul about the ominous intentions of the Brass, others see scheming technocrats behind every door, while the Judeo-Christian conspiracy-peddlers are not far behind either. The cacophony that substitutes for debate ultimately reduces itself to a simple discourse: Pakistan is teetering between weak democracy and failed dictatorship.
This is the worst debate we could have at this stage.
For too long the democrats have justified their sins by pointing out that these are miniscule compared to the alternative, i.e., army rule. The debate thus got skewed between two sets of undesirables. And the relevance of this to today is? Don’t we have a duly elected government, legitimised by all and sundry to govern for five years? Don’t we have a functioning parliament, a consultative cabinet, a focused prime minister and an obedient president? Don’t we have an endless line of ruling party members parroting the official truth every day on TV screens? Isn’t this boisterous society — arguing, bickering, blaming, cursing, shouting — just what democracy needs?
Sure it does. But what it also needs is a serious reality check that reminds us that we have got to grow out of the fears that justified everything that the ballot box threw up on us. Jokers in the pack will always be around. So will carpetbaggers and dirty, rotten scoundrels who continue stalking the land smelling for any opportunity to bare their fangs.
But they are not the only one with bared fangs. There is so much that is wrong with the right system. Electoral legitimacy comes with electoral baggage and electoral mentality. And it comes with a mandate to spend billions and billions of taxpayers’ money on whatever project the democratic hearts fancy. Having the right system through the ballot box does not hide the fact that it is a broken system. It is in this system that the people are neglected but concrete structures are not. It is in this system that institutions decay while vanity projects shimmer in the sun. It is the same system where elections have been stolen in the past, where corruption and mal-governance have touched new highs and where kith and kin have every single time trumped merit. It is a system that reeks of biradirism, tribalism and nepotism. It is a system where the police are used as political henchmen, where the taxman is used as the official hatchet man and where the bureaucrat is used like a personal servant. Generalisations? Sure to some extent, yes. But what do you say to a system — and those who run it — when they refuse to recognise the abominable condition of this political entity? What do you say to them when they just do not comprehend the value of the life of a citizen? What do you tell them when they are unwilling, or incapable of, understanding that right and privileges of a citizen are a million time more important than the ease of his travel?
The misfortune is that this ailment, this basic deficiency is not confined to one leader, or one party, or even one province. In fact, this is what makes it truly frightening because it touches the very core of the tragedy that befalls Pakistan: No one is even talking about the real problem.
The House Sharif has its Metro Bus fetish. And it may yet be the ruin of us. But what do the others have? The PPP has run Sindh like its personal fiefdom and continues to do so. Parts of Interior Sindh are a century behind Karachi in terms of basic development — and Karachi is no shining model of modernity by any stretch of imagination. The PPP feudals have ravaged their province and exploited their people to an extent which would shock the living daylights out of any reasonable person. But to them this is life. Normal life. Yes, these people would buy billions of rupees of equipment for the police; they would happily spend more than three billion rupees on a new swanky Sindh assembly building, but money for basic needs of the people? Dream on.
Sometimes it looks like Pakistan is a play thing for these political grandees. They weave magic through the ballot box and then happy days are here for them and their circle of influence. They ride around in their big cars with huge escorts, they enjoy the perks and privileges of office and they lord over the institutions of the state like they do over their party machinery. Punjab, the model of development, is controlled by an iron-web of a brutal and savage police. People are tormented and tortured as a routine. Lahore shines like a beacon but most areas of the province are plunged in darkness and despair.
Sindh is an epic disaster. The PPP continues to be shockingly incompetent. Balochistan remains in the stranglehold of a tribal system that has frozen the area and its people in the past. K-P holds promise but we still await the wonders promised by the PTI.
And still democracy is in danger? Yes it is. But from those who rule in its name but cannot grow beyond the level of their own abysmal mediocrity.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2014.