Reform or Perish

The News
Sept 08, 2010

 If nature in its wisdom intended to change the course of history for Pakistan, it surely made a mistake by beginning at the wrong end. The floods sent to dismantle the existing status quo took the path of least resistance. They demolished those whose homes and hearths were most fragile and who already lived on the fringes of existence, sparing those whose lands were protected by illegal dykes and those who could blow up embankments to drown others. The rich and the powerful, often with fake degrees made fake appearances, quoted fake figures, visited fake relief camps and made fake promises. Like never before, the floods ruthlessly exposed the bitter dichotomy of Pakistani society. 

The cruelty and wickedness of the few on one hand and the misery, deprivation and the 'cave-age' backwardness of millions on the other. This gap could only widen in the days to come. The poor having lost all they had, will become poorer and yet more dependent on the 'waderas.' The rulers will acquire yet greater opportunities of profiteering, exploitation and greater control over the people. After all it is they who will oversee the distribution of funds, awarding of contracts and construction of new roads and infrastructure.

Thus the prognosis for Pakistan is gloomy and hopeless. A new election or a change of government would be simply cosmetic, as it would only replace one set of corrupt and incompetent rulers with another. It would be unwise to expect or ask the army to intervene. The army, competing with its political counterparts, consistently failed to deliver each time it took over power in the past. There is nothing to suggest that it will do any different or any better this time. Einstein must have had Pakistan in mind when he termed doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results as 'insanity.' It is time for Pakistan to understand that the show is finally over. The political parties have happily decided to accept cheats as their opening batsmen. The governments (and for that matter the cricket teams) have assumed cheating as a standard operating procedure. This is the dismal reality of Pakistan, which leaves us with just two options – either to reform or to perish.

It would be naive to expect reform or change coming from the existing political elite. They are the biggest beneficiaries of this chaotic and self-destructive structure. They need to be eliminated through a political struggle. A new political movement is the first essential pre-requisite toward any change in Pakistan. There are people of great integrity, wisdom and competence in every province of Pakistan, who passionately feel the need for a complete socio-economic restructuring, but refrain from active politics due to the rotten and dynastic nature of our existing political process. It is these groups that must come together, break their traditional silence, organize a new political platform and send a call for a complete overhauling of the system.

A movement for change must state upfront its agenda for reform. Electoral reforms, land reforms, judicial reforms, educational reforms, de-weaponisation, tax reforms, police reforms, human sector reforms and socio-economic reforms should top the agenda. The current electoral process ensures that every new election churns out equally fake (Dasti replaces Dasti) or even worse candidates. Unless prevented, the Pirs, Sains, Waderas, Choudhries, Shahs, Mians, Khans, Makhdooms, Bhuttos and their children will keep taking turns at plundering the country. The system would remain decadent unless it provides an equal chance to the working class citizens to contest elections and win on the basis of their performance. The first past the post (FPTP) system must be replaced by a proportionate-representation (PR) system. The election commission has been a disaster that could be second only to the recent floods. It failed to check the fake degrees, the dual nationalities and the asset declarations of the parliamentarians. The commission is no better than a village post office and needs to be completely overhauled for its mandate as well as its independence. 

The justice system is abysmally slow, corrupt and costly. It consists of judges giving more dates, lawyers making more money and applicants suffering more misery. This nightmarish justice system can only punish the poor. The rich have always bent and more recently changed the laws to suit themselves. A fake degree can put an ordinary citizen in jail for three years, while the same offence by a rich person will make him become a parliamentarian. Such injustice is a sure recipe for anarchy, militancy or both. 

Land reforms are urgently needed to limit land holding to no more than a 100 acres. A commitment to enforce this limit within the first ninety days should be the first task to set the ball rolling. The control of the 'wadera' over the life, property and vote of the 'hari' must be broken for ever. The wages of industrial workers must be doubled and decent housing, transport and health facilities ensured for them. There can be no real change without the socio-economic empowerment of the ordinary citizen. The increasing class disparity needs to be reversed. The education reforms should make it compulsory for all civil and military officials and elected leaders to send their children to government schools. All official vehicles should be withdrawn and all government officials and politicians asked to use public transport. If ministers in the UK and many other countries can do so, why not the ministers of a dole dependent country ? The country needs massive across-the-board de-weaponisation. No one should have the authority to issue any license, and all weapons legal or otherwise be confiscated. Let us also demand an end to taking fresh foreign loans, and only then ask for writing off the previously taken loans.

The list of reforms is long. The time to seize the initiative is short. It is time to launch a peaceful political movement to change Pakistan for ever. Not grasping this opportunity could usher in a disaster that will completely overshadow the fury of the recent floods.

Naeem Sadiq

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