Hail the Chief (Minister)?


Hail the Chief (Minister)?


The writer is Executive Director News, Express News. 
He tweets @fahdhusain 
fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Pakistan is not a democracy. Will it turn into one when it grows up?
There are some very basic, very fundamental issues at work here. Is Pakistan reforming itself in order to progress along a well-defined global path? If the answer lies somewhere between a ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’ then the obvious question remains: why is the answer not a resounding ‘Yes’.
Scan the recent past: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif (along with his elder brother) inaugurated an impressive 100MW solar park; the first of its kind in Pakistan that aims to be the largest of its kind in the world. Acres upon acres of sandy barren land is now adorned with gleaming solar panels that are harvesting  blistering rays from the sun, converting them into usable energy, and pumping this wattage into the national grid. This cost lots of money. But it also required precious investment of talent, energy, focus, determination and will. The park was born within a year.
Scan to the north: a devastating storm ravages Peshawar and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). As the 100km winds smash into habitation in the evening, there is mayhem all across. Crisis needs a man of crisis. But wait, there’s none to be found. The province is leaderless, rudderless and in the hands of lowly minions. Where’s Chief Minister Pervez Khattak? Who’s the point man for the government? Err, where’s the government?
Scan to the south: Karachi is in the throes of a water crisis. Nearly one-third of the population is suffering the agony of dry taps, and is being forced to buy expensive water from alternative sources. The largest metropolis of Pakistan is water-starved. It’s a man-made problem that is a direct consequence of ill-planning, ill-will, incompetence and mal-governance. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah rules over a mess, and is way past his shelf life.
What do these examples prove? Let’s put the answer on hold and return to it a bit later.
A fascinating report in the Economist argues that democracy as a system is under serious threat globally. Says the report: “Democracy is going through a difficult time. Where autocrats have been driven out of office, their opponents have mostly failed to create viable democratic regimes … (A)ll this has demonstrated that building the institutions needed to sustain democracy is very slow work indeed, and has dispelled the once popular notion that democracy will blossom rapidly and spontaneously  once the seed is planted … Western countries almost all extended the right to vote long after the establishment of sophisticated political systems, with powerful civil services and entrenched constitutional rights, in societies that cherished the notion of individual rights and independent judiciaries.”
The Economist goes on to argue that democracy is undergoing a crisis because mature democracies are grappling with systemic problems, and also because the phenomenal rise of China is presenting an alternative system of progress for the world.
This ‘Model A’ vs. ‘Model B’ debate is an old one in Pakistan. For generations now we have been arguing the Democracy and Dictatorship pros and cons. The end objective of all such arguments is the need for progress. China may not have a flourishing media and an independent judiciary but it has raced ahead of the world in material and human progress. It is now gradually becoming the country with the single-most influence on Pakistan. How long before our rulers start to draw lessons of governance from China?
This is an important question in the long run. It will inevitably be asked, and will gain traction if it is not couched in military tones. So here it connects to our original statement: Pakistan is not a democracy, but does it want to grow into one?
Elections are only one element of democracy. As the Economist has correctly pointed out, mature democracies of today had firmed by constitutional rights and basic systems before opting for a one-person-one-vote system. This lesson is lost to us so much that it is not even mentioned as a factor that is singularly stopping us from becoming a democracy. As long as the Pakistani nation remains burdened with illiteracy, lack of rights and state oppression; as long as Pakistani citizens are forced to suffer a broken criminal justice system, and an executive that tilts against the weak and the marginalised; as long as the rule of law remains a mirage and the powerful get away with twisting it for their protection and privilege; as long as these mutancies lacerate us on a daily basis, Pakistan will remain an undemocratic country. Elections then are reduced to nothing more than empty shells covering a rotting carcass.
Shahbaz Sharif has internalised some lessons, but left out the key ones. He’s competent. He’s driven. He gets things done. Shahbaz Sharif knows people want to see improvements in their lives and yearn for a better future for their children. He sees China’s amazing infrastructure. But he doesn’t notice China’s even greater investment in its citizens, who then create the innovation that leads to wealth creation and results in progress. Shahbaz has learnt some lessons, and ignored key ones.
Imran Khan has learnt lessons Shahbaz has not. But he has the wrong man in K-P. Pervez Khattak is a ‘C’ grader when compared to Shahbaz Sharif. If the citizens of Punjab want to feel democracy affecting them, they can. Fantastic infrastructure, crumbling health facilities, amazing initiatives for clean drinking water, etc., but an entire generation growing up in dilapidated schools, if at all. In K-P, Khan can inspire reform but his biggest failure is choosing the wrong team. It may cost him.
The single biggest failure of democracy is on full display in Sindh. The PPP government is the most potent reason to throw democracy out. Scoundrels rule Sindh. If you are a citizen of this province, you are a victim of democracy.
This system is screaming for deep, meaningful, substantive structural reform. It is screaming for these chief ministers to prove that democracy works. Yes it needs time and patience, but if you’re travelling on the wrong road, you may travel a thousand miles, you will still not reach the right destination. That’s the story that is unfolding beneath the shiny material progress of Punjab, the ambitious unfolding of ‘change’in K-P, and the absolute disaster happening in Sindh.
So next time you lecture us on the sanctity of elections, and elections alone, allow me the privilege to choke on my own bile.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2015.

Leave a Reply

Blogroll