The unmistakable mood

[fatman17]

The unmistakable mood

Monday, June 14, 2010
Roedad Khan

If you want to know how a country can survive despite its leadership, despite its government, well, visit Pakistan. Democracy is a splendid conception but it has the disadvantage, on occasion, of placing in the lead men whose hands are dirty, who are mired in corruption, who will sap the strength of their country, not in years but over a period of months. The idea that you can just hold election, fair or unfair, while everything remains colonial, feudal and medieval, means you won’t get democracy but some perversion of it as we have today in this country.

Elections are necessary but not sufficient. Elections alone do not make a democracy. Creating a democracy requires a free and independent country, an inviolable constitution, a sustained commitment to develop all the necessary elements: a transparent executive accountable to parliament, a powerful and competent legislature answerable to the electorate, a strong, independent judiciary, and a free and independent media. To assume that vote alone will automatically bring about a democratic metamorphosis would be to condemn Pakistan to a repeat of the cycle seen so often in our history: a short-lived period of corrupt, civilian rule, a descent into chaos and then army intervention.

Harold Macmillan, the British prime minister, was once asked by a young journalist what he feared most in politics. “Events, dear boy, events,” he responded. For Pakistan events are coming thick and fast: an ongoing, highly unpopular war against our own people in the tribal area, daily American drone attacks on our soil, killing innocent men, women and children, target killings in Karachi, massacre of Ahmedis in Lahore, total breakdown of law and order in the backdrop of spiralling inflation, driving thousands of angry protestors to take to the streets almost everyday. Their demand: nothing more than provision of basic necessities of life and the right to live. On top of all this, came a catastrophe of epic proportions in Hunza, caused by a landslide which has blocked the entire flow of the Hunza River, threatening everything in the valley all the way down to Tarbela.

Crisis is a crucible in which governments, residents, prime misters and other politicians are tested as nowhere else. The response one would expect from the head of state never happened. He seems too indifferent, too callous, too insensitive on the television screen. What is worse, he stayed away from the scene of this great human tragedy and did not bother to visit it even once. Hurricane Katrina defrocked a faith–based Bush. The Hunza crisis has similarly unmasked President Zardari.

What is it that people really expect from their president when a disaster strikes? The people expect the occupant of the presidency to keep hope alive, to assure them that they will survive; that they will get through it. He has to react promptly, direct recovery and mobilise resources. Above all, he must inspire confidence because everybody looks up to him in a national crisis. And so he has to be that larger-than-life figure. The change in intensity in the news media – cable channels are broadcasting round-the-clock pictures – has sharply increased the pressure on the president and his administration. In such a situation, people want and expect more of a personal connection. That did not happen.

People still remember how General Azam handled the flood crisis in East Pakistan. He struck a human chord and won over the hearts of the people. They loved Azam and still remember him with affection. In stark contrast, President Zardari looked so cold, so unconcerned, so indifferent, so distant, so wooden and so bureaucratic. Nothing about the president’s demeanour – which seemed casual to the point of carelessness – suggested that he understood the depth of the crisis.

And what of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani? The less said the better. He visited the affected area on May 21, 2010, five months after the massive landslide. After an aerial visit of the 19km long artificial lake, he told reporters that the disaster reminded him of the problems Pakistan had to face during partition when it had to face a sea of incoming refugees. With that Gilani turned his back on Hunza and never went there again. His visit drew sharp criticism from the affected people who dismissed it as a crude PR exercise. No wonder, in public perception, Gilani is speedily becoming a more or less honorary prime minister, living in a kind of twilight just outside the things that really matter.

Isn’t it a great tragedy that at a time when the nation is battling the forces of nature in Hunza, Pakistan’s democracy is in limbo, parliament is paralysed and the opposition languishes in torpid impotence. The constitution is a figment; all civil and political institutions, with the exception of superior judiciary, remain eviscerated. All power is still concentrated in the hands of President Zardari. He wields absolute power without responsibility and is accountable to none. Nothing moves without his approval.

At a time when the country is at war, Mr Zardari, the supreme commander, spends almost his entire existence in the confines of a bunker – his macabre domicile which he seldom leaves these days. Mortally afraid of his own people and the sword of the NRO judgment still hanging over his head, he is more concerned about protecting himself and his wealth rather than protecting the country or the people of Pakistan.

Today the political landscape of Pakistan is dotted with Potemkin villages. All the pillars of state, with the exception of the Supreme Court, are dysfunctional. Pakistan sits between hope and fear. Hope because “so long as there is a judiciary marked by rugged independence, the country and the citizen’s civil liberties are safe even in the absence of cast-iron guarantees in the constitution”. Fear that in spite of a strong and independent judiciary, the present corrupt order will perpetuate itself because both the president and parliament are in collusion and out of sync with the spirit of the times.

Pakistan is in deep, deep trouble and is going down the tube. The ‘wechselstimmung’ or the mood for change is unmistakable.

The writer is a former federal secretary. Email: roedad@comsats.net.pk,[url]www.roedadkhan.com[/url]

 

[Tiger Prowling]

But there is silver lining, when u hit rock bottom there is only one solution, going up.

Pakistan needs total blood transfusion, curruption to the core is main problem.

We need to hang currupt people's from terrafic signal poles, so each time a currupt official stops at signal, he sees his coming fate.

Things r beyound reform's we need revolution, a bloody one.

Iam in bad mood sorry guy's.

 

[Awesome]

Let democracy continue, however bad it is, it will improve as long as the people keep pushing for more and more freedoms.

Our people had the power to choose, they chose Zardari. That shows how badly we the people suck at choosing. It does not mean, we give away our power of choice. We serve out our punishment for poor choices, then choose again, then again, then again.

Each time we choose badly and get burned, it will be a lesson that our generations will remember and maturity of thought would ultimately seep in.

 

[fatman17]

Let democracy continue, however bad it is, it will improve as long as the people keep pushing for more and more freedoms.

Our people had the power to choose, they chose Zardari. That shows how badly we the people suck at choosing. It does not mean, we give away our power of choice. We serve out our punishment for poor choices, then choose again, then again, then again.

Each time we choose badly and get burned, it will be a lesson that our generations will remember and maturity of thought would ultimately seep in.

hope u r right and hopefully u have a 'time-frame' for us people to become aware and mature!

 

[Awesome]

hope u r right and hopefully u have a 'time-frame' for us people to become aware and mature!

Admittedly, the time frame is probably a few lifetimes... Our future generations would reap the benefit of doing things right today.

 

[vsdoc]

Democracy will never work in Pakistan as long as it is something allowed or not sporadically at the whim of the army. Feudalism and its ills come much much lower down the pecking order. How do you tackle the army? Who is going to tackle the army? There is only one realistic solution. A powerful leader from within the army with the courage of conviction and the idealism to pull Pakistan into a real Democracy. This leader will have to command widespread respect within the ranks, especially the ones immediately below gunning for his rank. So that his "retirement" from active service, one way or the other, does not derail the process. And for that a delicate balancing act will have to be thought of, where the army is not made to feel insecure, but is at the same time effectively muzzled, while Pakistan grows into its democracy. And one really effective way of keeping the army occupied and happy is to continue on the path of fingering India, albeit at a low intensity scale which traipses close to the edge but never crosses the line. Maybe Musharaf is/was your man. Who knows!

Cheers, Doc

 

[Awesome]

Democracy will never work in Pakistan as long as it is something allowed or not sporadically at the whim of the army. Feudalism and its ills come much much lower down the pecking order. How do you tackle the army? Who is going to tackle the army? There is only one realistic solution. A powerful leader from within the army with the courage of conviction and the idealism to pull Pakistan into a real Democracy. This leader will have to command widespread respect within the ranks, especially the ones immediately below gunning for his rank. So that his "retirement" from active service, one way or the other, does not derail the process. And for that a delicate balancing act will have to be thought of, where the army is not made to feel insecure, but is at the same time effectively muzzled, while Pakistan grows into its democracy. And one really effective way of keeping the army occupied and happy is to continue on the path of fingering India, albeit at a low intensity scale which traipses close to the edge but never crosses the line. Maybe Musharaf is/was your man. Who knows!

Cheers, Doc

Things as they stand today, the army has totally backed off governance. There is not a single demonstrable evidence that Army has meddled in the government's affairs. Rumors come and go, nothing solid.

The COAS made a public order to the military to back off and leave the governance to the civilians.

When the KLB issue was going on, the government went against the stiff opposition of the Army.

However the possibility of a coup is obviously not gone, since the people keep demanding it and we must defeat that culture, where the people fall back upon quick fixes.

 

[ice_man]

Things as they stand today, the army has totally backed off governance. There is not a single demonstrable evidence that Army has meddled in the government's affairs. Rumors come and go, nothing solid.

The COAS made a public order to the military to back off and leave the governance to the civilians.

When the KLB issue was going on, the government went against the stiff opposition of the Army.

However the possibility of a coup is obviously not gone, since the people keep demanding it and we must defeat that culture, where the people fall back upon quick fixes.

the biggest problem is when MUSHARRAF came he started off well had a vision for pakistan! however, by the time he left he became a POLITICIAN!!

power is such an "EVIL" thing if held on to for too long it makes any MAN corrupt!!!

all pakistan needs is political parties that are not lead by a SINGLE MAN! but an ideology! like in britian! GORDON BROWN,TONY BLAIR, MARGRET THATCHER! all came and left but the IDEOLOGY of there respective parties remained!!!


make a party that is not tied to a man!

 

[vsdoc]

I don't know man. Much of what you say I have already posted in the past on some thread. But looking at things and getting a better handle on the Pakistani psyche, I feel that Pakistan needs a Pakistani solution, not one which seems to make good sense to the world. And give a fig about whether the world likes it or sniggers at you. If it works for you, thats all thats really important.

Please do not take it otherwise, but your society is largely extremist and violent. Like all such societies, it believes in might is right. Jiski laathi, uski bhains. And we all know in Pakistan who wields the big laathi. No sense even trying to explain it away any other way.

Even you in your last sentence have accepted the finality of it. Coups do not happen in strong civilian led societies. They flourish in a medium rich in anarchy and social unrest, inequality, poverty, and exploitation. There is only one way to get something or somewhere. Grab it. All this requires force. And the force flows from the barrel of a gun. In Pakistan everyone has guns, so the bigger the gun, the bigger the force.

And this is where the army comes in. It is time the elite of Pakistan, the educated, the armchair/cyber revolutionaries, the expat do-gooders, the theorists, and above all, the ordinary Pakistani, recognise and accept what the army and the politician have always known. Pakistan is a mess. And it needs a strong hand. Jor ka jhatka jor se lage.

And its not such a bad thing if you really open your eyes, remove the cosy and fashionable "democracy" tinted glasses, and weigh up the alternatives. Simply put, today Pakistan does not have the luxury of time or space or leeway to try out their experiments in democracy. They will use up resources they can ill afford. They will lose global credibility and favor they can ill afford. They will go further back into a quicksand of their own making they can ill afford. They need a quick fix. And they need it today.

More than needing a qick fix, Pakistan needs direction, and consistency of thought and vision. That is not going to come with its on-today off-tomorrow experiments with democracy. The inevitability of the army stepping in tomorrow if not today is always going to be there at the back of every Pakistani's mind. Sure your Kayani looks like a fairly docile contended chap. Or maybe he just has too much on his plate to chew today to be able to afford the luxury of aspirations of national leadership. Maybe there is a setting already in place, time/milestone based at that. Maybe the US does not simply like his face. Could be anything.

Bottom line is that Kayani is not the rule. He is an aberration. He will be replaced by a general who may not be as democratically inclined or content. Then what? Does Pakistan want to go through the same labour pains of a coup, a hangin/exile, and a period of unrest and zero growth, with the possibility of a diversionary "war" thrown in for good measure?

People, accept the inevitable. Pakistan is a country born of strife, and peopled by a martial race. It is in your genetic makeup down centuries to fight and draw blood. You cannot live and grow as a democracy of peaceful thought and debate and consensus. You need to be ruled by a heavy hand. You revel in that. You time and again celebrate and call for that. It is part of your life blood. Like it was of the great Mughal conquerors from whom you came from.

The solution is simple, and its easy. Pakistan needs to be ruled by an Army Junta style leadeship. You need to rid yourselves of the pain of regular upheavals and bloodshed to let that happen, for balance to return, as inevitably as the moon and the tides.

Pakistan needs to institutionalise the Army as its executive political leadership. The ISI as its Dept. of Foreign Affairs. The army like clockwork, as part of its regular promotion boards, will choose the next leader of Pakistan. There will be continuity of planning, vision, investment, foreign affairs, civil code of conducts, etc. The Army is the stable "party" all pakistanis dream about today.

And let's face it guys, looking at the alternatives you have at the moment, the time is ripe to amend your Constitution, and make this Law.

Cheers, Doc