111 510 510 libonline@riphah.edu.pk Contact

A tall order

As we ring in the new year and waive off the last one, pain, anguish and disappointment top 2012’s chart. The year was dotted with death and destruction. No part of the country was spared, but Karachi and Peshawar – followed by Quetta – suffered the most. However, amidst this sea of distress and disappointment were also occasional moments of hope – for a better year, for a better governed country, for a happier and, even more importantly, peaceful Pakistan.

Our despair is but natural. But how can we ignore Malala and her friends? How can we not take heart from the fact that we won a medal – even if bronze – in a major hockey tournament after five years of complete drought and then took the Asian hockey title from India. The T20 and ODI cricket victories against India are also too recent to be ignored. Given the national canvas of disappointments, we should be grateful for the occasional flashes of joy and hope that come our way.

We killed the elderly foreigner who had served us selflessly for decades in Lahore. We killed lady health workers in Karachi, Charsadda and Peshawar who were only trying to prevent our children from lifelong disability. We killed dozens of doctors only because they carried a surname that identified them as belonging to a certain sect of our own faith. And yet, I am hopeful. Why? Because in the middle of all this mayhem, death and destruction, we have our Edhis and our Chhipas. We have Dr Adeebul Hasan Rizvi and SIUT, we have Shaukat Khanum and a host of others like them. Just see the thousands of selfless Edhi and Chhipa ambulance drivers and your faith in this nation will reignite. We have a democracy that may not be delivering but is yet on track. We have a media that would be the envy of any in the free world. We have millions of youth for whom Pakistan is their only tomorrow. And this brings me back to today.

With the dawn of 2013, it will be five years since the present government took office, a record of sorts even though low on the scorecard and in March, we have elections to look forward to. But will these elections deliver what Pakistan needs? Will they deliver good governance, promote merit, stamp out terror and deliver peace? My answer would be no. Why? Because the political and electoral system that we currently have breeds anything but merit and competence. It is crafted for the feudal and the elite and leaves out the middle class. As for the poor, they are to be counted only once in five years. This system concentrates power in Islamabad and in the provinces and leaves the rest to the mercies of the appointed few. Democracy is missing in those areas where it is really needed and actually matters – in the cities and towns, districts and tehsils.

So when Imran Khan promises to reform the police and the patwari, he forgets that for him to do that, he would need to have PTI governments not just in Islamabad but in all the provinces as well. When he talks of removing corruption in 90 days or less, he forgets that for that he will need to have all the provinces on board. That, in my view, is not about to happen – his youth pull of the past year notwithstanding. Why? Because the first-past-the-post system will not let that happen. And that brings me to Prof Tahirul Qadri.

The extremely expensive pre-return campaign and the huge rally by Allama Tahirul Qadri in Lahore was by all accounts massive, even if choreographed elsewhere as many suspect. That, however, is not important in my view. What is important is the fact that such a large crowd gathered at Prof Qadri’s call – and that it was responsive to his declarations. A near similar crowd had gathered at Imran Khan’s rally at the same place a year ago. But the professor’s rally was different. This one challenged the status quo not just eloquently but in clearly defined terms. Our democracy surely needs to be reformed and reinvented. It must devolve to the lowest administrative tiers. It must be accountable. It must not exclude those who it is supposed to serve.

Political blackmailing and horse trading will stop only if we have a democratically and directly elected president as the chief executive of the country in a one-man, one-vote election. Let there be a National Assembly and a Senate and let this be replicated in the provinces too. Professor Qadri is right only – but importantly – to the extent that the present system needs to be reformed for it has time and again been tried without success.

It is not that democracy has not delivered. It is the type of democracy that has failed. When a suit does not fit you, you do not throw it away. You get it altered. I am no admirer and certainly no follower of Allama Tahirul Qadri. I do, however, agree with him that if Pakistan is to change for the better, its democratic structure has to change. Hopefully, our political elite, both present and prospective, will see the need to bring that change democratically. A tall order I know but one in which lies our national salvation and their salvation too. Happy new year.

The writer is a former federal secretary.

Syed Anwar Mahmood, "A tall order," The News. 2013-01-01.
Keywords: