Pakistan every now and then throws up a systematic chaotic situation. Why a difficult question to answer in social sciences but there could be a number of pointers. The consequence of Aristotle’s thought needs some circumspection. It was he who said that the governors of a country should not be traders. If they are then there will be conflict of interest and that conflict will refuse to be resolved. I have seen the impact of this on the social structure. Let us take the case of the poultry industry. Before these goons jumped in this industry it was a widows industry. A poor family could survive on a handful of poultry that they kept. There was not this system of battery production where the chick is allowed only one foot of space. In the developed countries which gave us this technology and which was initiated of all the institutions by PIA the production was based on local feed and localised marketing. It is in the nature of things that when the big shots come in the first casualty are the small producers. It has happened in the ice-cream industry where the small producers were done in by MNCs. The same was done with the milk industry. Elites joined hands with the MNCs. So what was happening on the economic front was also happening on the political front. There was concentration of economic as well as political assets in the hands of the few. Gone were the ideologies of the political parties.
Now that the political front has gone sour for the ruling party the effort is to amass as much as they can. This has led to new kinds of greenbacks coming in to the system. These green backs seek money in the bank by any means foul or fouler. There are no holds barred. The issue really is the absence of political accountability. Once the political system breaks down then all kinds of accusations come to the fore. Whether we like it or not the social system always has a kind of informal social contract. This social contract is what gives the nation some kind of stability. Since Pakistan does not have the kind of literati that can develop this social contract from where it is to what it should be we keep on suffering ever few years.
A social contract that does not take into its fold the concepts of poverty is bound to fail and leave the country in a bigger mess. Is it very difficult to develop the contract for the poor? Ideas are difficult to put into action. The burden of converting ideas in to action takes centuries. To address these issues requires a circumspect thought process. The Indian PM has made year 1922 the year when every Indian will be able to own a house of there own. Difficult? I would think so but in the process even if he achieves fifty percent or so it is a job well done. What does it take to give any one a place of their own. T once called on Dennis Howell the British Minister of Environment and sports at his house. He was living near the Edgebaston cricket ground (Birmingham) in a three-marla house and his British Leyland hatch back was parked outside since he did not have a garage. I was further surprised when he made a cup of coffee for me and served it himself. You have a minister who lives in a three-marla house and who serves coffee to his guest?
By hogging all the assets to themselves, the political system in Pakistan is more or less a parasitic system. When the culture develops along these lines then we have a collapse of whatever is going on in this country. The political system is not so much to blame as the bureaucratic system. The bureaucrats in the largest province of Punjab have become eunuchs and have lost their manhood. They are incapable of taking decisions any more unless and until the C[T]hief Minister gave a green signal. Now these oxymorons are in federal government and holding posts that are beyond their capacities. One was also called and known as a pimp. But there it is. That sort of system will make things worse. The social contract that needs to be drawn requires a deep understanding of social conditions and the bases for motivation that the public has acquired.
Take Karachi for instance. The killings will not stop by power structure and they can bring in rangers and super rangers; simply because over the years the police have carried out atrocities. The atrocities carried out on the peaceful demonstrators in Islamabad. Why did they bring the carrions from Punjab to handle the situation here? Now that the PM and his eleven ministers have been named in the FIR what right have they to stay in power. Can they take decisions that are economically sound? In normal circumstances they had always performed superficially if not of a lesser degree. Take the ECC meeting or the cabinet meetings. The nature of work smacks of what we used to call the decisions based on the lowest common denominator. Those who are not familiar or forgotten the Lowest common denominator should know that when applied to decision making it reflects the lowest mind set in decision making.
When detached economic policies are not articulated, when social equity is not accepted, when the poor are put to the sword then this is what follows. Bhatta khors are those that feel that their right to live has been snatched by the powerful and the mean and rapacious. The social consequences of these policies will take years to remove. Power cannot solve live issues. The Karachi situation will continue to defy the power forces. It is against human nature to be cowed down by repressive forces. When one was serving in Karachi there were only 30 plus police stations and now there are over 100 plus. What is the use for the social policies that were to operate have been mismatched with the requirements of the people.
Rule of law? What is that? The word is no longer in the dictionary that I have. Rule of law requires a massive mental ability. I have seen lawyers fail in the conceptualisation and these lawyers who are supposed to be friends of the court are only trying to save their clients any way which way.
Under these circumstances there is no chance of economic acceleration. No employment can come through and it is the infidels that are now siphoning-off financial resources from wherever they can. How can the new job-seekers survive? How can the consumers survive? Will a political change matter and will the system improve? It will take a massive effort. There are no easy solutions any more in our country. How do we get rid of the malaise that the N-league has set in? How do we become master’s of our fate. The ordinary citizen has stood up against the system but then who will be the deliverer? Where is the team and where is the intellect. There is a huge commonality between one political system and the other. A change is always better. Or is it? The existing system is not working that is for certain. The job market is barren and as barren as the minds of the policymakers. When one looks at the shajra of these politicians then we get weird idea of what they were and where they have got to. You have railway coolies in the system and meter readers. But we will leave this to later times when one gets access to the assets of the mighty cheats.
Zafar Altaf, "The impossibility of economic governance," Business recorder. 2014-10-04.Keywords: Political sciences , Political issues , Political system , Economic issues , Economic governance , Political accountability , Social structure , Social harmony , Social contract