Thread: Columns
View Single Post
  #22  
Old Sunday, January 23, 2011
imran bakht imran bakht is offline
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Peshawar
Posts: 546
Thanks: 300
Thanked 538 Times in 309 Posts
imran bakht has a spectacular aura aboutimran bakht has a spectacular aura aboutimran bakht has a spectacular aura about
Default

What about the people?

Ameer Bhutto

Democracy may be the system of government that comes closest to satisfying the delicate sensibilities of the politically squeamish among us, but it is not without significant flaws. Most prominent among these is the fact that in a system that purports to be “of the people, for the people and by the people”, the role of the people comes to a grinding halt once they drop their vote into the ballot box. After that, the government bears carte blanche to do as it pleases for their whole term in office and need not concern itself about public opinion till the next elections. The Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom promised not to raise students’ fees during their election campaign but effortlessly executed a complete somersault after having wiggled their way into power in coalition with the Conservative Party, provoking massive student riots. Such somersaults amount to dishonest ploys to hoodwink the electorate. The students can protest from now till the next general election, but they shall only have bruises and bloody noses from police baton charges to show for their efforts.
What are flaws in the system in western democracies get magnified into a macabre farce in Pakistan. The 2008 general elections were dominated not by ideological battles (when have ideology and principles ever taken the centre stage in any election since 1971?) but by Benazir Bhutto’s murder. Her party’s new leadership vowed to punish her killers. But once in power, not only did they not even lodge a formal FIR, but instead lobbed the matter into the United Nations, hoping that their inquiry would go on ad infinitum, as UN inquiries usually do, saving them the hassle of having to deal with the matter during their term in power. But the UN surprised everyone by completing its inquiry in two years, casting serious suspicions upon some members of the government. Instead of proceeding against them, the government discredited the report and tossed it in the dust bin. Since then, no further meaningful action or investigation has been undertaken and the whole issue has been shoved into cold storage.
Apart from this, the promise of roti, kapra aur makan and jobs for the poor (people remember Benazir’s slogan ‘Benazir aye gee rozgar laye gee’) as well as their oath to defend the sovereignty of Pakistan have all proved to be elusive pipedreams. The only people who have received roti, kapra aur makan and jobs are the few fat cats at the top and a handful of their sycophantic hangers on, while the nation as a whole has suffered like never before. The flood victims have yet to be rehabilitated and are dying by the dozens every day in flimsy tents in refugee camps in the bitter cold. National sovereignty has been reduced to a joke, as the rulers continue to extract personal benefits from their foreign overlords, having compromised it before them.
The people who voted this government into power on the above mentioned specific agenda have no venue of recourse. There exists no instrument or mechanism in the system by which they might hold the government accountable for its betrayal. All they can do is suffer the consequences of their rash, impulsive decision until the next general election two years hence. Most of them have neither the strength nor the resources for so much patience.
Recently JUI-F and MQM disassociated themselves from the ruling coalition. What caused this sudden fissure in the unholy alliance? A matter of principles or ideology? An issue of national or public interests? Perish the thought! Had such considerations carried any weight with this lot, the ruling coalition could not have lasted six months. In Pakistan, not only does the role of the people end with the casting of their vote, but all feigned concerns about their plight and national interests too are put on ice till the next election. JUI-F left the ruling coalition because the prime minister sacked one of their ministers for violating his orders and the MQM followed suit to extract further concessions from the government. They have been playing this game of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds for three years.
The government, of course, was bound to do anything and everything possible to revive its majority in parliament. That is why the MQM demands, that were hitherto unacceptable to them and supposedly illegal, miraculously became acceptable and legal overnight when their hold on power was threatened. This came as no surprise to anyone. After all, this is the same lot who struck immoral deals to bypass the constitution and laws and formed a government under the monstrous NRO that shielded criminals from the consequences of their crimes. Fake degree holders sit in cabinet and hold the destiny of the country in their hands. Court verdicts are bypassed by presidential pardons to spring criminals from prison. If only the government would display such urgency and resolve in hunting down Benazir Bhutto’s killers, keeping their electoral commitments with the people and safeguarding national interests and sovereignty.
Despite having temporarily lost its majority in parliament, why was the government confident that it would remain in power? It is quite amusing to see people trying to explain the turning of the wheels in Pakistan exclusively by local factors and indigenous phenomenon. The world changed after 9-11. The realities for Pakistan changed even more. Independence has remained an elusive myth for us since 1947, as we have continuously been manipulated by the superpowers with the complicity and connivance of our greedy politicians. But, due to our history with the Taliban and proximity to Afghanistan, never before has the control of a superpower over Pakistan been as complete and all-encompassing as since that fateful day in September 1999. For our foreign overlords, their perceived security interests, real or imagined, linked with the war on terror, take precedence over our national concerns, which must seem trivial and insignificant to them. As such, our future is no longer ours to mould. We have become an instrument in someone else’s war since Musharraf sold our destiny to foreign powers to save his administration.
Zardari has not only continued this policy of servitude but has gone even further to appease his foreign benefactors. Therefore, despite acknowledging the incompetence and corruption of this administration (according to Wikileaks), it has not suited the foreign lords of power to allow a change of government thus far. Wikileaks has also revealed that the opposition too panders to the foreign, in expectation of future considerations of benefaction, which makes it easy and convenient for them to pull the reigns when needed to keep the opposition inline. That is why many of the opposition parties often express their anger and frustration but stop short of demanding a change in government.
But these lords of power are very fickle minded. Sadam Hussain, their erstwhile blue-eyed boy, was unleashed to carry out chemical warfare on Iran, but eventually found himself hanging at the end of a rope. Pervaiz Musharraf, who sold this country to them, now finds himself in exile. How long can the foreign lords of power keep a straight face and claim to be supporting democracy in Pakistan, while propping up a highly unpopular government that is so easily manipulated by its own allies?
But why should we look towards foreign powers to bring about change? The change foreign powers bring about will be engineered, directed and aimed exclusively at addressing their own specific interests. The only change that can serve national interests and put the country back on the right track is a change brought about by the people. But the question is when, if at all, will the sleeping masses awaken?
Reply With Quote