Economic inheritances
FOR any government to have to invoke its economic inheritance in the twilight of its term is in part an admission of failure. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar began his term in 2013 by saying he was “inheriting a broken economy”, and this week during the budget debate, he once again invoked past regimes that had “ruined the national economy”. He is not alone in referring to his inheritance in this manner. The previous PPP government also invoked its inheritance during its final years in power, although there was probably greater justification for doing so at that time since the scale of the crisis that was passed on to it was of an order of magnitude beyond what Mr Dar picked up in 2013. When framing one’s departing narrative, it is natural for a government to refer to its inheritance and remind the country of all that it has accomplished. But Mr Dar is not framing his departing narrative just yet. This is a crucial year of delivery for him and his focus should remain on what parts of his agenda remain to be implemented and how that job will be done given the tight timelines from here on.
But since he has brought up the topic of what he inherited, it is worth asking how bad it really was. The worst situation the incoming government faced in 2013 was in the declining reserves and skyrocketing circular debt that had completely choked the power sector. Beyond this, the financial markets were functioning normally, large-scale capital flight was not under way, and an armed militia was not banging on the doors of Islamabad. Compared to the situation in 2008, this was a rather rosy state of affairs. All it really took was a massive dousing of government funds on the circular debt to jump-start the power sector, and approaching the IMF to rebuild reserves. That act of paying off the circular debt in one large payment of almost half a trillion rupees was cleverly done in the closing days of the 2013 fiscal year, allowing Mr Dar to claim that he reduced the deficit from 8.3pc of GDP to 4.3pc.
In the same session of the National Assembly where he tried to remind us of the legacy of the Musharraf and PPP governments, Mr Dar went on to claim that the future was bright because of CPEC. His invocation of the past could be overlooked if he had more than roads, highways and Chinese power plants to offer. Fact is this government has proved intellectually bankrupt and, driven by a few obsessions — the exchange rate, brick-and-mortar development projects, Chinese investment — has left the wellsprings of our future prosperity to their own devices. Mr Dar would be well advised to keep his focus on his current obligations and responsibilities to the future. The past can wait.
Video ‘confessions’
THE recorded ‘confession’ leaked to the news media and played breathlessly on TV news channels and shared furiously on social media appears to be here to stay. It is a dangerous, unwelcome and likely an illegal development — but few in the state apparatus or the news media appear to care. The identities of individuals whose recorded interrogations have made their way into the public domain tell a story of their own: Saulat Mirza, Khalid Shamim, Asim Hussain and Minhaj Qazi. All affiliated with political parties and all whose statements are meant to discredit the very apex of the leaderships of those parties. In this democratic era, the state apparatus — perhaps in this instance led by the military, but seemingly with the complicity of parts of the political government — has pioneered a thoroughly undemocratic technique to try and undermine the legitimacy of a section of the political class. Quite why the collective resource of the state involved in the Karachi operation cannot assemble investigative and prosecutorial teams that can ensure by-the-book convictions of allegedly patently guilty criminals is unknown — or at least those involved in the making of such decisions do not appear to consider it important to inform the public.
What is clear is that the practice needs to cease immediately. Farcical trials by public opinion could unleash effects that are both hard to predict and difficult to control. Clearly, the MQM and its leadership have serious questions to answer — no sensible denizen of Karachi can possibly believe the party has always stayed on the right side of the law. Similarly, the allegations of corruption in PPP ranks are so legion and so persistent that it is surely the case that the PPP leadership, especially party and public officials in Sindh, need to be thoroughly scrutinised by accountability bodies. But the allegations of crimes by the MQM and PPP cannot automatically become evidence of the existence of those crimes — at least not as far as the state is concerned. It is triply dangerous when it comes to political leaders because individual rights, the political process and the democratic system itself are imperilled when evidence that may have been collected under duress and under unlawful threat is tossed into the public domain as proven fact. Having failed to find kangaroo courts, the search appears to be on for kangaroo justice. The lawful elements of the state need to assert what is right here.
Gujarat verdict
A CONTROVERSIAL judgement relating to the 2002 riots in the Indian state of Gujarat has resulted in protests that threaten to grow louder. The case focused on the violence which left 69 Muslims dead in just one Ahmedabad locality (Gulberg Society) on Feb 28, 2002. Disbelief was expressed when only 24 of the 60 accused were found guilty. Of the 24 found guilty, 11 have been sentenced for life while 13 are deemed to have ‘escaped’ with lenient sentences by those who had been doggedly pursuing the case over the years. One of the main objectives of the campaigners was to demonstrate how Mr Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, was linked to the massacre which had come in reaction to the Godhra train attack a day earlier. The train attack was blamed on Muslims, and led to frenzied Hindu mobs going on a killing spree in an act of revenge.
Over time, those who have demanded justice for the victims have faced all forms of harassment. A vilification effort against those on the complainants’ side, not dissimilar to the one that rights activists in Pakistan are often subjected to, has been on for quite some time. However, what appears to have hurt the victims’ families and their supporters most now is an assertion in the new ruling that holds one of the well-known Muslims among those killed on that dark February day responsible for angering the crowd which resulted in its going on a rampage. Ehsan Jafri, an ex-Congress MP whose family has been at the forefront of the case, was blamed for inviting the ire of the mob by firing on it — with evidence indicating events to the contrary being rejected. The ruling is just a routine reminder to pursuers of justice in India and elsewhere that once a few individuals decide to take up the cudgels on behalf of those who are less in number and who have little clout the fight becomes a never-ending one.
Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2016