An open letter to the president by Tasneem Noorani

[DEVOLUTION GEEK]

Former Interior Secretary of Pakistan has published an open letter to the President: We all know that the country is currently passing through a very critical phase. Having been a member of your team (though not the inner or even the second inner tier), I could have written this letter to you directly. But knowing the psyche of our system, where unpleasant news is filtered out, I thought I had a better chance to get through to you, in an unedited form, through an open letter. Mr President you will recall that when you took over and gave us your seven-point agenda, we were debating whether we should have gone into Kargil or not, that is we were on the offensive. And now eight years later, the foremost thing in the minds is whether we will survive as a country. Now we can give umpteen reasons for our state of affairs, but ! the fact of the matter is that we as a nation have come down quite a lot since that fateful day when circumstances led you to take over the country. Sure we have made progress under you in the form of the manifold increase in GDP, per capita income, revenue receipts, exports, industrial production etc, except that the benefits have not impacted the life of the common man. If you will ask your driver, like I did, he will tell you that in the last six months, the price of ghee has gone up from Rs45 to Rs125 per kg. The price of atta has gone up from Rs7 to Rs20, when available, and the price of dal has gone up from Rs16 to Rs30. Poor people have to spend hours in the line to be able to get atta, without which they cannot survive. The quantum of loadshedding now witnessed, was never seen before and there is little hope that it will decrease. So while we were gloating over our increase in production of ACs, refrigerators and TVs we ! did not plan well enough as to how we will run them. LPG, which was a good, cheap replacement to burning wood has gone out of the reach of the poor. The reason for stating all this is not to deride you and take any credit away from you, for all the good things that you have done for this country, but to tell you that the explanations for the mess that we are in, given by your advisors, are not to be accepted on face value. Having spent eight years of your life in leading this country to the best of your very considerable abilities, I am sure you would like to be remembered well in Pakistan, apart from your name being a source of pride for your children and grandchildren. The country has been in serious crises since March 2007, when the chief justice was removed, to the latest horrific incident of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The announcement of election is not arousing the kind of interest that elections normally do in our country. Though election is the correct way out ! of this crisis, there is little faith people have in its neutrality and fairness. Your repeated assurance that it will be absolutely free and fair has not allayed the common mans doubts. Parties, who have not been with the govt and even some that were earlier favourable to the govt., are sceptical of the fairness of the election and that is the main reason for their lack of enthusiasm, apart from the fear of terrorism. But without election, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Suppose that you succeed in going ahead with holding these election with the present dispensation, which seems to be your current plan, do you think Pakistan will get the stability and the internal unison necessary to keep the country as one nation? For me I can see continued turmoil and protests and an unstable future in that scenario. I am sure continued internal strife will also not help in our fight against terrorism and other forces out to des! tabilize us. Since you have already won a five-year term as pre sident, what is the harm in staying absolutely neutral and seeing the shenanigans of the politicians? If the political parties, especially the ones who are not perceived to be with you are demanding a neutral Election Commission, why dont you appoint a CEC and members of the commission who enjoy trust. Under this EC, which has become controversial, even if they remain neutral as you think they will, there will be a perception of bias. If the political parties want the local govt system suspended, why dont you do it, because the political parties have a point (having served in the field I know) that a powerful local government system with abundant funds can certainly help a candidate in an election in a number of ways. For one, most of the election staff is going to be from the local government., which is being commanded by the nazim, who is a political person and is bound to have his likes and dislikes. Thes! e are things obvious to all concerned. Similarly the continuation of the senior bureaucracy in the provinces, who owe their postings to previous chief ministers, will be perceived as help to their old bosses, who got them these jobs. If the political parties want a genuinely neutral caretaker, what is the harm in selecting non-political persons with good reputation to run the government? Not that the interim government can do much in the way of political interference, but their subservience to you, as is currently the case, does smack of avoidable partiality and should be taken care of . As for the judiciary, which was unceremoniously removed on Nov 3, knowing that you have strong views on that, you can perhaps leave their fate to the newly elected parliament. But you might want to release the judges and the lawyers still incarcerated in the meanwhile, as it is impacting your popularity and goodwill in the public. If rele! ased, they will certainly plead their case before the voters during the election campaign. If such political parties that are favourable to them get elected (one major one is not), then that would be a democratic verdict and you, as a modern and civilized thinking person, should have no issues with that. The purpose of this unsolicited advice Mr President, is that as an erstwhile member of your team, I want you to be remembered for the good things you did for the country and not for its downfall. Also I am aware that there are not many people left in your inner circle who can talk to you frankly, a luxury I retain in view of my being a member of the civil society now. And, personally, I have nothing to gain from these suggestions. There is a small risk attached to the proposed dispensations, which I am sure you advisors must be warning you against. If you hold a fair and free election, there is an outside chance that you may not get a parliament favourable to you, although our s! quabbling politicians may still make you their arbitrator. But Mr President, you have been known to be a person not averse to taking risks and being able to overcome them. You yourself have repeatedly related stories, on the risks you have taken in your life and how they have paid off. The nation awaits a repeat of your commando instincts. Take a risk one more time, in the interest of Pakistan. After all you have always said "Pakistan first".[THE NEWS 2/5/2008 ]