[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Democracy & Islam[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
March 27, 2013
Mohammad Jamil

In the context of governance or running the state, the Holy Quran has mentioned the word ‘shura’ (mutual consultation), which is hall mark of democracy. The basic pillars of a true democracy are consultation, justice, equality and accountability. There are difference shades of democracy. More than 2500 years ago, Greek city states had practiced democracy but slaves had no vote and no rights.

Today, democracy is a system of government in which the whole population or all the eligible members of a state participate through elected representatives of the people. Western democracy, a byproduct of capitalism, emerged after Industrial Revolution, and has its own bourgeois culture and values. Democracy in Islam, however, has a different connotation. Muslim scholars point out that in Holy Quran the emphasis is on al-nas (in English it is masses). Allah addresses Al-nas for passing on His commandments; prophets were sent to al-nas, who were directed to change themselves and rewards and blessings are announced for al-nas. Holy Quran starts in the name of Allah and ends on Al-Nas.

But some extremist and militants groups in Pakistan, especially Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) oppose democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law. They have also started propagating negative themes like “Why democracy is forbidden for tribes”. A propaganda leaflet distributed by militants of Pasban-e-Shariat Organization in North Waziristan, rejecting the democratic system in FATA, is a case in point. The aim is to reject the process of elections and create an atmosphere of anarchy and lawlessness in FATA. It has to be mentioned that Objectives Resolution was passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, according to which the nation should seek guidance from Quran and Sunnah. In 1956, first Constitution of Pakistan was framed and the country became Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In 1973 Constitution, which was unanimously adopted, it has been stipulated that no law would be made contrary to Quran and sunnah. Pakistan is essentially a democracy guided by the Islamic principles and core values of Islam.

In this backdrop, there is no concept of showing disrespect to the tribe or family. Secondly, political and religious parties participate in the system and the system does not exclude or discriminate any one on the basis of caste or creed. Respecting women is very much Islamic and democracy also advocates the same.

Democracy does not adversely impact cultural bonds and social obligations, so the veil system stays, as democracy honors values set by the society. It does not promote vulgarity in a predominantly Muslim country like Pakistan. It does not tend to destroy the established cultural norms and tribal system. All Muslims believe that Islam is a complete code of life. Allama Iqbal wrote: “The state from Islamic standpoint is an endeavour to transform ideal principles into space-time forces, an inspiration to realize them in a definite human organization”. Freedom means liberation of mankind from forces of exploitation, oppression, suppression and manipulation.

It also means freedom from gods other than God, from idols of traditions and customs, from political and bureaucratic strongholds, from the sorceries of clerics, obscurantist and religious shysters, from ignorance and poverty. Only when a man is freed from all these thoughts, can he think progressively and feel the existence of one God. Since Prophet Mohammad was the last Prophet, Islam therefore is the deen for all the times to come. And which is why periodic reinterpretation of Islamic teachings in the light of inventions, discoveries and new sciences is imperative so that it can offer inspiration to all the people at all times. The principle of such movement is called Ijtihad, which could provide new perceptions to the world vision. According to Allama Iqbal, “The only effective power that counteracts the forces of decay in a people is the rearing of self-concentrated individuals. Such individuals alone reveal the depth of life. They disclose new standards in the light of which we begin to see that our environment is not wholly inviolable and requires revision”.

In a video released to the media, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the militant outfit was withdrawing its offer of peace talks with the government. The TTP also asked the people to stay away from elections, which it said, was only serving the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam. Fazallullah had also expressed his disdain for democracy, parliament and the Constitution of Pakistan, after which the entire nation including politicos had demanded action against his thugs. Democracy is a form of government which empowers people to rule and share the authority to govern and make decisions as agreed by the verdict of majority. The system ensures enforcement of rule of law and provision of justice to all and sundry while the process guarantees across the board accountability. Nothing is forcibly imposed on the political will, internal psyche and social leaning of people who fully enjoy the freedom of thought and action. The democratic system is widely popular in the world and every civilized society tends to acknowledge its merits and its associated values.

In Pakistan, democracy is inching forward; however all stake holders including Judiciary, Armed Forces, politicians, media and civil society are keen to see democracy flourishing in the country.

The process is on and steps are being taken in the right direction to make democracy stronger. Unfortunately TTP, the banned outfit, demonstrating its undemocratic trends openly opposes democracy. Over the years in war against terrorism, the brand of Taliban in Pakistan proved to be worst of its kind, highly insensitive towards humanity and vicious in nature. Non-combatant casualties at the hands of terrorists, ruthless beheading of tribesmen/security personnel and exploitation of ignorant Pakistani Muslims for suicide attacks are the proofs of TTP’s un-Islamic and anti-social practices. Moreover, denying education to girls, attacking female teachers, destroy not only girls but also boys’ schools, killing worshippers in mosques, disgracing bodies, desecrating mausoleum and shrines of Sufi Saints, are the patterns of TTP militants which reflect that they neither have basic knowledge of Islam nor they care for the Islamic virtues.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/213903/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]If democracy stays good governance will follow[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
March 27, 2013

Shaukat Hayat Buneri

As we all know that for the first time in the history of our country the roots of democracy seems to be strengthened and consolidated with the continuation of democratic process in our country.

The government formed in the wake of the February 2008 election has completed its five years constitutional and legal term. During the course of five years the people have also gained much knowledge and awareness about the role and significance of democratic culture in our country. So it can be said without any exaggeration that the government that will come in to power after the next election will be more scrupulous and cautious to fulfill the wishes and aspirations of the people by whom vote it comes in to existence.

The credit of for the continuation of five years term is no doubt goes to the outgoing rulers of the country. Despite the fact that the people have to confront many hardships and challenges at all fronts of their life. Particularly the heinous acts of violence and target killing in Khyber Pkakhtunkhwa, FATA, Baluchistan and Karachi have shaken the very existence of the integrity and solidarity of our state.

Some time the situation were seems to be so much alarmed and aggravated that that very one echoed the resonance of the military revolution. But it is also a good omen and a break though that the military leadership by the dint of its wisdom and acumen took every decision in the largest interest of the people of Pakistan and did not derail the democratic process of the country. Thus the role of military leadership is also laudable in this regard.

Moreover it also merits mentioning here that why the continuation of democratic process is much needed for the strength and development of a country. The best answer to this question is that in the absence of a proper political will and awareness, the rulers and the people both suffered the most to cope with the existing challenges of the state.

The discontinuation of democracy and the concentration of power in few hands keep the people aloof to take part in the affairs of their state. Resultantly, the elements of despair, hopelessness, inferiority complex and dependency on the back of others have grown up in them tremendously.
The people too failed to differentiate between good and bad. In this way their right to vote and thought was curtailed and usurped by the dictators comfortably. Media and judiciary also became tools at the hands of the rulers while the executive and legislature were used as a rubber stamp only.

That is the reason that whenever the people and their leadership were given a chance to rule, they committed many mistakes to deliver in true sense. The politics of selfishness or the lust for power or to perpetuate their evil designs greatly lowered down their images in general public. As a result the military leadership got an easy plea to take the rein of the state in to their hands.
However this time the vehicle of democracy continued unabated on its track due to the political wisdom and acumen of both the political and military leadership of the country and the process is still going on unabated. Albeit they have not delivered in true sense and the people have suffered a lot during the last five years. The excessive energy shortfall, the worst law and order situation, sky rocketing prices and untold episodes of the growing menace of corruption raised many eye brows and doubts about the credence of the outgoing rulers of the state.

So it is now unpredictable for all the political analysts of our country that which party or political alliance will form the next government in the wake of the election to be held expectedly after two months. All are agreed upon the notion that formation of the governments at central or provincial level will be an uphill task for any party single handedly.

A hung parliament is expected to come in to existence. However it is also expected that this time our people will surely be able enough to make choice of better and sincere representatives for themselves as compared to the past. They will mostly cast their vote irrespective of any regional, provincial or linguistic grounds. They will keep their performance and track record of development while casting their vote in polling booths.

The creation of this trend among the voters also goes to the continuation of democracy in our country during the last five years. For the continuity of democracy and an atmosphere of free media and judiciary have created a lot of political awareness among our people which is indeed a good omen and bright prospect for the flourishing of democratic system of our country. They will definitely abstain to repeat the mistakes committed by them in the past. The turn courts will no more deceive them.

They will surely keep watch on the performance of the government. The days of the politics of drawing rooms are vanishing away rapidly with the continuation of democratic process in our country. The more you strengthen democracy, the more you realize the concept of the good governance. Let us pledge to wok day in, day out for the strengthening of democratic culture in our country. Only through this way we can remove and overcome the shortcomings and draw backs of democracy and poor governance. Let us hope for the best.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/213904/[/url]

[CENTER][B][U][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Election dilemmas[/SIZE][/FONT][/U][/B][/CENTER]

By: Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi

[B][CENTER]There is difference between procedure of democracy and substance of democracy
[/CENTER][/B]
The election schedule has been announced and the voting will take place on May 11, 2013. The politics in Pakistan will be dominated by the election process for the next three months, involving a lot more controversies, negative propaganda, character assassination of candidates and political leaders and court cases. There will be outside runners who would question the electoral process and attempt to make it difficult to hold the elections on time in the name of free and fair elections.

It is a matter of satisfaction that the outgoing assemblies have completed their terms which has strengthened the formal and procedural aspect of democracy in Pakistan. However, the substance and quality of democracy continues to be poor. The elected governments have performed poorly and the political leadership often found it difficult to rise above their narrow, subjective and partisan mindset.

The inability, if not failure, of the two major political parties, the PPP and the PML-N, to agree on a caretaker prime minister is the latest example how the political parties take up the issues of democratic politics as an ego competition and how they can play tough with each other. This was meant to show to their supporters and voters that they had not allowed the other side to get away with its choice.

This is a good example of the difference between the procedural and performance side of democracy. The political activists of both parties are arguing that this is not a failure. After all, the nomination of the caretaker prime minister by the election commission is a constitutional procedure. Therefore, there is nothing wrong in it. From the perspective of procedures and formalities, it is constitutional for the election commission to nominate a caretaker prime minister if the political leaders fail to do that. However, from the perspective of the quality and performance of democracy, it is poor politics that the political leaders and parties cannot settle political issues and they approach non-elected institution for getting their problems resolved.
The election commission option is a conflict resolution method provided in the constitution that becomes operative when the ego-oriented politicians with feudal-tribal notion of political competition cannot solve the political problems which is their primary responsibility.

One major challenge to democracy and representative governance in Pakistan is that political leaders have a tendency to look towards non-elected institutions for settling their political scores. Political leaders and parties will not accommodate each other but would approach a non-elected state institution for helping them out or for resolving the problem. They may discreetly cultivate the military to strengthen their political bargaining position. If there is a tension between the civilian government and the military top brass, the political opposition is likely to lean towards the military or exploit the civil-military tension to its advantage at the expense of the civilian government. The Memo Issue (2011-2012) is a good example of such a political fight.

The superior judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, has become the key arena of political contestation for the competing political interests. A large number of political cases are filed in the Supreme Court or the Supreme Court (sometimes even High Courts) take notice of the matter on their own. The political issues have to be addressed at the political level by political leaders and organisations and dealt with through the elected assemblies and their committees.

Now, the election commission, a constitutional institution, nevertheless non-elected, settles the matter that the political leaders should have done it through mutual accommodation.

There was no reason to make an issue out of it because the constitution talks of the caretaker prime minister or chief minister only in the context of holding the elections. This means that caretaker prime minister or chief minister is not expected to make major policy changes. The primary objective of caretaker administration is to facilitate free and fair elections by making sure that the state institutions and officials do not adopt a partisan disposition. It also provides the necessary support to the Elections Commission for holding fair, free and transparent elections. Another important function of caretaker administration is to manage the day-to-day working of government and to maintain law and order through various state agencies performing this task, especially for the election purposes.

Another divergence between the procedures and substance of democracy will cause tension in the political circles and it is expected some of these issues will go to the courts. The election commission has given a short margin of time for filing nomination papers i.e., March 24-29.

The new nomination papers require a lot of information that places the candidates in a difficult situation. There is a widespread support for scrutinising the candidates minutely because the underlying assumption is that tough scrutiny of candidates will ensure that only angel-like people will go to the assemblies in a society were corruption is rampant. General Musharraf thought before the 2002 elections that the people with the graduation degrees will make a better parliament. He imposed that condition. How far the 20002 assemblies of academic degree holders performed better than the earlier assemblies is known to all of us. The fallout of this law is still with us as some people are facing court trials or strong propaganda barrage for making false statement about their educational qualification. It is not clear if the voters cared for the academic qualifications of the candidates.

We will soon start seeing the political and societal fallout of the new nomination papers. The political opponents are getting ready to raise objections on each other’s nomination papers. This is likely to open flood-gates of charges and counter charges. There will be more controversies and court cases this time regarding the nomination papers than ever.

Imran Khan started his election campaign with a public meeting in Lahore on March 23. His discourse (especially the initial part) comprised highly religious and nationalist statements. However, the promises he made were secular in nature. It is not clear if his close associates and policy advisers share his religious disposition. There was music and dancing for the liberals and moderates. Imran Khan is offering something to everybody, although his statements projected him more religious than the Jamaat-i-Islami.

Pakistan is on the election ride. Hopefully, the political leaders will attempt to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality, promise and delivery as well as between the procedures and substance of democracy.

The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.

[url]http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/columns/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]A dream come true[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

March 29, 2013
Malik Muhammad Ashraf 0



For the political forces that have been eager to see democracy taking root in the country and power transferred through the ballot, the dream has come true with the nomination of caretaker Prime Minister by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

A new tradition would have been set if the political leaders themselves had nominated him. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to note that the process has culminated without any hiccup.

As soon as the nomination of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as caretaker Prime Minister was announced by the ECP, the PPP, PML-N, PML-Q, MQM and JUI rightly hailed the decision and expressed confidence in his ability to hold impartial elections in Pakistan. But it was really disappointing to see that these parties, except PPP and ANP, did not attend his oath-taking ceremony, which would have set yet another healthy democratic tradition in the country.
Political pundits assume that they, probably, did not attend the ceremony because of their grievances against the PPP. That behaviour is regrettable and unbecoming of the political entities practicing the art of politics at the national level.

The PML-N did not participate because the oath was being administered by President Asif Ali Zardari that is even more reproachable.

Whether someone likes it or not, Zardari is the President and it was in this capacity that he was administering the oath.

If the PML-N leadership had any personal grudge against him, it should not have been allowed to cast its shadow on matters of national importance.
The President deserves the protocol and respect that is attached to his august office and our political leaders must learn from the leaders of other democratic countries to rise above narrow political or personal considerations.
For democracy to function on healthy lines, it is imperative that politicians exhibit democratic behaviour. It would be unreasonable on anybody’s part to expect high standards of morality and political behaviour by our politicians like in the established democracies, but one can surely gravitate to see them making an auspicious beginning by doing small things like showing tolerance towards each other and participating in events of national importance.

Nonetheless, it is gratifying to note that the caretaker PM enjoys the confidence of all major political players on the chessboard of Pakistani politics. Justice Khoso has had an impeccable career as a judge and enjoys good reputation.

Another positive factor is that he belongs to Balochistan that might help in placating the Baloch nationalists and tempt them to join the mainstream of national politics by participating in the ensuing elections.

The caretaker PM, immediately after his nomination, told the media that his first and foremost priority would be to help the ECP ensure the holding of free and fair elections and that he would treat all the political parties equally. That, indeed, is very reassuring. The words of a savant like him can be safely taken at their face value.

He also made it clear that the President did not have any role in the elections; an implied reference to the often repeated allegations by a political party that free and fair elections could not be held while Zardari was in office.
He is right because the elections will be held by the ECP with the support of the Chief Executive and the President does not figure in the scheme of things in this regard.

With a neutral and honest man heading the Executive, assertive ECP, pro-active judiciary and the ever vigilant media, it would almost be impossible for any entity or individual to influence the outcome of the elections in any unconstitutional manner taking advantage of his position.

Much will also depend on the way the political parties conduct themselves, in regard to the efforts of the ECP and the caretaker setup in the holding of elections in a transparent manner.

They need to behave in a responsible manner and focus more on their election campaigns, instead of mudslinging and launching personal attacks on their rivals because ultimately it is on the basis of their performance, or the programmes for the future, that the people have to make their choices.
For the polls to be free, fair and transparent, it is essential that they are held in a convivial atmosphere, and traditional hostility and animosity among the political parties gives way to a healthy and productive competition.

Now that all is set to translate the dream of transition of power and consolidate the gains of democracy, all stakeholders, especially the political parties, owe it to the masses not to do anything that shatters their faith in the democratic process or provides any excuse to the forces inimical to the democratic dispensation to make their move and drag once again the country back into the dark alley.

The political parties and their leaders must also desist from statements or actions that could make the role of ECP or the caretaker government controversial.

They should keep faith in the impartiality and the capability of these institutions to make the 2013 elections a significant milestone in our march towards a political polity envisioned by the Founding Father.

Another very important factor in this respect would be the acceptance of election results with an open heart, the lack of which has been the bane of democracy in this country.

The nation has suffered the consequences of this kind of behaviour and we surely need a break from this dreadful experience of the past. Merely paying lip service and making tall claims about their love for democracy is not enough.

Political parties will have to show their commitment through their actions. That is the only way forward. Any digression from this path may produce negative results.

The media and intelligentsia also have a great responsibility in guiding the people to understand what is at stake, and reporting the unfolding events in an objective and impartial manner to play their contributory role in strengthening democracy.

The writer is a freelance columnist. Email: [email]ashpak10@gmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Peace during elections?[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

March 29, 2013
Azam Khalil 0



“Let all things be done decently and in order.”
– Corinthians

As expected, the burden to nominate caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab had been shifted to PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif. This has once again highlighted the extreme polarisation that exists in our political culture.
When the PML-N expressed serious reservations over the PPP nominated candidate, Shaukat Basra, it was evident that both parties would pursue a hard line, making it extremely difficult for them to reach a consensus on the matter.

It would have been better if the leaders of the house and the opposition in the Punjab Assembly themselves had succeeded in nominating the caretaker Chief Minister. Unfortunately, they failed to do so, thus indicating little chance of the Parliamentary Committee’s to succeed too. However, Nawaz Sharif’s intervention, though quite late, helped resolve the issue and Najam Sethi was appointed as the caretaker Chief Minister Punjab.

Having said that, the next most important challenge confronting not just Punjab, but all other provinces in Pakistan is: will it be possible to hold impartial elections in a peaceful environment? Apparently, the law enforcement agencies, it seems, are not well prepared to handle the situation, which leads to the fact that the coming elections may be a bloody affair.

It is not merely the rivalry between different political parties and their candidates that will boil over, but the role of those who seem determined to create conditions to derail democracy. While the security agencies are planning to ensure that the electoral process remains peaceful, there are signs that undemocratic forces may succeed in case things tend to go out of hand. Thus, it is important that they take preventive measures to stop any mischief in its tracks.

Besides the law enforcement agencies, it is hoped that political parties will promote tolerance ahead of the polls and educate their workers about the peaceful and orderly transition of power. It must be remembered that the people’s will must prevail and no excuse, however strong, should be accepted that may result in an early demise of democracy.

Add to this, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal’s return from Dubai to participate in the elections is a positive sign. It would be in the fitness of things if the federal and provincial caretakers encourage such politicians, who are the true representatives of people.

They also need to send out a loud and clear message that unruly conduct will not be tolerated during the elections and those found guilty will be punished severely. However, some political analysts believe that they have been slow on this issue.

More so, they failed to move swiftly to have the highly politicised civil bureaucracy replaced from their current positions. In case this is not done, the whole exercise of conducting free and fair elections would remain an illusion.

None of the caretakers have so far announced their cabinets that will take care of the day-to-day work in the areas of their jurisdiction. Also, reportedly, the newly-inducted caretakers have shown no keenness to attend the briefing sessions arranged for them by senior bureaucrats.

Sethi’s nomination as PPP and PML-Q candidate in Punjab, however, will have many detractors, as he was a close friend of ex-President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari - a man disliked by many PPP jiyalas. This has, indeed, surprised many, especially those who believed that he was backed by the establishment and, therefore, ineligible as caretaker Chief Minister Punjab. But generally with a limited mandate that the caretakers enjoy, it is not possible for them to influence the election outcome in a significant manner.

Hopefully, the interim governments will succeed in maintaining peace in the country. Otherwise, all their good intentions and efforts will go in vain, while the dream of conducting transparent elections will remain elusive.

The writer has been associated with various newspapers as editor and columnist. At present, he hosts a political programme on Pakistan Television. Email: [email]zarnatta@hotmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]People the ultimate arbiters
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
Malik Muhammad Ashraf

For the political forces who have been salivating to see democracy taking roots in the country and power transferred through ballot, the dream has come true with the nomination of the caretaker Prime Minister by the ECP as required under the constitution, removing any doubts about people finally exercising their right of franchise without any hindrance or intervention from any quarter.

A new tradition would have been set if the Prime Minister and the opposition leader had agreed on the name of the caretaker Prime Minister. Nevertheless it is encouraging and satisfying to note that the process has culminated without any hic-up.

As soon as the nomination of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as caretaker Prime Minister was announced by the ECP by majority vote, the PPP, PML (N), PML (Q), MQM, JUI hailed the decision and expressed the confidence that he would make sure that free, fair and transparent elections are held in the country.
But it was really disappointing to see that these parties except PPP and ANP did not attend the oath taking ceremony of the care taker Prime Minister that again would have set yet another healthy democratic tradition in the country. PML (Q) and MQM have been allies of the PPP and the political observers believe that they probably did not attend because of their grievances against the latter. That behaviour is regrettable and unbecoming of the political entities practicing the art of politics at the national level. The PML (N) ostensibly did not participate because the oath was being administered by President Asif Ali Zardari. That is even more reproachable. Whether somebody likes it or not Asif Ali Zardari is the President of Pakistan and it was in this capacity that he was administering the oath as required under the constitution. If the PML (N) leadership had any personal grudge against him it should not have been allowed to cast its shadow on matters of national importance. The President deserves the protocol and respect that is attached to his august office and our political leaders must learn from leaders of other democratic countries to rise above narrow political or personal considerations. For democracy to function on healthy lines, it is imperative that politicians exhibit democratic behaviour. It would be unreasonable on any body’s part to expect high standards of morality and political behaviour by our politicians like in the established democracies but one can surely gravitate to see them making an auspicious beginning by doing small things like showing tolerance towards each other and participating in events of national importance.

Nonetheless, it is gratifying to note that the care taker Prime Minister enjoys the confidence of all the major political players on the chess board of Pakistani politics. Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has had an impeccable and unblemished career as a judge and enjoys good reputation. Another positive factor is that he belongs to Balochistan, that might help in placating the Baloch nationalists and tempt them to join the mainstream of the national politics by participating in the ensuing elections. The care taker Prime Minister, immediately after his nomination told the media that his first and foremost priority would be to support and help the ECP to ensure holding of free and fair elections in the country and that he would treat all the political parties alike. That indeed is very reassuring. The words of a savant like him can be safely taken at their face value. He also made it clear that the President did not have any role in the elections; an implied reference to the often repeated allegations by a political party that free and fair elections could not be held while Zardari was in the office. He is right, because the elections are to be held by the ECP with the support of the executive and the President does not figure in the scheme of things in this regard. With a neutral and honest man heading the executive, assertive ECP, pro-active judiciary and the ever vigilant media it would almost be impossible for any other entity or individual to influence the outcome of the elections in any unconstitutional manner taking advantage of his position.

Much will also depend on the way the political parties conduct themselves in regards to the efforts of the ECP and the caretaker set up in holding elections in a transparent manner. They need to behave in a responsible manner during their elections campaigns and focus more on selling their manifestoes instead of mud-slinging and launching personal attacks on their rivals because ultimately it is on the basis of their performance or the programmes for the future presented by them that the people have to make their choices. For the elections to be free and fair it is essential that they are held in a convivial atmosphere and the traditional hostility and animosity towards each other gives way to a healthy and productive competition among them.

Now that all is set to translate the dream of transition of power by reference to the people and consolidating the gains of democracy, all the stakeholders especially the political parties owe it to the masses not to do any thing which shatters their faith in democracy or provides any excuse to the forces inimical to democratic dispensation to make their move and drag the country back to the dark alleys again. The political parties and their leaders must also desist from statements or actions that could make the role of the care taker government or the ECP controversial. They should keep faith in the impartiality and the capability of these institutions to make these elections a significant milestone in our march towards a political polity envisioned by the founding father.

Another very important factor in this respect would be the acceptance of elections results with an open heart, the lack of which has been the bane of democracy in this country. The nation has suffered the consequences of this kind of behaviour and we surely need a break from this dreadful experience of the past. Merely paying lip service and making tall claims about their love for democracy is not enough. Political Parties will have to show their commitment through their actions. That is the only way forward. Any digression from this path may produce negative results. The media and intelligentsia also have a great responsibility in guiding and helping the people to understand what is at stake and reporting the unfolding events in an objective and impartial manner to play their contributory role in strengthening democracy.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]The political role of army in Pakistan
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
Professor Ali Sukhanver

Do we really enjoy being in a state of oblivion or it is the result of some international medication that we have turned a blind eye to the realities around us; that is the question to which I very often try to find out an appropriate answer. Confusions and confusions; we, as a nation, have nothing else in our pockets. Be it the religion, the politics or our relationship with the neighbouring countries and even our strategy regarding the international affairs, we are always in a state of perplexity.

The people enjoying a cup of tea at roadside tea-stalls, the passengers waiting for the bus at bus-stations and even the employees of the government and private offices; all feel pleasure in discussions on the things they don’t have even the basic knowledge of. Just a few days back, I was really stunned rather shocked when I overheard someone at a roadside restaurant convincing vehemently his fellows that the army would never let Mian Nawaz Sharif come into the power. I stopped there and asked the person why he thought so. He simply said he got the impression from the media.

It is something very strange that in spite of last five years’ complete indifference to the political affairs and all honest efforts of sheltering the democratic process, the army is still considered the strongest force which is eager to derail the democratic process in Pakistan. Particularly in the present scenario when the political parties failed in choosing the name of the care-taker prime minister and the matter had to be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan, rumors are there that it is the army which is behind all this complexity. In fact blaming army and defaming the intelligence agencies has become a fashion in Pakistan. From Imran Khan to Dr. Tahir-ul- Qadri, so many popular political leaders are portrayed as the puppets in the hands of the army and the intelligence agencies. They are blamed for helping out the army in constitution of a ‘hung parliament’. When we find no clues to the ground realities, we do nothing but point our fingers to the security forces. Unfortunately dragging the army into the irrelevant issues has become a culture in Pakistan.

Why could be army against Mian Nawaz Sharif; it is an important thing to be pondered. If in the past, the head of the Nawaz League had some difference of opinion with Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the Ex-Army Chief; it doesn’t mean he was against the whole army as an institution. We see that in the last sixty six years, it happened so many times that politicians had clashes of opinion with the persons heading the army but these clashes or differences were based on differences of point of view, not on liking or disliking of the institution. Moreover it is not the job of the army to look after the state of internal political affairs particularly in a scenario where the army is always engaged, or I would say over-engaged in fighting against the terrorists inside and along the borders. I don’t think that the army has such leisure to spend on the things like politics. Whoever comes into the power, it is certainly the duty and responsibility of the army to give him a helping hand of subordination. Just like the whole of nation, everyone from the army is also eagerly waiting for the upcoming general elections. Just like teachers, doctors, engineers, religious scholars and students, our soldiers are also keen to use their right of vote. Officially or un-officially, they are never guided or directed or forced by their superiors to vote for the PPP or not to vote for the Muslim League. They are as independent as the rest of the nation in using their democratic right of vote.

The Pakistan army must have been criticized if it were involved in any kind of moral or financial corruption as that of the Indian army. It must have been taken to task if there were officers like Col Ajay Chaudhry of the Indian army who was arrested for smuggling 24-crore worth of illegal drugs to Myanmar this year. It must have been trialed and tested if there were officers like Indian Air Chief Marshal Shashi P Tyagi who received massive bribes in Augusta Westland VVIP helicopter deal. For a prosperous today and a brighter tomorrow, we as a nation need strong defence but we can never strengthen our defence just by piling up arms and ammunitions. Strong defence needs unbeatable, undefeatable passions and passions are always thirsty for appreciation and moral encouragement. The matter of the fact is that an atmosphere of distrust and doubts is being created just to defame the army and the intelligence agencies at the desire of the international conspirators who are very well aware of the fact that unless as institution the army is deprived of its trust, repute and confidence, no one can defeat the Pakistani nation at any front.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[U][B][CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Pakistan’s democracy: past and future[/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER][/B][/U]

Inayatullah

In this benighted country of ours, how were opportunities to make amends and do better, availed of, during the last 66 years. A look back would be instructive. One may in particular see how democracy zigzagged over time, how it got overrun by the top brass and how it bounced back only to be pushed aside by the establishment, time and again. It is a sad story of ambitious generals, inapt politicians, docile judges, some weak-kneed civil servants, wayward youth, insufferable feudal lords, myopic clerics and an ineffectual civil society as well as international interventions.

The rot started with the first martial law. The political process was halted. The constitution was thrown into the wastepaper basket and the politicians demonised and humiliated. A new kind of politics was fabricated to provide a cover for the military’s heavy hand. While a serious effort was made to plan and execute economic development projects, there was little of sharing of authority and involvement of the stakeholders in decision making. A direct result of this concentration of power was the alienation of the people of the eastern part of the country, who refused to be satisfied with economic lollypops, deprived as they were of a place at the higher echelons of the decision-making mechanism. Resentments developed into protests and after the denial of their right to form a government after the 1970 elections on the basis of their winning majority of the seats, they were hardly left with any alternative but to opt for a parting of the ways.

The military regime was followed by a civilian elected government led by a charismatic leader. There were great expectations. A new political party, which championed the cause of the poor and the deprived, had assumed power. Here was the great chance for democracy to take root in Pakistan and to work for the good of the people. A government of the chosen representatives of the masses could work wonders. There was an air of excitement. It made a good start. It was able to forge a unanimously approved constitution. It, however, did not take long for the political head of the government to fall a prey to the temptation of taking to undemocratic ways, maltreating political opponents, dismissing elected provincial governments, ordering military operations and not hesitating to rig elections for acquiring unbridled authority. The letter and spirit of democracy stood botched. There were countrywide protests. Bhutto had to pay dearly for his follies. The military lost no time to stage a return to power. The country was back under another martial law. The military dictator promised to hold elections within 90 days. He, however, clung to power for almost 11 years till he was bumped off. The cruel hand of fate removed him from the scene.
Another opportunity came Pakistan’s way to establish democracy. A young Benazir returned to the delight of cheering mobs. She led a promising PPP government. The military, though, kept some of the levers in its own hands. Unfortunately, she fell short of expectations and was dismissed by a civilian President for corruption and poor governance. She got another opportunity, but did not complete her term and was again thrown out.

Nawaz Sharif, too, had had two stints. The first time, he fell out with the presidency, and the second time, he failed to get rid of a threatening Army Chief by mishandling the latter’s dismissal. The military was back in the pavilion. More than any of the previous dictators, he sought to militarise the administration. While the media flourished during his time, the judiciary was badly mauled. The lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the Chief Justice and his colleagues, plus blunders like the massacre at the Lal Masjid and the killing of Akbar Bugti, paved the way for his exit.

Enter Asif Ali Zardari as successor to a slain Benazir. A new chapter of a democratic experiment ensued.

The elected houses have completed their constitutional terms - quite an achievement, thanks to Zardari’s shrewd handling of the political players, Nawaz Sharif’s cooperation and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s remarkable restraint. The PPP-led government, however, was badly disfigured by poor governance, rapidly deteriorating law and order, electricity shortages, soaring prices, terrorism and unprecedented corruption.

An assessment by the London Economist says it all. It recognises Zardari’s “deft” handling of the political challenges and the first time a Pakistani democratic government completing five years that will be succeeded by another elected government. There is a “cause for celebration in a country where the army has so often stepped in, to halt experiments in democracy.” And “yet the mismanagement and naked money making under Zardari have been such that this milestone gets few cheers from Pakistanis.”

How about the coming elections? What are the prospects of a turnaround, a change for the better? In an article, Robert M. Hathaway, Director at the Washington Woodrow Wilson Centre, has taken Pakistanis to task for suffering all along “shoddy governance, venal practices…...and failing institutions.” He concludes that Pakistan is heading towards a “terminal decline”.

If one goes by the recent opinion polls, the next elected government would be led by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. There, probably, will be a hung Parliament giving rise to traditional wheeling and dealing, obscuring the opportunity for drastic changes and a pro-people governance. (Shahbaz Sharif’s impressive performance in the Punjab notwithstanding.)

Will Imran Khan make good his claim of a tsunami? The political pundits are not that sure. Will he live up to the six promises he recently made at Minar-i-Pakistan? Michael Kugelman, a well known American writer, in his latest column, says: “Odds are against Imran Khan assuming power.” If, however, he does succeed in securing the helm, Kugelman has his reservations about his leanings towards the Jamaat-i-Islami and his views about USA and Taliban. He does not rule out Pakistan moving towards “a downward spiral”. He concedes that PTI embodies what Pakistan needs most - hope. He recognises that PTI’s internal elections will help strengthen democracy and the “party’s clean reputation brings credibility to its intention to root out corruption.” But for him, “Khan is the quintessential high-risk investment.” The party lacks experience and “if he were to take power, the returns could be intoxicatingly high - or dangerously low.”

Pakistan today faces formidable challenges and there are several urgent tasks to be addressed. These include the menace of terrorism, militant extremism, energy crisis, the economic meltdown and poor governance. Will the next government have the vision, the will and the capacity to attend to these formidable challenges and tasks successfully?

There is little doubt that this election will determine the direction Pakistan will follow in the years to come. Up or down. The people are on trial. A testing time, indeed!

The writer is an ex-federal secretary and ambassador, and a freelance political and international relations analyst.

Email: [email]pacade@brain.net.pk[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/30-Mar-2013/pakistan-s-democracy-past-and-future[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Forward to a new beginning[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Khurshid Akhtar Khan 0



It has been quite a while since our country had an element of tranquillity. However, since the caretaker Prime Minister and Chief Ministers have been appointed, there is hope all around.

A process of power transfer was initiated and has been completed almost gracefully. Confidence in the new setups in the centre and the provinces is oozing from all corners. Powers that had always been vested in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but were never allowed to be used, are being exercised in a transparent manner. All political parties, including nationalists, are on board. Everyone is talking about holding free and fair elections and maintaining peace. A new beginning is on the horizon.

The VIP culture, ostentation and indiscriminate use of public funds have been a few of the most visible menaces that have plagued our elected democrats. Large gun-toting security entails at government expense have been a frivolous exhibition of one’s status, disregarding the extent to which it detaches the elected officeholders from the public they represent. Is the safety and life of a common citizen of any less importance? Such security measures have in any case proved to be more ceremonial than effectively preventive under the prevailing spate of determined and well planned suicide attacks and bombings.

One of the welcome first steps that the ECP has taken is to ban the display of arms. Subsequent to the first full five-year rule of democracy (though chaotic), the public will get some relief from such displays, at least for the next few months.

The parting shot of the outgoing legislators has been to enhance their own perks disproportionately to the prevailing financial constraints in the economy. Large sums of money have allegedly been transferred under various heads for political gains, leaving their successors to manage the national coffers that stand at critical levels. (In an unprecedented bending of the rules, banks were kept open on Saturday and Sunday to complete the last minute transactions.) Though the caretaker’s role may be limited to conduct elections, yet immediate financial management is imperative to curb the downward slide. A competent financial team must be put in place at the centre as the very first priority.

Many legislators have left unpaid utility bills of their government residences and even more have failed to acquire a National Tax Number (NTN) that is essential for all salaried or self-employed citizens. Personal assets are invariably under-reported and many have lied about their educational qualifications. Hardly brilliant examples to follow for the people they are supposed to lead. It is time all these wrongs are put right according to the verdicts of the Supreme Court and those found guilty are deprived of the opportunity to present themselves again to the public.

The emphasis of the last governments in the centre and the provinces has been towards constitutional reforms and grand development projects.
Maintenance and improvement of the existing facilities have been at a lower priority, since they are less visible (though more beneficial to the public). The existing schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, irrigation works, public transport systems and entertainment places were allowed to deteriorate, while they could be upgraded with little expense. Likewise, art, culture, uniform educational curriculum, scientific and technical advancement, public utilities, resource generation and industry were almost entirely ignored. The caretakers have an opportunity to set these shortcomings on the right course.

The political culture has been acrimonious buried in squabbles. The nation could not be united to combat the menace of extremism, despite being in a state of war along one long border and being surrounded by hostilities both from within and externally. Financial discipline has remained a far cry and the public was left on its own to protect their lives and properties. The saving grace has been the resilience of Pakistani people that has been proved yet once again against all odds.

The citizens have patiently endured kidnappings, killing of innocent people by suicide bombers, a malfunctioning government apparatus, shortage of utilities and services, high inflation and erosion of the value of their currency - all for the sake of democracy. The people allowed the democratic process to continue to its logical end. Now they must prove the evolution of their maturity by electing leaders of high calibre and by discarding rogues and freebooters with sweet tongues and silly hearts.

Some would lead us to believe that all politicians, bureaucrats and people in authority are corrupt, incompetent and ill intentioned. If it were so, our country would have ceased to exist many moons ago. On the contrary, we have a huge reservoir of patriotic and talented men and women in all fields waiting to be tapped. The gruelling last five years have been a learning (sine) curve that has traversed its downward trajectory and is now on the rise after hitting the bottom. The country and our people have emerged from this training session wiser and fully conscious of their rights and the power of their vote.

The youth are into the third generation since the inception of Pakistan and constitutes over 60 percent of our population. They are moulded into the high technology of mobile phones, computers, internet and easy access to information. They are free of the tremors of 1947 that their ancestors faced and are gradually freeing themselves from the shackles of tribalism and feudalism. The independence of thinking that democracy introduces will galvanise them into a force that will claim their rights and will resist injustice. The government alone cannot accomplish much without the support, involvement and watch of the people. The vibrant youth must come forward and play an active role to set a new path to glory.

The writer is an engineer and an entrepreneur. Email: [email]k.a.k786@hotmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/31-Mar-2013/forward-to-a-new-beginning[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Pakistan: a plutocracy?[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


The UN’s assessment that Pakistan’s politics has become the inheritance of only 100 families shows the depths to which politics has been personalised. According to its human development index, 49 percent of the population has been pushed below the poverty line; besides, the standards of public health and education have considerably deteriorated. The UN report was also critical of the Benazir Income Support programme saying that better programmes would have to be introduced to fight poverty.

In the light of these findings, there appears to be a correlation between despair characterising Pakistani society today and unchecked personalisation of politics. For various reasons, Pakistan remains a country where development continues to elude. But complicating the matter is the fact that the parliament is taking on the character of an elite club, closed to the general masses. The result: a debilitating impact on democracy as we went through a spell of the kind of governance that paid no heed to the call for removal of hunger and provision of basic services to the people. That means that democracy in real sense is not being practised. The people will not have any say in corridors power, nor will their interest be watched when only certain families keep ruling over them.

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/editorials/30-Mar-2013/pakistan-a-plutocracy[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Guardians of democracy[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

By:Saad Rasool

[CENTER][B]For us to graduate to a clean democracy, concerns of popular opinion and media chatter will have to be sacrificed at the altar of constitutionalism
[/B][/CENTER]
The changing of our national guard, with handing over of governmental reigns to the interim setup, reminds me of the ancient Olympics. The trumpet has been sounded and participants have assembled. Swearing in of the interim prime minister is synonymous to the haughty announcements of “let the games begin”. And this week, as the party tickets are announced and nomination papers get filed, the entire nation will embrace the election fever, in the hope that the next cycle of democracy shall be a step towards deliverance from the past mistakes.

Amidst all this, the true and final political power rests with those who cast the ballot. However, for the next two months, how that political power gets exercised, and in whose favour, has been entrusted to the ‘guardians of democracy’.

Who, you might ask, are these guardians? Well, keeping aside the undercurrents of khaki conspiracy and power of the establishment and intelligence agencies, from a constitutional perspective, the guardians of democracy are 1) the interim government, 2) the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and 3) the judiciary. And unless this tripod adopts a concerted and unified approach towards guarding the reigns of our future, we may once again be faced with painful prospects of incompetent governance.

The first leg of this tripod is the interim government. In cricket analogy, the interim government, in a match between different political parties, is the grounds staff – they prepare the pitch, run the roller, and make sure the outfield is smooth and lush green for a fair contest. In accordance with Chapter 2 of Part VIII of the Constitution, upon the dissolution of the assemblies, the interim government assumes the responsibilities of statecraft, with the primary objective of conducting free and fair elections. In this regard, the administrative responsibilities of governance and conduction of the elections rests with the interim rulers – including the control of civil bureaucracy, preventing violence and crime through the control of police, ensuring the availability of requisite transportation and administrative facilities for the voters to cast their ballot, and demonstration of neutrality in terms of accommodating the demands from all sides of the partisan divide. While the interim government cannot influence who gets to contest the elections, or even determine questions of moral and technical eligibility, they can certainly influence the casting of ballots through denying facilities or extending favours to particular candidates and constituencies.

The second, and most important, leg of this tripod is the Election Commission of Pakistan. Sticking with the cricket analogy, the Election Commission is the umpire – it keeps the score, counts the number of balls per over, calls wides and no-balls, indicates the fours and sixes, looks out for ball-tampering, and is the decision-maker in terms of when a batsman gets out. In the constitutional scheme, Article 218 constitutes the Election Commission, and Article 218(3) entrusts it with the duty “to organise and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against”. And for this purpose, the constitution mandates that “all executive authorities” shall assist the ECP in discharge of their duties (Article 219 of the Constitution). In this regard, the powers of the ECP are vast and far-reaching. In fact, the influence of the ECP starts much prior to the election itself, with “preparing electoral rolls” and “appointing Election Tribunals” (Article 218(4)), and continues for some time thereafter to resolve election disputes (per Article 225).

The third and final leg of the tripod is the judiciary. While not directly involved in the electoral process, the judiciary sits as the final arbiter of all issues, including those concerning the elections. For a cricketing nation, the judiciary is the third-umpire. All parties can refer a matter to the judiciary, in accordance with the laid down legal procedure, for a closer look, and an overturning of the decision of the ECP. Judiciary, as a custodian of the constitution, can overturn electoral results and disqualify candidates even after they have passed the test of the ballot and scrutiny of the ECP. And in this regard, the judicial responsibility, specifically in terms of qualifications and disqualifications of the candidates, has the potential of shaping the outcome of the electoral process.

In this constitutional scheme, it is important for the guardians of our democracy to keep a keen eye on few competing interests. First: a degree of deference must be afforded to the ability and choice of people to elect a candidate of their own choosing. And the urge to be unkind, in terms of scrutiny and disqualification, towards a candidate who is disliked or out-of-favor with our guardians of democracy must be checked. Second: on the other hand, in an election cycle, while the tempers and public passion is at a fever pitch, the urge to simply play to the gallery in order to allow or disqualify candidature must be resisted. In this regard, it would be pertinent to be mindful of the fact that everyone, no matter how disliked in public opinion, is innocent till proven guilty. And exactly for this reason, do Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution (along with the established principles of jurisprudence) require a ‘conviction’ in most cases, before a candidate can be disqualified from contesting or holding an elected office. And finally, our guardians must balance this requirement of a formal conviction, against admitted and public guilt, in order to undertake some weeding out of bad apples, when the record is amply clear and unquestionable.

A prime example of this is the case of Waheedza Shah who, for slapping the Assistant Presiding Officer (on camera), in the by-elections of 25th February, 2012, had been disqualified by the ECP, for a period of two years. This ban was upheld by the honourable Sindh High Court but, just two days back, a three-member bench of the honourable Supreme Court has lifted this ban, allowing her to contest in the upcoming polls. This decision, made for reasons best known to the court, sends a distasteful signal. When the action of a contestant is so belligerent, has been caught on camera, and later adjudicated upon by the ECP and the Sindh High Court, it is disappointing to see the honourable apex court, with a detailed order, overturning the same on the eve of the elections. The message, regardless of the technicalities, is one that undermines the authority of presiding officers, as well as that of the ECP. And this despite the fact that a presiding officer, during the course of the election, is playing an administrative as well as an adjudicatory role (as a judge). One wonders if the court would have ruled the same if the Mrs Shah had meted out the same treatment to a judicial officer, rather than a presiding officer.

These are tough times. And the position of our guardians of democracy, in a country as troublesome as Pakistan, is not enviable. There is bound to be criticism of their conduct. Whoever stands to lose might even indulge in mud-slinging at these esteemed institutions. But for us to graduate to a clean democracy, concerns of popular opinion and media chatter will have to be sacrificed at the altar of constitutionalism.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore. He has a Masters in Constitutional Law from Harvard Law School. He can be reached at: [email]saad@post.harvard.edu[/email]

[url]http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/columns/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Too late and too early
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
By:Humayun Gauhar

[B][CENTER]A look at some of Musharraf’s decisions[/CENTER][/B]

Timing is everything. Not good to be early or late. General Musharraf has managed both. He returned too late for elections and too early for ‘revolution’. Elections are eleven days away while the objective conditions on the ground are not ripe enough for an urban uprising that changes the status quo. It’s happened twice before, but the status quo changed for the worse.

More social dislocation is necessary to start a movement. That depends on the performance of the new governments. If they do well anarchy can be averted, but for a time because the iniquitous status will remain. Chances that we will get good governance are low: they will be coalitions with their tails tied together with only one thing in common – to last as long as possible and get richer as long as possible. The masses are nowhere on their radar. Unlike Egypt, we have safety valves to let steam out – people drugged high on the symbols of democracy: parliaments and a hyper media independent of the state but not of vested interests.

Every citizen has the right to return to his country, clear his name and exercise his fundamental right to travel within and without. Musharraf exercised that right without getting cases against him withdrawn courtesy the USA and UK or get a pardon courtesy the Saudis. He has returned and put his life on the line to face everything. That is brave. But the self-serving and hypocritical cases against him will keep Musharraf occupied.

If he subverted the constitution on October 12, 1999, why did he? Coups don’t happen in a vacuum. They are a reaction to an action or situation. Didn’t Nawaz Sharif first subvert the constitution by removing the army chief illegally, as the Supreme Court adjudged, and invite the coup? “General Pervez Musharraf, Chief of the Army Staff and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, is a holder of Constitutional post. His purported arbitrary removal in violation of the principle of audi alteram partem was ab initio void and of no legal effect” said the Supreme Court. Did the judges on that bench subvert the constitution by legitimising the coup? Did those too who took oaths under Musharraf’s first Provisional Constitutional Order? How come those who did under the first become rejects but those who were thrown out by the second sprout wings and remain judges? Justice is supposed to be blind, not cockeyed or selective. Don’t try one person for ‘subversion’; try the whole lot.

In hijacking Musharraf’s aircraft and ordering the pilot to go to India, Sharif pushed the borders of treason: lucky for him the pilot had the sense not to comply. He could easily have landed in Ahmedabad and handed over an unsuspecting Pakistan army chief to the Indians, a shameful sight indeed for us to see our army chief in enemy custody, handcuffed and being paraded on television courtesy the prime minister of Pakistan. Sharif’s was the coup against the army; the army’s was the countercoup. He asked for it.

Musharraf will not be alone in the dock. It takes many to do a coup, help it, legitimise it and sustain it. With him will be a former prime minister and his henchmen, many serving and retired generals, judges and politicians. Do they have the stomach for it? First and foremost, Nawaz Sharif will have to answer why he subverted the constitution by sacking the army chief in the manner that he did and tried to throw him into Indian hands and thus invited the coup. Does he have the stomach for it or will he start pleading to be sent to Jeddah again? It was good of Musharraf to agree to send him to a friendly country and not to an enemy, like Sharif wanted to do to Musharraf. Sharif may be the prime minister again but I don’t give a fig: Pakistan comes first.

As to the ‘hero’ Akbar Bugti, he killed himself by misadventure in trying to kill soldiers of Pakistan by detonating the explosives he had planted in his cave and caved it in, mistakenly killing himself too. If the army intended to blow up the cave to kill Bugti, why would it first send in its unarmed officers and soldiers? They went in to negotiate with Bugti and arrest him, not to kill the renegade; else they would have been armed.

Tell me: what does a state do with a man who takes up arms against it? Those who build Bugti up as a hero should be ashamed of themselves. It was the Marri tribe that first gave him refuge on its land and then betrayed him to the army as revenge for what he had done to them as Governor of Balochistan under Bhutto the patriarch. The tribal warlords and chieftains called Sardars are a stigma on the name of the Baloch, bloodsucking rapacious oppressors, primitive in the extreme, holding the power of life and death over their people. Until they become history the Baloch will remain mired in the Stone Age.

As to Lal Masjid, Musharraf’s mistake was to take action too late, wasting time in hoping that politicians could peacefully negotiate the government out of an explosive situation. Where are the names, relatives and graves of the “hundreds of women and children killed” that our media goes on about? If relatives of missing persons can come out in protest, why can’t they?

What is the prime duty of a government? If it is not to protect the integrity and writ of the state and the life of its citizens, then what is the point of having a state? Anyone who takes up arms, missiles and suicide vests against a state, occupies part of it, declares his own law there, establishes courts and drags people in, foreigners included, and ‘tries’ and punishes them, kills its soldiers, police and citizens and destroys their legitimate businesses is a rebel and has to be dealt with accordingly. Those who create a state within a state are called ‘Kharajis’ and are anathema to Islam. The two brothers who ran the mosque, one surviving, are no scholars but a blot on the name of scholarship and on Islam. It is they who are the criminals, responsible for whatever death and destruction that occurred, especially the one who tried to escape like a coward in a burqa. Would you find any of the true soldiers of Islam trying to escape battle that they had started disguised in female garb? It is they who have blood on their hands.

What about some television anchors who goaded Musharraf on to launch the operation, taunting him and questioning what the army was for if it couldn’t liberate a mosque, promising that they would not rant against Musharraf if he took action. When Musharraf said that the moment he did they would turn against him, they promised that they would never. Came the operation came the U-turn: they exploited it to the maximum to increase ratings and get Musharraf. Are they culpable too?

The president is perfectly within his constitutional rights to send a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council concerning any judge. He is also within his rights to summon him, show him the charges with the evidence and, if he decides to send the reference to the SJC, ask him go on leave while it considers it and gives its opinion, not judgment, to the president that he is free to accept or reject. So far, so good, but what followed was unacceptable: forcibly suspending the chief justice, putting him and his family under house arrest, cutting off all communications and manhandling him. Musharraf went to Karachi. One should ask the police and intelligence agencies what they were up to and under whose orders. What was the government doing, the interior ministry? That is what blew the judges case out of proportion and got Musharraf into trouble. Since the buck stops with him and the prime minister, they paid the price. So did the country.

The National Reconciliation Ordinance that withdrew all cases against Benazir, Zardari and over 8,000 others, as did the Saudi deal with the Sharifs for going to Jeddah, were both wrong too. The US, Britain, certain Musharraf officials and politicians and some of his friends gave him the wrong advice. Pakistan paid the price for it even more than Musharraf. He has been man enough to admit that the NRO was a mistake. But what about the many pseudo democrats who kept whining that “democracy would remain incomplete until the two great leaders of the two national parties are allowed to return and lead them in elections”? Now everyone complains against the NRO and the pardon, not realising that without them Benazir or Sharif could never have returned. You asked for it, you got it. Don’t bellyache all the time lest you become a habitual bellyacher.

As to threats to Musharraf’s life, the state has to realise that this is not the Wild West – or is it? In no civilised country are there bounty hunters. No one can put head money on someone and incite murder much less release videos threatening to kill someone. They would get arrested immediately or eliminated by a functioning state.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be contacted at [email]humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/columns/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Democratic evolution[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

A Rashid

The good and evil put together by the outgoing coalition government, headed by PPP, though squares off in public eye, which is an over simplification of a complex issue but in reality the ramifications will be far weightier than that.
The evil aspect involving corruption and misrule of the administration under discussion, being so elaborate and transparent, need not be dilated upon. The fall-out of this aspect is not lasting as it is orchestrated by individuals at the helm of affairs, for transitory personal gains, at a particular time. Individuals come and go but the institutions stay to influence the lives of posterity.
The good aspect, involving legislations that strengthen the democratic institutions, speaks louder than words. Numerous landmark legislations had been done by the outgoing legislators that will go a long way in helping to raise the vitality of the democratic institutions.

There is a glaring example from the contemporary US history which candidly portrays the comparative influence of individuals vis-a-vis the institutions. United States of America absorbed the fallout of the erratic behavior of President George W Bush, owing to the presence of strong democratic institutions in place.

Despite rampant financial corruption and inefficiency of the government, we find Pakistan at a defining crossroads due to the landmark legislations passed by the legislature, maintenance of conciliatory attitude of the top leadership of the coalition government throughout their term and a free media. We find a glaring departure from the past style of governance during the preceding five years. Vindictiveness against political opponents through authoritarian oppression, the strong arm tactics, blackmails and gagging of media were not resorted to at any stage. Even the vilest opponents of the government did not complain about these aspects. The outgoing government also earned an extraordinary feather in their cap by maintaining the country’s jails free of the political detainees.

A democratically elected government has completed its stipulated term of five years, first time in our history. And now the nation is bracing to go to the hustling for the next general elections. The kind of meticulous, hectic and highly professional activity encompassing the election gear is unprecedented and is greatly heartening. One need not have intuitive abilities to grasp the rationale of how this professionalism has replaced the perpetual arbitrariness of the past annals. Constitutional amendments necessitated by the needs of the time have done this magic.

To give (false) credence to the electoral process, in the past, caretaker set-ups were constituted, arbitrarily, out of the same lot of politicians. The 18th constitutional amendment introduced by the outgoing parliament, with consensus, laid down the procedures and the criterion for selection of individuals forming the caretaker setup. The result today we see is in the shape of universally believed neat and clean governments in the center as well as the provinces. It has happened for the first time in memory that the caretakers have prevailed to correct the wrong doings of the outgoing incumbents that fall in the category of pre poll rigging. The caretaker government has scrapped the last minute contract awarded to NLC for construction of roads in the constituency of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. The former two prime ministers have also been deprived of the fabulous police contingents earmarked by the outgoing prime minister for their personal security. No such precedence of frugality and justice is perceptible in the past.

The past practice regarding constitution of election commission was also arbitrary, that made it possible to have one’s favorites in the election commission’s machinery. This time around the election commission has been constituted in line with the dictates of the 18th constitutional amendment. There is consensus, not only the consensus of political parties, there is consensus at national level about the status of the commission being above board. In fact the whole world is watching the unfolding of the electoral processes in Pakistan with awe and acclaim.

The election commission is burning midnight oil to evolve a perfect mechanism to scrutinize the qualifications of candidates for the national and provincial assemblies. As far as possible, dual nationals, convicts, loan and utility bills defaulters will be barred from contesting the elections. I am conscious of this being a very tall order in the prevailing conditions and time frame. But at least a beginning has been made towards a foolproof procedure to be adopted in future when adequate time will be laid aside for this reform.

The outgoing government, in addition to an unprecedented liberal National Finance commission (NFC) award, has devolved the following ministries to the federating units: Zakat and usher, special initiatives, population welfare, youth affairs, local government and social welfare, special education, tourism, livestock and dairy development, sports, health, environment, women development, labor and manpower, food and agriculture and minority affairs. These reforms have greatly elevated the provincial despondency.

The supreme court of Pakistan took a serious notice of the accesses of the security agencies in Baluchistan and adopted several measures to restore the confidence of the people of that province in the future of Pakistan.

Cumulative effect of the above reforms, including the electoral reforms; liberal NFC award and devolution of ministries to the federating units, have gone a long way in arresting the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the insurgency stricken province of Baluchistan. Most of the Baloch nationalist leaders have resultantly come in line with the democratic process being pursued and have decided to participate in the coming general elections. This to my mind is a great leap forward in cementing the unity of the federation.
During the last five years the people of Pakistan have enjoyed a free and vibrant judiciary. Not a single incident to the detriment of judiciary occurred during the period. So much so that an elected prime minister was sent packing home on the charges of contempt of court by the Supreme Court and not a finger was raised.

One is aghast to find so many good things happening in our beleaguered federation, which, so far, has only known that it is faced with the most critical circumstances at all times of its existence. Thanks to the landmark legislations done by the outgoing lawmakers, which has facilitated putting together the electoral apparatus of the country with relative ease. The institution of election commission was established with consensus. Caretaker prime minister was chosen with consensus from Baluchistan and the chief ministers of all the federating units assumed their respective posts in time and with consensus. Here the selection of Punjab chief minister merits special mention being from the journalist community. Najam Sethi, a senior journalist, was chosen for the slot, with consensus. In this consensus the senior leadership of PMLN too was on board. Although at one point of time in the past Mr Najam Sethi was put behind bars by the PMLN government, headed by Nawaz Sharif, on vindictive and false charges of sedition etc. Honoring Mr Najam Sethi with the slot of the chief minister of Punjab with the approval of the same leadership of PMLN speaks a lot about the journey we have covered on the road to democracy.

On the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, NADRA has developed software to facilitate exercise of vote by the overseas Pakistanis. Not only that such a facility is being made possible first time in country’s history, such a provision is not available to some of the countries with highly developed technologies.

The outgoing government has though completed its stipulated period of five years but we all know that it lived from moment to moment. The political opposition, the defense establishment, the higher judiciary and above all the media, all were for its throat all the time. At the home front, the coalition partners constantly maintained the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. They were, all the time on the lookout to blackmail the treasury to extract one benefit or the other. Last but not the least has been their perpetual fight against terrorism and sectarian malaise. The government treaded from one crisis to the other. Yet the leadership kept their cool, did not lose nerve and have thus reached the goal post intact.

Some elements belonging to the conservative right are always spitting fire and predicting a bloody revolution round the corner. The current elegant process of smooth transition of authority in a democratic manner should be a forceful reminder to these elements that it is in democracy and not in a bloody revolution, rests our emancipation. The democratic evolution, fortunately, is on course and we all must sail with it.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Sitting on the fence is no option
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
April 03, 2013
Roedad Khan



In 1959, Professor Arnold J. Toynbee was invited by the Peshawar University to spend a month on the campus to deliver a series of lectures on a subject of his own choice. I was Deputy Commissioner, Peshawar. Once a week, thanks to my friend, Abu Kureshi, who was his guide and constant companion, Professor Toynbee would do me the honour of coming to my official residence on Fort Road.

Professor Toynbee was a very simple, unpretentious and unassuming man. His company was a treat and his friendship an honour to enjoy. Meeting him was like meeting history. Having a conversation with him was a little like getting to volley with John McEnroe. Trying to keep up was hopeless, but it was exhilarating just to be on the court with him. Of Toynbee, Allan Nevins wrote: “Standing on his Everest, he is more than a historian; he is a great deal of a Prophet.” He would survey the past, produce a bird’s eye view of mankind’s history with a view to gaining greater insight into the present.

Pakistan was under martial law. Democracy had been derailed by power-hungry generals. Talking about democracy, Toynbee said: “Asians and Africans had constructed a syllogism, which Aristotle would certainly have disallowed as being illogical. ‘The West European peoples live under democratic political regimes; the West European peoples are powerful; therefore, democracy is a source of power; therefore, we Asian and Africans must become democratic if we are to attain our objective of getting even with the West in competition for power and for the advantages that power brings with it’.” This argument, Toynbee said, is obviously unsound. The truth, perhaps, is that democracy, so far from having been one of the sources of the Western peoples’ power, has been one of the luxuries that their power has enabled them to afford. The source of their power has been their marriage of technology with science, the opportunity for their democracy has been the margin of strength, wealth, and security that their power derived from applied science has created for them. Unlike the belief that science has been a source of Western power, the belief that democracy has been a source of Western power is a fallacy. Democracy had been a Western amenity that Western power has brought within the West’s reach.

Election, Professor Toynbee said, is not the answer. The idea that you can just hold elections while everything remains colonial, feudal and medieval, means you won’t get democracy, but some perversion of it. Elections are necessary, but not sufficient; they alone do not make a democracy. Creating a democracy requires a free and independent country, an inviolable constitution, a sustained commitment of time and money to develop all the necessary elements: a transparent executive branch accountable to Parliament, a powerful and competent legislature answerable to the electorate, a strong neutral judiciary, and a free press.

To assume that a popular vote will automatically bring about a democratic metamorphosis would be to condemn the country to a repeat of the cycle seen so often in Pakistan: a short-lived period of corrupt, civilian rule, a descent into chaos and then army intervention.

Perhaps no form of government, Toynbee said, needs great leaders so much as democracy. It is our misfortune that at a time when leadership is desperately needed to cope with matters of vital importance and put the country back on the democratic path, Pakistan is ruled by a corrupt, criminal syndicate. To no nation has fate been more malignant than to Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military dictators, political illiterates and carpet-baggers. No wonder, Pakistan is today no more than a poor, broken toy floating on an ocean of uncertainty.

The corrupt leadership ruling Pakistan has proved unable to govern a country rent by political, ethnic, economic, and social conflicts. Today, Pakistan is a nightmare of despair and despondency, and in doubt about its future. The rich are getting richer, while the poor, well, they are still dirt poor and are sinking deeper and deeper into a black hole of abject poverty. The country appears to be adrift, lacking confidence about its future. Disaster and frustration roam the political landscape. Look into the eyes of a Pakistani today and you will see a smouldering rage.

In Pakistan, nothing has so altered the fortunes of so many so suddenly as political power. Here money and power seek each other. No wonder, the business of politics attracts the scum of the community. These are practitioners of the art of grand larceny, loot and plunder in broad daylight with no fear of accountability. The rich are evading taxes, while the poor are searching the trash for food.

In these harsh and difficult political times, the question of leadership’s character is at the centre of our national concerns. For a person, party or nation, the element essential to success is character. “Fame is a vapour, popularity an accident,” wrote Horace Greeley, “riches take wing, and only character endures.”

“In a President character is everything,” Peggy Noonan writes in her assessment of Ronald Reagan. “A President does not have to be brilliant. Harry Truman was not brilliant and he helped save Western Europe from Stalin. He does not have to be clever, you can hire clever…....but you cannot rent a strong moral sense. You can’t acquire it in the presidency. You carry it with you.” If a President, Toynbee said, has integrity, if he has credibility and if he is believable, nothing else matters. If he has no integrity and no credibility, and if there is a gap between what he says and what he does, nothing else matters and he cannot govern.

Today, Pakistan stands in twilight, awaiting the seemingly inevitable descent of darkness. Is the dark long night about to end? And has the time come for us to leave the valley of despair and climb the mountain so that we can see the glory of another dawn? The darkest hour is just before the dawn and as generally happens in history, it is at the darkest hour that a bright star arises when you had almost given up hope. When a crisis comes, a kind of tidal wave sweeps the man of character to the forefront. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Today, we have both. The hour has struck. And the man has appeared. The hour has found the man, who has the will and the power to restore the Pakistan dream.

Today, Imran Khan incarnates all our hopes. He epitomises the national struggle. He embodies the nation’s romantic dream of itself. He presents himself before the nation as a glowing beacon against the forces of darkness. It seems that, as in the case of Churchill in 1940, the last 15 years or so he spent in political wilderness had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial. A window of hope has opened for Pakistan. All the men of yesterday and all the men of day before yesterday, who have ganged up against Imran, are destined for the dustbin.

Imran is the only truly national figure in the bleak, fragmented Pakistani landscape. In this atmosphere of gloom and doom, destiny is beckoning him. He is the right man, at the right time and the right place to shake up this stagnant nation’s sclerotic status quo and dislodge the corrupt leaders catapulted to the summit of power in tragic circumstances. It is our good fortune to have found the right leader whose character, integrity, credibility and ability fit the tide of history. He has courage, stamina, patriotism, idealism and habit of hard work that have become part of his being.

Now that the election schedule has been announced, a sense of high intensity chaos prevails in the capital. Pakistan is preparing for a showdown. It will be no ordinary election. It will be the defining moment for the destiny of the people and the country. The political parties will face an influx of young, angry, unpredictable voters. The stage is set for a collision between those who belong to the future and those who represent the forces of darkness and the dead past. In this Manichean struggle, you have to choose sides. Neutrality is immoral and is not an option.

We live in a profoundly precarious country; it is in deep, deep trouble. Sitting on the fence is no option. Attentistes (those who wait or fence sitters) must make up their minds. The moment has come to join the battle for Pakistan. Now that young people, men and women, in particular, have come out in support of Imran, the winds of change have begun to blow. Things will change. The status quo will shift, the corrupt regime will crumble. The long nightmare will be over. It will be morning once again in Pakistan. This is the last chance. The last battle.

The writer is a retired civil servant and senior political analyst. Email: [email]roedad@comsats.net.pk[/email] Website: ww.roedadkhan.com

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]A dismal report

Nasim Ahmed
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

After being branded as one of the world's most corrupt nations, Pakistan has earned another dismal report card. According to the Human Development Report, 2013, recently launched by the United Nations Development Program, Pakistan's social sector spending has touched the lowest mark resulting in a widening of class inequality in the country. In 2013, Pakistan's rank in the Human Development Index (HDI) has dropped to the 146th position.
The report says that Pakistan spends 0.8pc of GDP on health and 1.8pc on education as compared to 2.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent spent by Bangladesh and India on health and education respectively. Brazil, one of the best performing countries in terms of human development, spends 4.25 per cent of GDP on health and 5.7 per cent on education.

Shamefully, Pakistan's expenditure in the social sector is lower than that of some of the poorest African countries like the Congo, which spends 1.2 per cent of GDP on health and 6.2 per cent on education. The report points out that income inequality in Pakistan increased from 0.27 to 0.29 during 2000-2010. Worse still, disparities in terms of regions, social outcomes and access to productive assets are more pronounced than income inequality.

For example, the net primary enrollment in the Punjab is 61 per cent as compared to Balochistan's 44 per cent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's 52 per cent. Similarly, the infant mortality rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 76 per 1,000 as compared to Balochistan's 104 and Punjab's 82. According to the report, in 2010 the average years of schooling for children in the 20 per cent richest quintile of population were found to be 8.95 years against 2.41 years for children of the 20 per cent poorest quintile. Similarly, seven million children were out of school, of which 60 per cent were girls.

Referring to the structural problems, the report says that although the economy of Pakistan is agrarian in nature, agriculture productivity has been on the decline, with agriculture currently contributing less than 21 per cent to its GDP. With declining productivity, the potential for jobs creation in the agriculture sector is also shrinking. According to the report, around 30 per cent of the population of Pakistan consists of youth. But, unfortunately, a large proportion of the youth population - as much as 32 per cent - is uneducated with no vocational and life skills. Resultantly, labour productivity is low.

The report has also analysed the reasons why Pakistan has been falling behind other nations in the race for socio-economic development. According to the HDR, the country's politics is dominated by 100 families whose members, sitting in the national and provincial assemblies, manipulate the decision making process to enrich themselves at the cost of the common people.

The report has noted that the assemblies are filled with men and women belonging to the privileged classes, while people from poor and middle income brackets cannot enter Parliament due to the high cost of electioneering and socio-cultural constraints for women. According to the report, the voter turnout in the 2008 elections was a meager 44.1 per cent as against 87.4 per cent in Bangladesh in the same year and 59.7 per cent in India in 2009. The Pakistani people's lack of trust in the country's elections system to bring positive changes in society is the main reason for the abysmally low voter turnout here.

While noting that Pakistan is witnessing deepening societal conflicts and tensions arising out of the unequal distribution of income and access to resources, the report identifies lack of continuity in policies as one of the main hurdles to Pakistan's long-term development. It says that Pakistan experienced one of the highest rates of industrialisation in the sixties and its five-year planning tool proved to be a successful engine of growth which was replicated by South Korea. But while Korea has made tremendous progress an all sectors during the last 60 years, Pakistan's inconsistency in implementing long-term development policies has negatively impacted its pursuit of accelerated human development.

The report emphasizes that Pakistan should initiate programmes to enhance the skills and productivity of its people. It advises that learning from successful global experiences, Indonesia for example, Pakistan should either invest in improving productivity in the agriculture sector or shift the surplus labour to manufacturing. The report has quoted the example of the fast-growing Asian economies - Hong Kong, China, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan - which expanded employment by 2-6 per cent a year, while raising productivity and wages.

The report says that in the education sector Pakistan needs to enhance the effectiveness of its expenditure by investing more on development (like teachers training, curriculum development, schools infrastructure, etc.) than on spending (around 90 per cent) on salaries only. Pakistan also urgently needs to tackle the challenge of environmental degradation which costs the country at least three per cent of GDP annually with a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable sections of the population.

Between the lines, the report hints that Pakistan will further sink into chaos if emergent measures are not initiated to reduce poverty and narrow the ever widening rich-poor gap. But in Pakistan wealthy nawabs like Aslam Raisani, corrupt feudal-politicians like Zardari and Gilani and wealthy industrialists like Nawaz Sharif rule the roost, carrying on merrily in total disregard of the social explosion lying ahead.

[url]http://www.weeklycuttingedge.com/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Food for thought

Five-year performance of govt[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]
Muhammad Daheem

The performance of the PPPP-led coalition government's five-year tenure, over on March 15, 2013, was not merely very poor but disgusting too. This government had been riddled with corruption. According to Transparency International, "Pakistan had lost more than Rs 8.5 trillion in corruption, tax evasion and bad governance during first four years tenure of Gilani's regime." Corruption, in almost all the federal institutions, remained the talk of the town. Its practice continued in spite of strong resistance and scrutiny by the Supreme Court, media and general public. The forces of darkness continued to plunder the nation for full 5 years till last moment. Naturally, it shoved the nation on the verge of disaster. The national exchequer was plundered with both hands and corruption became the lifeblood and lifestyle of the rulers. Corruption culture flourished throughout the country. Local and foreign investors lost much interest in Pakistan.

According to Director General (NAB) "oil mafia, agriculture cartel and tax evasion or theft contributed to a daily loss of Rs 5 billion, which meant Rs 150 billion in one month and Rs 1,800 billion a year." Several institutions, just like PIA, Pakistan Steel Mill and Railway, were plundered in the day light. Several government employees and "saints" were found involved in Hajj scheme scam etc.

Several projects such as power project were made to plunder the national exchequer. Raja Perveiz Ashraf, the former prime minister, was found involved in several scams and scandals. The Supreme Court warned NAB several times to probe the cases in a fair manner. It is generally believed that the government completed full five years at the cost of country's stake.

Right from the beginning to the end (A to Z) the economy was mismanaged. It was the major setback for the country. There was huge increase in the price of the common commodities within a span of 5 years. The common people, already living from hand to mouth, were the major victims of the hiking prices of the commodities. The government failed to halt the sharp increase in consumer prices. The circular debt escalated from Rs 326 billion to Rs 872 billion just within a span of five-year.

The traders' opinion, in general, is that federal government fulfilled no promise it had made to the masses in its election manifesto. The economy shattered, even tattered and situation turned from bad to worse. Majority of analysts say that "it was the worst-ever era in view of economy". The foreign debt escalated by over 100 percent during last five years.

The country is passing through a critical phase because of the deteriorating state of the economy due to corruption based policies of the government during the last 5 years.

Hollow slogans were raised and practically the country was plundered by evil forces. The federal government failed to deliver reasonable jobs to the youth and food & shelter to the poor. It will take a long, long time for the new government for the survival of the economy.

The domestic debt increased from Rs 6 trillion to Rs 13 trillion in last five years. The rising inflation reduced the purchasing power of the common man. It had a bad impact on the economy of the nation. The debt increased from $45 billion in 2008 to over $65 billion in 2012. Pakistan, at the moment, is under the $14.8 trillion debt. The nations' foreign reserves had been reduced to about $ 12 billion.

The average GDP growth rate is not more than 3 to 4 per cent. The Rupee has depreciated from 61 rupees to a dollar to almost 100 rupees recently. Inflation runs high and several essential commodities are almost out of reach of the common man. The commerce could not flourish and the private sector could not create enough jobs for the new generation.

The government failed to extend reasonable tax circle and boost tax revenue, particularly imposition of tax on agricultural income. Instead of penalizing tax holders and their accomplices, the government made "amnesty scheme" to boost tax revenue. It was highly criticized by the media. Pakistan, according to Telegraph, has one of the smallest tax bases in the world and two-thirds of its politicians pay no income tax at all...

Law and order situation deteriorated. The country remained in the tight grip of violence and target killing. Theft, robbery and murder became the norm of daily life. Several armed gangs, in Karachi, made show of power and received money from the public during PPPP-led coalition rule. Suicide attacks increased in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The land grabbing mafia had its control in Punjab. The situation remained grim in Balochistan. The State resources were plundered ruthlessly. The government seized the rights of the poor to feed the elite class and corrupt politicians.

The energy sector was ignored completely and the government did not bother much about alternative resources. The government failed to tackle with power and gas shortage issue. Long scheduled and unscheduled power load shedding and gas suspension reduced the industrial production and agriculture growth to a great extent. The economic growth could not exceed 4 percent. Petroleum, oil and lubricants products' prices went up 70-160 percent during the past five years while prices in the global market did not rise more than 3.29 percent.

The energy crisis and alarming level of insecurity are the major causes of low level investment. The power tariff had risen from 40 to 95 percent during PPPP-led coalition government.

Unfortunately agriculture and industrial activities deteriorated immensely due to inconsistent supply of natural gas and electricity. Industry could not flourish due to corruption and mismanagement. Pakistan lost several markets due to high production of cost. Several Pakistani items could not be presented in the world market due to high competition.

The government could not control gas theft. The rate of gas was enhanced by up to 60 per cent. Inflation increased about 15% in the last five years and "the consumer price index increased from about 100 points to about 173 points."
The Memogate scandal exposed a high scandal and dealings between the then Pakistani ambassador Haqqani and US Admiral Mullen via a third person. It damaged relations between the Pakistani military and the civil government.

Several analysts conclude that Benazir Income Support Programme was riddled with "rampant corruption, nepotism and embezzlement". The opponents believe that this programme was nothing more than a scam to "buy votes". The party also lavished more than $1 billion through this scheme. The very name of the programme shows it is a political stunt. The opponents of this programme say that it is, in fact, re-election campaign of the people's party funded partly by Britain's Department for International Development (DFID). Obviously it seems that "money comes from the Bhutto family rather than the government". According to a leading economist, the Benazir Income Support Programme was being used to buy support for Mrs Bhutto's widower, President Asif Ali Zardari, and his party." Several British taxpayers' are complaining that their money is being used for re-election campaign of Benazir Bhutto's former party. International aid, according to Imran Khan, is propping up corruption in Pakistan.

The then Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, was disqualified for resisting openly and boldly SC's orders to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen a graft case against the president. His successor, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf AKA Raja Rental, more cunning then his predecessor, plundered the national wealth in no time. His involvement in the rental power project was confirmed.
Unfortunately nobody had the courage to arrest him, though the apex court had already given orders for his arrest.

All the great institutions, organizations have been plundered by this government. Nepotism, corruption, poverty, unemployment and load-shedding are the great gifts of this government.

PIA, railways and Steel Mills and several other institutions and organizations were plagued with nepotism and corruption. These institutions are now under the burden of millions of rupees' debt. Corruption became the hallmark of the PPPP-led coalition government.

The government did not bother much about environmental protection, youth employment, lowering inflation, quality education and clean potable water and making Pakistan a business friendly country and good governance region. Unnecessary loans, particularly from IMF, increased the burden of debts. The government remained in the clutches of IMF.

America trespassed onto Pakistan's sovereignty and shook it time and again to check Pakistan's military potential during the last five years. Moreover, drone attacks tainted the sovereignty of Pakistan. The Raymond Davis case, Salalah attack and the Memogate scandal are proofs of American interference in the affairs of Pakistan during PPP regime.

The performance of PPPP- led government in office is almost negligible. The government remained involved in several scandals throughout its tenure even up to the last moment.

Massive corruption had been done in different institution such as National Highway Authority, Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited, Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited, Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, NICL, Pepco, Erra, SVBP, NBP, ZTBL, CDA, Ministry of Defence, Defence Housing Authority, National Logistics Cell, PSO, PNSC, Cantonment Boards, etc. All these institutions, organizations and departments had been burdened with politically enrolled employees.

For the personal gains, Military and Judiciary were blackmailed and used frequently. The Supreme Court is fighting against corruption but this government, instead of supporting the apex court, violated the apex court's orders, and tried its best to let the judiciary down. It applied every possible method to avoid any fair investigation and prosecution in corruption cases. Corruption was life and soul of this government.

The government tried its best to defame the military, judiciary and other strong institutions. The PPPP-led government tried to "bring the Supreme Court and "parliament at loggerheads by conducting the audit of the Supreme Court funds and undermine the independence of the judiciary by summoning the registrar of the apex court before the Public Accounts Committee."

The PPPP-led coalition government is over. It has little to brag about. It is no more in the field to pressurize or blackmail the heads of national institutions. The people are now expecting from the apex court to play its role and "order a complete audit of all the public corporations and Government Departments and purge these institutions from corruption." All the political appointments, promotions, highly controversial projects and schemes, illegal allotments of lands etc. should be immediately cancelled.

The corrupt leaders, who plundered the national exchequer and national resources, should be dealt with the iron hand. The five years of People's Party government were just like a horrible dream. It was a period of disappointment and frustration for the masses. It is high time names of all the corrupt leaders of dubious characteristics be placed on exit control list.

It is obvious that PPPP is deeply unpopular in urban areas, though "feudal landlords" still have their influence and strong hold in rural Sindh. The PPPP still has electoral strength in several parts of rural Sindh. The track record of Zardari shows that he is a "ruthlessly pragmatic politician." He can probably go to any extent to keep People's Party in power.

Democracy is a meaningless shadow without accountability. All the corrupt politicians should be brought to book for their evil deeds.


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]The next five years

Moeed Yusuf [/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

JUDGING by the number of Western media and analytical queries I have received over the past two weeks, there seems to be a growing interest in Western capitals in the potential implications of the elections on Pakistan’s foreign policy orientation.

The interest is perhaps triggered by Pakistan’s self-acclaimed and much-touted ‘strategic shift’ that has continued to receive attention in Western capitals (and in New Delhi and Kabul for that matter). At best, the shift is only partially understood and there is no sense of whether it is likely to have any longevity.

Therefore, the very basic question: what should we (external watchers) expect from the next five years?

One can answer this with some confidence since, perhaps driven by Pakistan’s acute internal challenges, the establishment and the three major political parties (the PPP, PML-N and PTI) seem to have converged on the key markers — not necessarily in terms of the pace with which things should move but at least on the broad directionality of the key foreign relationships.

The continuing civilian-military disconnect on a number of foreign policy questions notwithstanding, the convergence began to emerge during the last PPP government. At its core, it entails a subtle recalibration of the country’s regional outlook coupled with a status quo approach on relations with China and the US. The next five years are likely to see a consolidation of this.

Conceptually, as far as I can decipher, there are six major pillars of this outlook.

First, positive movement with India: The inevitable vocal and perhaps violent challenge from the right-wing notwithstanding, the leadership of the three major parties seem to be fairly sanguine on the options. We’ll have to find the right political jargon and face-savers to pursue this fully but the bottom line is set: the way forward is trade. Jaw-jaw will continue on Kashmir in parallel but it won’t hold the rest hostage. The establishment has found this difficult to swallow but it is also aware of the internal compulsions. The pace of movement will remain up for discussion but the directionality will not.

Second, hedging on Afghanistan: The Afghan policy can take one of two very different directions depending on what transpires in Kabul post-2014. The current desire is to see Pakistan reduce its reliance on hardcore Islamist Pakhtuns and open up with the northern factions. Behind-the-scenes efforts to reach out to the north have been ongoing for some time. The desire for greater attention to the economic aspects of the relationship is also part of this thinking.

Quite to the contrary, a return to civil war in Afghanistan will inevitably trigger the good old proxy game with Pakistan falling on the side of the hardcore elements and the traditional supporters of the northern factions reviving their erstwhile ties. Pakistan will find itself squarely on the wrong side of global opinion if this outcome transpires.

Third, rebalancing of the Sunni-Shia divide — read, the Saudi-Iran equation: For years, Pakistan has been firmly in the Saudi camp with all its attendant economic benefits and ideological repercussions. This has begun to undergo some correction for two reasons. First, the ideological repercussions seem to have caught up with us fair and square. Among other fallouts, the ‘Arabisation’ of the Pakistani religious right’s mindset and its ability to intimidate its opponents has quite obviously exacerbated the Sunni-Shia divide in Pakistan. The state, with the history of tilt towards the Sunni crescent, is increasingly finding it hard to pledge neutrality. It is quickly losing control of the situation.

Second is energy where the Pakistani decision-making enclave seems to be taking the Iranian option far more seriously than one thought it would given the Western opposition. President Zardari’s last visit to Iran had both goals in mind. Admittedly, the PML-N government with its closer links to the Saudi royals may be less sympathetic to this recalibration but again, it could tamper with the pace, not directionality. The latter seems to be coming out of a deeper realisation that the traditional policy has run its course.

Fourth, consistency on China: There is zero dissent on this all-weather friendship despite the clear Chinese signalling that it will not get into the business of bailing Pakistan out with free handouts on a regular basis. The attachment to China however is almost reflexive. The future policy will continue seeking Chinese investment and increasingly also use Beijing as a buffer against the geo-political squeeze Islamabad feels it is under. The Chinese presence in Gwadar ought to be seen in this light.

Fifth, more of the same with the US: For all the seesawing and finger-pointing we have seen from both sides over the years, the bottom line is that neither can afford to alienate the other completely. Pakistan worries Washington and this will not allow it to walk away. Islamabad realises it has been treading on thin ice and cannot afford isolation. There will continue to be a lot of lip service to decreasing dependence on the US (especially from the likes of PTI). It won’t happen though — neither the establishment nor the political parties wish to forgo the assistance that flows from Washington. So there will be angst; there will be mudslinging; but the relationship will continue.

Sixth, more outreach to the traditionally neglected. Efforts to reach out to Moscow over the past two years are examples of efforts at diversification of foreign policy options. None of these are likely to be consequential in the foreseeable future. Net positive or negative? It depends.

The best case implies improved ties with the region without losing out on Western engagement. A more realpolitik analysis on the other hand suggests a major problem: continued outreach to Iran may well be non-negotiable in Riyadh and Washington. How Pakistan manages to deal with this challenge will determine the fate of the reorientation.

The writer is South Asia adviser at the US Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C.

[url]http://dawn.com/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]The outcome of a rubber stamp parliament

Ali Ashraf Khan[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

The media has created a lot of confusion in election process with regard to scrutiny of the candidates, information about the principles of scrutiny and guidelines for all returning officers as to which criteria are to be applied and how this seems to be partly a result of inability of the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan including its Chairman as well as the Returning officers but partly it is also a conscious effort to create this confusion deliberately so as to help controversial candidates to muddle through the scrutiny process.

This suggestion is also supported by the extremely short scrutiny period of only seven days for over ten thousand applications all together where details about tax payment, loan defaulting, previous cheating regarding the educational certificate, double citizenship and knowledge of Islamic injunctions for each and every single candidate. During the discussions about the upcoming elections the question of article 62 and 63 have been raised - parts of the constitution that have been neglected completely during previous elections including the last one of 2008 in which ECP accepted unverified degrees from the candidates, which turned out to be fabricated in most of the cases. Will the author of a graduate assembly please explain how and why these articles 62 & 63 remained unnoticed from these graduate parliamentarians? Or this gimmick was designed to win their loyalties only?
Only this can explain how liars and cheater with regard to their educational qualification, their tax payment and financial affairs such as bank loan liabilities and wealth declaration could make it into the parliament and into the government despite of article 62 and 63. By raising the issue of 62 and 63 for the first time and that also just shortly before the coming election this is creating a new confusion about how to apply this condition and ‘secular’ writers are concerned that the demand for concurrence with the Pakistan ideology and Islamic injunctions might bring us a parliament of mullahs.

But this fear seems to be overrated because all experiences show that mullahs or members of the religious parties are not more complying with 62 and 63 than ‘ordinary’ candidates, they are among the cheaters regarding their educational certificates, and they have been even wanting in regards to their knowledge of their belief. Those authors even have voiced the demand that these injunctions regarding the Islamic qualifications should have been removed by the parliament but according to insiders it came under discussion but the PPP led committee did not touch it fearing reaction from religious segment of society, what a logic this was?

The logic was that PPP was rating their stay in power higher then their secular commitment given the ground realties of Pakistan. Pakistani people are disgusted with the current state model called democracy which has been found depriving the demos (the people) of their rights for security of life and property and a decent living. When every one is debating the pros and cons of article 62 & 63 we are witness to how the 18th, 19th and 20th amendment was passed unanimously due to vested interest that is fully reflecting now and a day will come when the faces of these leaders will stand exposed. Gilgit Baltistan province was created through a resolution of parliament with any representation in parliament or even right to vote in general elections, so what is the great debate going on legal and illegal bearings of parliament, amendments and resolutions. A Study published a couple of days ago has revealed that more than half of the young Pakistanis do believe that democracy has not been good for their country while 38 percent of the young people are even in favor of implementing a form of the Sharia.

And these are the young Pakistanis. Elder people who were not included into the survey may be equally or even more conservative. Even if you consider that the young have never lived under Sharia and might have a blurred idea about what that would be like - they do live under ‘democracy’ and they are sure they don’t want it. On the contrary, they seem to believe that only Islam or an Islamic state can give justice to all and God fearing people coming into power might change the things and bring prosperity in the country free from every kind of exploitation.

Nothing short of the experience of an Islamic state might make them think different. So demanding the abolition of Islamic injunctions in the constitution is quite against the ground realties in our country and demanding not to implement these injunctions even when they are part of the constitution is demanding to violate the first law of the country, not a good contribution to an anyway weak understanding of law-abidance of our population.

Here I would like to mention about the character of our ex-parliamentarians, when Ziaul Haq was given the go-ahead to declare himself leader of Muslim Ummah his desire to insert the 8th amendment in the constitution was strongly resisted by the opposition under the leadership of Malik Mohammad Qasim and Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, they tried to explain the consequences of this amendment and asked not to vote for it, and a week before the passage of 8th amendment Malik Qasim invited members of the National Assembly on a dinner arranged in the honour of foreign diplomats at his residence on 6th Road, Rawalpindi, where more then 80 MNA’s graced the occasion, but next week the parliament voted in favour of amendment, later when the government of Prime Minister Junejo was dismissed under the same article by President, those MNA’s used to say we didn’t think this was such a dangerous legal amendment.

This is very much reflected even today and will remain the same in future unless we inculcate fear of God in our hearts and minds and stop lying to ourselves and others and give every citizen his right to live with dignity and honour only then we can claim to be true believers and then no verification or projection of faith and belief will come in question that is a personal matter between in individual and His Creator.

As a matter of fact these are serious questions and they have to be addressed with coolness. But this can not happen in a hurry and it has to imply a public discussion or even a genuine referendum, besides the political will to implement whatever the outcome of such a discussion will be. Let’s hope that we will reach this point sometime, even if not with this election.


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Dismal democratic eras

Asif Haroon Raja[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

The sudden demise of Quaid-e-Azam on September 11, 1948 left the nation stricken with grief and added to the travails of Pakistan but provided an opportunity to India to put its plan to undo Pakistan into motion. Hardly had he closed his eyes when the hidden demented forces of hate and greed who had remained suppressed under the awe-inspiring personality of Quaid, surfaced and started to dismantle the edifice bit by bit. The commotion that followed after the assassination of PM Liaquat Ali Khan on October 16, 1951 at the hands of an Afghan national sank the nation in a bottomless abyss. Growing trend of regionalism helped the Indian agencies to accelerate their insidious plan to sow seeds of misgivings and distrust among various communities and to keep the government of Pakistan politically unstable and economically weak.

Following Liaquat’s death, the bureaucrats and military hijacked the political process. By severing its ties with the masses and failing to get organized, Muslim League lost its élan and direction and sank into limbo after getting defeated by Jugto Front in East Pakistan and thus paved the way for civil-military bureaucrats to rise to power. Governor General Ghulam Muhammad followed by Iskandar Mirza caused irreparable damage to democracy and the state during the crucial first decade merely to perpetuate their stay in power. They strengthened authority of bureaucracy at the expense of developing political institutions. By validating the dissolution of Khawaja Nazimuddin’s Constituent Assembly in 1955 by Ghulam Muhammad, Chief Justice Muhammad Munir Ahmed laid a poor precedent for emulation by others.

Antagonism replaced cooperation among groups and state institutions.
Fascism overtook democratic norms and all those who assumed power in quick succession were political lightweights with feet of clay. They tore the ideals of the founder of the nation into shreds and hungered for pelf and power. The feudal landlords and elites thwarted the country’s democratic evolution as well as economic progress merely to retain power. Self-seekers and sycophants filled up all the high posts and opened the floodgates of bribery, corruption, red-tapism and nepotism. Honest workers were hounded and persecuted while the dishonest and rogues were patronized and shielded.

Elections were postponed on one pretext or the other since elected members of Muslim League and Republican Party, chips of the same block, had discredited them so much that they were afraid that the electorates would disown them. A small coterie of politicians and bureaucrats ruled the country in different combinations under different labels and never allowed democracy or national institutions to strike roots. Decent politics were replaced with hooliganism and democracy stultified. Politics had been reduced to a game of intrigue and chicanery. Misdeeds of the unscrupulous politicians gave rise to the idea that democracy was ill-suited to the genius of Pakistanis - that it was some kind of outlandish clap-trap which must be got rid of and replaced with some form of dictatorship. It took nine years to formulate consensus 1956 constitution on the basis of parity between two wings but after ceding to demands of Bengalis to accept Bengali as a state language and replacing ‘separate electorate’ with ‘joint electorate’. The latter enabled India to make rapid inroads in the chosen target of East Pakistan with the help of affluent Hindu Bengalis.

It was under such pathetic conditions that President Mirza abrogated the 1956 constitution, dissolved the national and provincial assemblies and imposed martial law on 7 October 1958. Political parties were suspended on the following day. His actions were validated by chief justice Munir under the doctrine of necessity. On 28 October, Gen Ayub Khan forced Mirza to resign and he assumed power. The people had for a long time wished for a Messiah who could stymie the rot, cleanse the stables and alleviate their sufferings. Ayub and his team undertook comprehensive reforms and in a short span of time all socio-economic indicators went in positive and GDP climbed to 7%.
While agricultural output was among the best in the world, national production shot up to 28.4% as against the target of 24% and industries boomed. There was all round improvements in all departments. Huntington praised Ayub Khan in these words, ‘ More than any other political leader in a modernizing country after World War II, Ayub Khan came close to filling the role of Solon or Lycurgus or great legislator on the Platonic or Rousseau-an model’. Karl Von described him as a role model for others to emulate.

Ayub Khan preferred presidential form of the government since it checkmated centrifugal forces that were gaining strength in smaller provinces. During Ayub’s Decade of Development in the 1960’s, Pakistan was at the threshold of becoming an Asian economic giant and one of the greatest nations of the world. He did what no other leader including Bengali PMs could do to uplift East Pakistan. His wide ranging gains started to plummet as a result of ZA Bhutto-Mujib led agitations and led to his fall in March 1969 and takeover by Gen Yahya Khan. Yahya abrogated 1962 constitution, imposed martial law and soon after in his bid to appease the agitating Bengalis dissolved One-Unit scheme which once again reverted West Pakistan into four provinces while East Pakistan remained a single homogenous unit. He also redoubled efforts to minimize east-west disparities. First ever general elections were held in December 1970 on the basis of adult franchise and one-man-one-vote. These steps however failed to mitigate the grouses of Bengalis and ultimately led to establishment of Bangladesh in December 1971 and fall of Yahya regime.

Socialist reforms and nationalization during ZA Bhutto’s stint from 1972 to 1977 failed to bring about the promised relief to the common man and instead the buoyancy experienced during Ayub era evaporated. His autocracy and rigging in 1977 elections gave birth to PNA movement and gave an excuse to Gen Ziaul Haq to intervene and take over power in July 1977. His act was also validated by the Supreme Court. During his eleven year rule he managed to revive the economy and the GDP rose to 7%, however, the economic downslide in the third democratic era in the 1990s took the country to the verge of economic collapse. During the second stint of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan was declared as the second most corrupt nation in the world.

The economy once again surged up during Gen Musharraf’s eight year rule but crashed once Zardari led PPP government took over in 2008. The last coalition government broke all previous records of corruption, inefficiency and mis-governance as a result of which GDP sunk to 3%. There is acute energy crisis due to which industries are dying, economy is in dire straits, all public sector enterprises are in ruins and inflation is very high. The reason is that almost all members of the parliament were neck deep involved in mega scams and were looting the nation with both hands without fear of accountability. That lot was worse than the ones who were in power in the first decade since three of the ruling political parties have militant wings who in league with Mafias are heavily involved in target killings in Karachi. Legislators including chief minister in Balochistan Assembly in league with criminals were involved in kidnapping for ransom, car lifting and corruption. The corrupt officials were protected and rewarded and honest ones hounded and persecuted.

Under the concept of reconciliation, system of accountability was terminated and all crooks and criminals were let off the hook. No terrorist was convicted and hanged due to inherent flaws in system of investigation and judiciary.
Pakistan instead of turning into an ideal state as dreamed by Quaid-e-Azam is now being called a failing state and the most dangerous country in the world. Love, affection and spirit of brotherhood that oozed in abundance after the birth of Pakistan have been replaced with antagonism, greed and selfishness.
Sectarianism, ethnicity, corruption and immorality are eating into the vitals of the country. Muslims are killing Muslims with lunatic ferocity as is seen in Karachi and Quetta where police is politicized. Aggrieved Hazaras in Quetta and people in Karachi are frantically asking the Army to intervene and save them from the demented hordes. People see little hope in coming elections since they fear that the flawed electoral system and the handpicked Election Commission (EC), which the status quo loving mainstream parties do not want to reform, or to let the EC to carryout full scrutiny of contestants, will recycle the same lot of rogues. Fair, free and transparent elections are crucial for true democracy and bright future of Pakistan. The Army has a chance to wash away the stains of 1988, 1990 and 2002 rigged elections it carries by preventing rigging and ensuring free and fair elections.

(The writer is a retired Brig and a defence analyst)

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Performance of Punjab & Sindh governments

Gulsher Panhwer
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

As election approaches the debate about the performance of the federal and provincial governments is intensifying in print and electronic media. The situation in Balochistan and relatively in the KPK is different from Sindh and Punjab because of insurgency in Balochistan and more intense incidents of terrorism in the KPK.

Thus the focus of comparative debate would be Sindh and Punjab. Many unprecedented things have taken place. For the first time, superior judiciary and now Election Commission have played and are playing their true constitutional role (although independence and active role of the SC and the EC has failed to make any dent in status quo).

Therefore those who have seen the traditional role of these institutions functioning as lackeys and endorsing the illegal actions of rulers for decades are now raising the hue and cry that the SC and the EC are overstepping their preview. The most vocal against the present independent SC and EC are ruling elite who see their past unchallenging sole authority diluted. And the gullible masses are cheated by clever and eloquent political elite that the activism of judiciary and EC is real cause of people's sufferings. Similarly, PML-N has, for the first time, tried its best to provide good governance and eradicate corruption to prove itself a viable alternative to its rival PPP and newly emerging third force, PTIC.

Therefore PML-N government is under attack from its political rivals and section of media as the Punjab government for the first time has worked under constitution and relatively transparently. I cannot say that PML-N is ideal party or it has no weaknesses. The most drawbacks of PML-N are that its top leadership comprises business family and is dominated by dynastic political culture. Moreover its alleged tilt towards religious extremist elements is a major cause of concern for those who desire a bold leadership at the top which guarantees' protection of religious minorities and is ready to fight the cancer of sectarian related violence and religiously motivated terrorism.

But here we are concerned to find a silver lining to find best out of worst. As a party PMLN has proved with its actions that it has learnt lessons very well from past mistakes. The overall achievements of the PML-N as a national mainstream party include; not destabilizing PPP coalition government despite immense pressure from the party and media. Other major achievement of PML-N was to remain steadfast in restoration of the Judiciary (which after restoration has proved a strong bulwark against undemocratic forces).

Punjab government launched and completed mega development projects. Although almost all development schemes of Punjab government came under severe criticism but it has become fashion in Pakistan to oppose everything.

However, despite the all efforts of the PPP, and a gang of anti-PML-N columnists and TV anchors, not a single big case or scandal of corruption against the CM has been unearthed. The PML-N has removed its MPAs when found guilty of wrongdoings whereas top leadership of the PPP, officially, supported and promoted those ministers with substantial allegation of misusing funds and their authorities. The reputed international watchdog Immensity International has given the Punjab Government good marks on transparency and good governance.

During my recent visit to Lahore, I saw visible development and residents of Lahore and even those friends from other parts of Punjab praised Shahbaz Sharif for his hard work and development programs. However at the same time my friends were critical of the Punjab government for spending huge amounts in Lahore and neglecting other parts especially southern Punjab.

The human rights activists from Punjab expressed some concern as are being debated in media that Punjab government is doing little for protecting the minorities. But they also added that despite all these draw backs PMLN will not only sweep Punjab but also would be able to form government in center.
Punjab government through its actions has achieved another millstone of dissipating on great extent rivalry between Sindh and Punjab. Nationalist from Sindh always blamed and some still blame Punjab rightly or wrongly that Punjab dominated center from very inception of Pakistan is exploiting Sindh by usurping its financial and natural resources as Sindh contributes 70 per cent of resources to the national kitty but it gets back pittance of more or less 20 to 26 percent share.

The major bone of contention between Sindh and Punjab has remained water distribution which former alleges that latter takes more than its due share and the talk of Kala Bagh Dam is red rag to every Sindhi nationalists who takes KBD as conspiracy to convert Sindh into virtual desert.

PML-N as a first step of mitigating the bitterness gave up its considerable financial share for Sindh under the NFC and despite the best efforts of the PPP to put the PML-N between devil and deep sea (PPP spokespersons insisted that the PML-N should come clear either it supports or opposes KBD in attempt to either damage its vote bank in Punjab or wipe its thin support base in Sindh ) stuck to its stand that the KBD would not be undertaken unless reservation of Sindh and KP are removed. In addition now those TV anchors and writers from Sindhi TV channels and newspapers who used to erupt into anger even on the mention of the name of PML-N and used to allege that there is the same or even more corruption in Punjab and no development has taken place in Punjab, are now giving example of good governance and development during Shabaz Sharif term in Punjab.

All this and joining of some heavyweights from Sindh to PML-N like Mumtaz Bhutto Liaquat Jatoi and Zafar Ali Shah are clear indications that PML-N would not only win majority in Punjab but nibble away considerable seats from Sindh too. Expect Hyderabad, Mirpurkahs roads, the Sindh, government has hardly any mega schemes in Sindh to claim the credit for.

The roads and highway in Sindh's length and breadth are in pathetic conditions. The critics alleged that the PPP lead the coalition government in Sindh has introduced ghost schemes where schemes were shown on papers and budgets were eaten away but on ground no work took place and even budgets were re-allocated for such paper schemes for several times.
Majority of PPP Ministers, MPAs and officeholders from provincial level to district and Tehsil level has become billionaires, most of whom were paupers before 2008. Although, through jobs, BISP, Watan Card, Pakistan Card and Youth programs a good number of the people has got some financial relief but majority of the poor voters and sincere workers have been sidelined and neglected.

The PPP's strategy to prepare for upcoming election is to appease and enrich big landlords. In Dadu district big landlords and heads of castes were rewarded with lucrative jobs and big contracts and encroachment of the government land etc. The time has changed but the PPP, particularly in interior Sindh, has failed to synchronize its strategies to changing times.
Apart from PML-N/s intrusion in the traditional constituencies of Sindh--the gravest setback for PPP would be the loss of its solid vote bank of the poor masses and support of its workers at grassroots level.

The workers who used to mobilize voters would sit saliently if not vote against PPP. The big or small feudal lords who have been enriched on the expense of the PPP's sincere workers would find no vibes of conscience in joining the anti-PPPP bandwagon after realizing that ship of PPP is sinking i.e. thin prospects of PPP wining.


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Let Pakistan be a secular democracy

Saeed Qureshi[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

The rigid and myopic application of constitution’s articles 62 and 63 to determine the suitability of candidates for contesting this year’s elections has gone too far. While Pakistan is awash with endemic violence, unremitting abuse and infringement of every moral, social and religious injunction, paradoxically a strict religious, unrealistic and fanciful ethical criterion is being imposed on the aspirant candidates. Let the voters decide who the best candidate for them is.

The ongoing practice is ridiculous and indeed farcical. In 21st century and in a modern world, our election system wants religious robots to take part in elections. The faith should be confined to the individual level and have minimum role in state affairs. Civil societies are the hallmarks of the modern states and these, in a way excel, the rights given even by religions.

Are we turning Pakistan into a rigid and intolerant theocracy by sizing up the candidates as religiously suitable and morally as infallible as angels are believed to be? From where do the returning officers draw their rights for judging the conduct of others? Returning officers should not have the mandate to probe the religious or private credentials of the candidates.

Conduct and religious attachment are subjective issues and can be viewed and interpreted in multifarious ways. It is utterly impossible to pronounce someone as being pious, truthful and immune from sins or moral lapses. It is equally irrelevant, unnecessary and difficult to dub someone as wicked and morally bankrupt with varying degrees.

An individual supposed to be pious in my view could be devil for another person. So better abandon these frivolous benchmarks and vague hoaxes of ideology of Pakistan and infringement of constitution. It would be much desirable if articles 62 and 63 are set aside and later expunged from the statute book. These are recipes for a perennial ideological conflict that would dent Pakistan as a modern, progressive nation state.

Religions largely suppress the individual liberties, fundamental human rights and foster sectarian bad blood. The civil societies give vent to the inalienable rights provided within the framework of a modern secular and democratic state.

In Pakistan, there is a persistent refrain on making Pakistan as an Islamic state but even the most ultra-conservative government of General Ziaul-Haq could not achieve this goal because of the inherent contradictions between the features of a modern state and the orthodox nature of the religion.

Since any religion is bound to degenerate and split into sectarianism and denominations, the state that is essentially a secular institution cannot function properly and peacefully because of the internecine feuding between various faiths. In a theocracy or in a state that calls itself a religious state or the custodian of particular faith and religion, the religious and sectarian harmony is not possible as we can see in Pakistan.

It is foregone, that notwithstanding the Islamic teachings about equality and justice, a majority sect seldom treats the adherents of minority sects on an equal footing. Rather the minority sects are persecuted and intimidated as heretics and infidels. This is happening in various Islamic countries.

Secondly, it is important to understand that the institution of democracy is the gift or product of modern society and civilization. Democracy essentially is secular in nature and empowers the masses without their ethnic, racial, religious, social or financial status. In Islam a head of state is both the custodian of faith and the ruler. He can be a monarch, an autocrat or a ruthless dictator (as the Umayyad, Abbasids, Ottoman caliphs were).
In democracy power lies with the people of a state. In theocracy or in a religious state it can rest with even an individual if he is the staunch proponent of a certain faith. There is no such thing as a religious democracy because the religious codes do not provide any system of elections on the principle of one man one vote for the entire population.

A democratic head of state is more concerned with the welfare of the state and its people and not of a particular sect or religion. The modern nation states are essentially secular and not strictly religious. Historically, religious dispensation has always been a monarchy or autocracy. The hereditary right to caliphate as claimed by Hazrat Ali after the demise of the prophet of Islam cannot be termed as democratic.

A democratic dispensation and the religious political system are heterogeneous towards each other and therefore even the Islamic states like Malaysia and Indonesia have to liberalize their societies despite having Islam as their official religion. Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey are the appropriate models of an Islamic state where secularism and Islam converge. There is ethnic, sectarian and communal peace in those societies.

Religion urges the humans to believe for heaven or hell. Human nature is devious and obeys when punishment or reward is imminent and in sight. A political system or society cannot remain stable in face of an unremitting ideological conflict going on between the sects within Islam?

It would be a landmark feat if the Islamic scholars can Islamize democracy or democratize Islam. While the state has clear-cut laws and covenants and possesses the administrative apparatus to enforce them, the bulk of religious injunctions are contradictory, confusing, rigid and out of sync with the momentous changes in human societies.

Is it possible that there can be a reconciliation and compromise between the Islamic clerics and democracy? In a country which since its inception has remained in the throes of faith based- extremism, bigotry, sectarian and communalism, the most pressing need is to bring about a consensus and truce between the warring sects.

The most crying urgency is to evolve a consensual code of Islamic faith between Sunnis and Shias so that the state and the society don’t suffer due to their mutual doctrinal rivalry and ensuing bloodshed.

As such the only rational way-out is to adopt the twin panacea of secularism and democracy that would allow every sect and denomination and rich and poor to practice their own faith without trading the accusations of heresy.
The perception of secularism doesn’t necessarily mean negation or elimination of religion. It simply means tolerance and coexistence in matter of difference of religious beliefs and opinions. It is foregone that Pakistan as a theocracy or a country with a religious label cannot move forward and would always be trapped in a self-destructive ideological conflict. The devastation of Baghdad by Mongol hordes in 13th century is a testifying tragedy to the Shia Sunni animosity towards each other.

While acknowledging the distasteful fact that the ideological gulf between two main Islamic sects cannot be bridged, these must be legally bound to coexist and tolerate each other. As far political power is concerned, Pakistan has to decide once and for all that the war of conflicting beliefs should not be allowed to enter the political corridors.

The other forms of religious extremism and fanaticism also need to be forcefully curbed. The religion should be confined within the personal and at best group contours. That is the only viable, practical and rational solution to the religious bad blood that breeds violence and hinders smooth functioning of state and society.

The State and society have got to be secular and truly democratic for prosperity and advancement and for Pakistan to enter the fold of modern states. At the same time Pakistan, like Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia, can retain its Islamic identity. In a nutshell, Islam, secularism, and democracy should go hand in hand in Pakistan.

It is, therefore, incumbent upon the Islamic theologians and scholars to explore a way to integrate religion with democracy in order to serve the imperatives of a modern society. The religion would best serve its pristine purpose of worshipping God, observing rituals and instilling morality if it is confined to the personal, individual or group levels. The underlying theme of all religions is morality, righteousness and obedience to God if left to private domain.

The writer is a senior journalist and a former diplomat


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]In the name of democracy

Ahmad Noor Waziri [/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Democracy in Pakistan is yet a dream that has not been allowed to materialise in letter and in spirit. It is a ray of hope that appears on the dark political horizon just for a short time; it quickly vanishes when the dictators, thanks to the incompetence of politicians to manage the affairs of the state, come on the scene.

There is periodic intervention of dictatorship, followed by a strange type of government that is neither dictatorship nor democracy. Thus, it is always inefficient, weak and corrupt, which does not have the power to deliver what democracy stands for.

The sad part of the story is that Pakistanis have been betrayed several times in the name of democracy. Dictators have intervened on the pretext of cleaning the mess created by the politicians to let democracy flourish. While the politicians seek power by making big claims of serving the cause of democracy. In reality, they have served no one - neither people nor democracy. Instead they have feathered well their own nests at the cost of the people.

The people, on their part, have constantly struggled for change, but unfortunately nothing has changed; every time old wines come in new bottles.
During the 65-year political history of Pakistan, they have witnessed four dictators, 11 Presidents, 18 Prime Ministers and several versions of the constitution; yet their dream did not come true.

True democracy stands for a government in which the people’s will prevails. It stands for justice, equality, accountability and transparency. It ensures the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution. It paves the way for good governance, which in return gives the people peace, progress and prosperity. If a system of government lacks these basic features, then it is not a democracy, but a mockery of democracy.

The best example is the PPP-led coalition government that ended on March 16. It came into power in 2008 after the people’s historic struggle - the judiciary’s strong resistance and the media’s hysterical campaign against the then President Pervez Musharraf. The people had given to PPP a mandate with great expectation. But in return, it gave them nothing, except rampant corruption, deteriorating economy, acute energy shortage and poor law and order situation. It is unfortunate, indeed, that the PPP failed to learn from past mistakes and repeated them. In 2008, it got an opportunity to make history, but it did not avail it.

It is not just in the case of PPP. The other political parties whenever in power have also betrayed the people’s trust.

Having said that, it is important to add that PML-N, undoubtedly, showed political maturity while playing the role of the opposition that led to the continuation of democracy in whatever form it exists. Nawaz Sharif’s political maturity and Shahbaz Sharif’s excellent administrative skills seems to be the PML-N’s greatest assets, which may help democracy to succeed in Pakistan in the future.

In the name of democracy the stage is being set for the 2013 elections. Karl Marx’s defined it as a process in which "the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” If the people of Pakistan want to prove Marx wrong and if they want to stop the recurrence of dictatorship and sham democracy, then they have to select the right person for the right job.

Indeed, this could be the only opportunity; if the people avail it with sound judgment and bold decisions, then spring is not far away. But if they fail this time, then, perhaps, there will be an eternal democratic winter that will do them immense harm. The ball is in the people’s court; wake up and change the destiny of the country by voting for the right candidates.

The writer is former youth parliamentarian from Fata. Email: [email]ahmadwaziri@hotmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Our revengeful democracy

Shamshad Ahmad[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


Democracy is known for its revenge. In the year 2008, it struck in two places to take its revenge. It struck in America to crush the race "barrier" and installing in the White House the first-ever non-white President in US history. Democracy also struck in Pakistan with elections in February 2008 after two years of stormy civil and judicial strife ousting a dictator and the ignominy of his eight-year rule. The revenge it took in Pakistan was different from the one it took in America. In Pakistan, it installed a foreign-brokered NRO-based regime that had neither the will nor the ability to lead the country from those eight years of dictatorship into genuine democracy.

After five years of an NRO-based civilian rule, neither democracy took roots in our country nor did the people experience any socio-economic upturn. Instead, they found themselves stuck at the crossroads of another critical juncture suffering the worst ever governance crisis of their history. The country has drifted deeper into an abysmal political chaos and economic uncertainty. The common man’s life could not be more miserable with uncontrolled food and energy shortages, unabated violence and countrywide lawlessness.

Our economy is in shambles with no trust or credibility among world's lenders and investors. Meanwhile, the looters, plunderers, profiteers, murderers and killers could not have a safer haven anywhere else in the world. No other country is familiar with the practice of forgiving as a matter of rule the elite loan-defaulters, fake degree holders and the known highly placed plunderers of the national exchequer. In our benighted land, the culture of "power and privilege" and urge for greed is thriving on patronage, graft, bribery, extortion, nepotism, cronyism, influence-peddling, fraud and embezzlement.

Whether we accept or not, we are today high on the global radar screen for all the wrong reasons. Regrettably, terrorism and extremism are our sole identity now. No doubt, we have been the victim of this twin menace ever since our geopolitics made Pakistan the pivotal frontline of the two protracted Afghan wars. There is a cumulative historic perspective to this crisis, but, in essence, it is the legacy of two long spells of military rule in our country, 11 years of General Ziaul Haq and nine years of General Pervez Musharraf. And both were the blue-eyed boys of the West.

Last five years, however, could not be a drearier picture of governmental helplessness in the face of terrorism-led violence. Thanks to our incompetent and externally vulnerable rulership, we have been kept engaged on multiple external as well as domestic fronts. Now that the whole world is looking at the post-2014 scenario for peace in Afghanistan, our political leadership remains without any strategic vision to bring peace to our own country. Their strategic skills and scheming ingenuities were all devoted to devising self-serving intrigues and power-driven deals in collusion with foreign powers. The notorious Memogate was a classic example of their self-centred ‘strategic vision.’

Last year, we witnessed another scandal in what was no less than a double barrel attack on the country’s judiciary and media, the two pillars of the state which for our people were the last hope to save the country from the looters and plunderers sitting in privileged positions and elected houses whose only agenda is to further reinforce their own political power. It was a conspiracy to smear the image of the two pillars of the state and undermine their role in strengthening the rule of law in the country. The insidious attempt may not have succeeded in its ultimate objective, but it did create ripples in the public faith in the credibility of the two saviours of the country’s future.

Now if we look at the sequence of events since after the "prodigal" sons of our politics returned to the political centre-stage through the last elections, it is a dismal scenario. Our corrupt rulers seem to be masters in circumventing democratic and constitutional norms. As one links the loose ends in the recent caretaker selection drama, the last three constitutional amendments seem to have been ingeniously designed with the sole purpose of influencing the forthcoming election outcome. With no one trusting the outgoing regime, a unique but highly questionable process was devised for selecting the interim Prime Minister and provincial Chief Ministers to supervise the elections.

This whole process was deceitfully engineered to ensure their political power and incumbency of the high public offices remained intact. Nowhere in the world are governments appointed by an arbitrarily appointed group of five individuals most of whom are known to carry partisan affiliations. There couldn’t even be a bigger farce of democracy. This is the worst form of kleptocracy in which the government exists only to aggrandize the personal wealth and political power of the privileged few.

A petition has already been moved in the Supreme Court challenging the authority given under 20th Amendment to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to nominate the federal and provincial caretaker setups in the event of Assemblies failing to do so. This authority under Article 9(3) of Article 224-A of the constitution is repugnant to the constitution itself because the National Assembly has neither the jurisdiction to abdicate or delegate its authority to the ECP. The petition also makes serious allegations of ‘partiality’ against the ECP.

Initial handling of the scrutiny, the most important element of ensuring implementation of Articles 62 and 63, has been far from satisfactory. It exposed serious planning and decision-making deficiencies in the Commission. With adequately briefed and trained returning officers, the scrutiny process could have made more meaningful and all the hullabaloo and comic scenes could have been avoided. The need for non-selective enforcement of the constitutional eligibility criteria is indispensable. Instead of testing the candidate’s general knowledge, the real scrutiny should have focused on the known and proven cases of constitutional ineligibility.

Apparently, the vacillating ECP did take one good decision. On a suggestion received from the civil society, it announced the addition of a blank box marked ‘None of the Above’ on the ballot paper giving voters a democratic free choice to reject the entire slate of candidates in his or her constituency.
This democratic provision known as NOTA would, indeed, have been a big revolutionary step in freeing the country by ballot of the same old tried and tested corrupt politicians and their rotten ‘status quo’. Regrettably, the ECP did not have the courage to stand by its decision and promptly withdrew it when some ill-advised media persons attacked it.

As for our caretakers, they know their only mandate is to oversee the holding of a free, fair and transparent election. They are not there to take major decisions or even to reverse previous government’s policies and projects. At this stage, they shouldn’t even be talking of personal hang-ups like Basant or other cultural festivals. These matters would be best left to the new elected governments. The caretakers should be focusing on providing interim relief to the people suffering worst hardship in terms of security, law and order, price control, regular supply of food and fuel and curtailing of loadshedding hours.
They shouldn’t also be seen moving around in official motorcades fulfilling their social chores or attending ribbon-cutting functions and wedding ceremonies.
In this chaos and confusion, we also find a recycled dictator abruptly floated back in our turbulent political waters. Everyone knows who launched him and with what purpose. If anything, the judiciary should take notice of the increasing interference from outside in Pakistan’s domestic affairs. Having ruled NRO as an illegality, the Supreme Court must issue a ruling against any fresh similar attempts involving foreign powers, including our neighbourly kingdoms, sheikhdoms and sultanates playing as their Trojan horses. One of these ‘brotherly’ states is also a permanent sanctuary for our high-profile fugitive absconders. Already, two of them, a former Federal Minister and an Ogra Chief, in defiance of judicial orders, are enjoying its regal hospitality.

The writer is a former foreign secretary. Email: [email]shamshad2001@hotmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Democratic evolution: The route

A Rashid[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

In my earlier write up, in these columns, I indicated, in general terms, the process of democratic evolution taking place in Pakistan. In the present article I will try to specify the route being adopted by this process.

I contended in the previous piece that the outgoing coalition government, led by PPP, had been corrupt as well as inefficient. I also contended, on the other hand, that the legislations done by that government include some of the landmark constitutional amendments, having far reaching positive consequences with regard to promotion of democratic ideals in the country.

An efficient and corruption free dispensation that fails to bring legislation in line with the requirements of the time is not the answer. Similarly a corrupt and inefficient government with plethora of good legislations to their credit would also not meet the requirement.

The study of voting pattern of our feudal society, with an appallingly low literacy profile, reveals that concepts like good legislations hardly figure out with the electorate in Pakistan. Governance, good or bad, too is not a deciding factor for the simple reason that, so far, governance graph of all the governing political parties had been identically poor. Governance may become a criterion after an outfit dispenses good governance during their tenure, at least, once in our democratic history.

Unattended evolutionary processes of ideas and concepts usually take far longer to produce a finished item than such processes being under strict scrutiny of human consciousness. With regard to democratic evolution, scrutiny would require to place certain perimeters to define the path of such evolution. In a democratic arena it is here that the legislation assumes its critical role.

Pakistan’s constitution of 1973 provided ample guidance for a democratic practice. Unfortunately we again hit the blind alley after General Zia’s martial law suspended that constitution. After the death of General Zia the country again reverted to a democratic experience. For a decade the country went through a haphazard democratic experience. The same haphazardness remained the guiding phenomenon during 2008 general elections.

A coalition government, led by PPP, the single largest party in the national assembly, however could emerge from the general confusion. To analyze the governance of the coalition for the last five years, we must take a breather to reflect on the coalition partners generally and the vanguard leadership of PPP particularly.

The junior coalition partners like the Pakistan Muslim League Qaid-I-Azam (PMLQ), the Mutahida Qomi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) etc did not join the coalition for the love of any ideology or the program. They joined the PPP band wagon, simply, to benefit financially and to safeguard their ethnic party interests.

Analysis of main coalition partner, that is, PPP merits a little greater detail. During the first tenure of PPP after General Zia ul Haq’s death, Asaf Ali Zardari (AAZ) dominated the tenure. Despite Benazir Bhutto’s feeble resistance, Zardari kept going at the rampage to collect kickbacks and commissions and quite appropriately earned the name of Mr ten percent the world over. Being devoid of any intellectual wealth and with a feudal background, he was obsessed with the idea that it was only material wealth behind greatness of men.

The musical chair between PMLN and PPP continued for a decade. The corruption index of both these parties remained consistently at par. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, AAZ assumed the total control of the party. With the backdrop of the bruises that the PPP leadership sustained due to odd circumstances and exile, AAZ continued his corruption spree. The government functionaries, including the two prime ministers, were given a free hand to “make hay while the sun shines”. The obvious consequence was that the element of governance remained at the backburner.

PPP being a party of leftist orientations, though remained inefficient and financially corrupt, but relentlessly went for positive legislations that ultimately suited and secured the democratic process. The people of Pakistan are expected to go through a general election on May 11, with all its formalities being done up in a text book manner and for this achievement we are indebted to the constitutional legislations evolved by PPP’s coalition government. Future historian will stand beholden to the authors of these legislations that helped to shorten the route to democracy. Had these legislations not been in place, the people of Pakistan would have kept harping in a haphazard fashion like the past, indefinitely.

Now we are faced with a million dollar question as to what is going to be the voting pattern like, in the coming general elections. Before advancing a specific answer to this question, analysis of all possible considerations of the voter must be carefully done.

In a democratic dispensation the foremost consideration should be good governance. In our case this consideration does not come in to play because throughout the democratic eras in Pakistan the governance factor has been equally miserable during all the governments.

The other potent factor is the feudal and ethnic bonds with low literacy. This factor holds good in rural areas in the classic sense. In the urban areas this factor assumes different facets from place to place, depending upon the ethnic and sectarian bonds of the area.

In the coming elections the two mainstream political parties, PMLN and PPP, have already been tried many times over in the past. As there is much ado about change; Imran Khan’s PTI presents an additional new factor. But Imran Khan lacks depth of vision as a leader. He is confused and changes his goal posts every now and then. The worst stigma about his party is that he has collected all the renegades from other political parties, most of who are either from feudal class or from the class of already tried crooks. He is thoroughly confused about his friends. At one time he woos Jamat e Islami(JI) and at other time Sh Rashid which is a tantamount to betting on the losing horses. Imran Khan has gathered quite a few electable people and is also spending lot of money on electioneering and is therefore likely to bag a few seats. But to expect a sweep or tsunami will amount to only day dreaming.

To evaluate the performance of the old main parties, PMLN and PPP, one has to take a breath and ponder. PPP has roots in all the federating units of Pakistan, which PMLN lacks. During all the previous elections PPP had been on the wrong side of the establishment. It is not fresh news that the establishment rigged all the previous elections to the disadvantage of PPP. This time around, thanks to the legislations done during the last five years, the elections are likely to be relatively free fair and transparent.

With the background of its (awami) common man’s appeal, their track record of guarding the interests of minorities, women empowerment, institution of Benazir Income Support Program, with no political detainees during their rule and conciliatory policy, the party is likely to emerge as the single largest party in the national assembly followed by PMLN as the runners up. PTI gets the third place or MQM hardly matters.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Caretaker governments: more of the same

Tahira Mansoor

[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

The caretaker governments are now operating freely at both federal and provincial level. Their priority, of course, is to ensure timely, free and fair elections but that does not mean that they remain aloof from the governance problems faced by the country.

In fact they should have set the standards for the democratic governments to follow. The way they are governing the country is not different from their predecessors. They may be neutral, but they certainly are not competent. They may be honest but they lack the will to stop malpractices. The country is bleeding as profusely as ever that has accelerated instead of declining in the past two weeks. The load shedding has reached its peak in the history of the country in the month of April. One wonders what would happen in the next three summer months. Will the interim government hand over to the next elected government a more inefficient power sector? Is there no room to reform it in two months time? Should the things be allowed to drift towards a destructive path?

The Supreme Court and not the Sindh government is trying to control the law and order and eliminate "no go" areas in Karachi. Does the neutral caretaker government lack the political will to take steps that everyone knows would restore the confidence of the masses? Does the extortion mafia still control the strings of the Sindh caretaker government? It would be tragic if the Supreme Court is forced to issue an order against the caretaker government that is similar to one that it announced against the Raisani government in Balochistan. The court acting on the orders of the superior court it should be taken to task by the caretakers in Sindh.

The federal caretaker government is not acting neutrally as it changed the most competent Chief Secretary of the Punjab and replaced him with another bureaucrat. However, it withdrew orders of the former Punjab Chief Secretary about his posting on the same post in Sindh. While the bureaucracy in all the provinces is being reshuffled on the request of the Election Commission there is no widespread change in the bureaucratic set up of Sindh.

Meanwhile the scrutiny of papers of the candidates is proving a hard nut for them. However the returning officers who are well versed with basic principles of Islam limit their question to the candidates on Islam only. The main question is that whether the candidate is honest and tax compliant. Having no experience in financial affairs the returning officers are adopting a lax attitude on loan defaults, loans reschedules, or has the candidate defaulted for a year or two before applying for rescheduling of a loan a few months before the election. The honesty and the character of a candidate is most important in containing the corruption in the government to come. Bankers and legal experts have pointed out flaws in the Central Bank's regulatory system that facilitate defaulters in dodging the system and delay in declaring them defaulters and facilitates them to contest the May 11 elections.

A senior banker said some defaulters in view of the forthcoming election have entered into re-scheduling arrangement with banks/financial institutions entailing write-offs / waivers that would be passed after the settlement period. (For example, a defaulter entered into a settlement with a bank for payment of the defaulted amount within next two years on installment basis. Resultantly the bank will convert the status from "Default" to "Re-scheduled" that means he/she is regular now. And ultimate financial relief will be passed on him/her after two years i.e. after the upcoming election).

He said some of the banks / financial institutes may not report to the SBP few write-offs/waivers for variety of reasons e.g. intentionally or unintentionally a delay in passing write-offs / waivers entry in the books of account where after the same will be reported to the SBP / eCIB. Moreover, he added, corporate eCIB Formats don't show individual particulars of directors that may mislead the Election Commission officials. He said another flaw in the system is that the write-offs / waivers availed during the year 2000 will not reflect in their eCIB. The eCIB record is only available for the last 10 years.

A corporate lawyer said candidates may not disclose their present or past stakes in 'Business Entities' that availed write-offs / waivers to the Election Commission officials. He said some of the defaulters have very smartly disengaged themselves from the Board of Directors of the defaulted companies prior to elections.

He said a number of the defaulters have taken refuge in the loopholes of the legal system to frustrate the recovery initiative of financial institutions. For example, 'Stay' granted to the defaulters on petty issues, long adjournments are given in the courts, some appeals are not being heard even after 2 or 3 years, as courts are over-burdened. Moreover he added judges well-versed in banking matters are limited in number, with frequent transfer of judges of banking courts during process of the recovery suits. He said beneficiaries of these flaws in banking laws are on both sides of the political divide.

Another legal expert said that legally the Sharif brothers are not defaulters. He said they owed the banks over Rs. 4 billion in 1999. He said they handed over their property allegedly of equivalent assets to the court and the banks who owed the money agreed to the arrangement. He said the courts were to auction that property and pay off the banks. "When the auction process was in progress one of the cousins of Sharifs filed an objection to the arrangement" he said, adding that the auction process got delayed. He said when decision on that objection was about to be announced some other relative of their family filed another objection.

He said that the litigations in this regard have dragged on till now. He said now the property handed over to the courts in 1999 is worth over Rs. 14 billion. He said if the property is auctioned today the banks would be entitled to the defaulted amount and maximum cost of the fund (this is the average profit the banks pay to their depositors which ranges from 3-4.5 per cent) "This would enable them to pocket an addition of Rs. 1-1.5 billion while the balance would have to be paid back to the original owners" he said adding that the delay in this instance might not have been intentional, but there is a flaw in the law that facilitates defaulters to delay the disposal of mortgaged properties. Meanwhile, there are cases of write offs pertaining to 2000 to 2008 of some well known political families. These names are documented as the commercial banks under Central Bank regulations are bound to give details about any loan write off in their annual reports. These details are given in annexure C of the annual reports of all banks in each of their annual reports. The cases of these write offs are pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. But the names include some renowned politicians including a former prime minister, former deputy prime minister, former speaker of the national assembly and many others.

[url]http://www.weeklycuttingedge.com/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Are we ready for change?[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

April 14, 2013
Khurshid Akhtar Khan


Democracy in Pakistan is like changing of socks. People keep choosing the same leaders. The leaders keep changing parties and positions for their own benefits, while the system remains unchanged. And so does the condition of the ordinary citizens.

The same horses are in the run again in the general elections to be held on May 11, 2013. Most have been in power before one or more number of times. Imran Khan has been a one-man band for years and the only one whom power has eluded during the last 16 years - though not for lack of trying.

His PTI appeared little more than a bunch of insignificant starry-eyed novices, a few absconders from the JI and other parties and another few of his affluent technocrat friends. The mammoth rally of November 2011 in Lahore changed everything.

Fortune has been smiling over him ever since. Numerous political heavyweights, intellectuals, celebrities, wealthy aspirants for political recognition and average people now stand in line to join his party. While the party’s membership swelled, its face also transformed from the party of the youth and fresh faces to the old tried hands hunting for the gold.
The PTI has become the wild card in the current elections. Having boycotted all elections since 2008, it has now entered the arena for the first time as a freshly invigorated party of substance. Its electability remains an unknown commodity. Predictions of the degree of its success are quite wild too.

Given normal circumstances, the pundits grant this party a token presence, perhaps, as a small block that will gain an edge of a certain bargaining power. No one is guessing the outcome if the promised tsunami does materialise and sweeps all that comes in its way (it can be 20 or 120 seats!).

This year promises to be a make or break for him, for sure. A further five years in the wilderness consequent upon an insignificant showing in 2013 may be too long to wait for the restless captain - with advanced age catching up.

On the other hand, the PML-N is oozing with confidence. It claims to possess better understanding of electoral politics. It has developed over the years an army of experienced workers linked with various bonds of loyalty like biradri, tried and tested organisational capability and inroads at the grassroots levels in their constituencies in the Punjab. Mian Nawaz Sharif has been quietly at work cobbling up alliances in the other three provinces to enable him to form a government at the centre - should he get a sizeable majority in the Punjab.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif had been busy setting record times in completing several development and infrastructural projects in the major cities of Punjab. To balance the youth factor beholden to the star value of Imran Khan, the untiring Chief Minister organised several events and schemes to attract the youth to PML-N during the last few years. In a comparative analysis of governance in the provinces, Punjab has been accredited by various surveys to being the better among the four. The PML-N as a political party is also shown to be leading in popularity polls and Nawaz Sharif as a national leader.

The PPP is disadvantaged by the incumbency factor that is further compounded by its poor record of governance. The economy has been allowed to slide to near bankruptcy by lack of attention and irresponsible expenditures. Electricity generation and distribution have been grossly mismanaged causing unbearable power shortages. A few political parties in power patronised armed groups and mafias resulting in a breakdown of law and order. These factors have a direct bearing on people’s daily lives and will overshadow the legislative reforms that Parliament introduced.

Many of the PPP stalwarts have jumped the ship they deem is sinking and have defected to other political parties. President Asif Zardari has relinquished his position of party Co-Chairman, ostensibly in compliance of the Lahore High Court ruling, and has so far abstained from running the party election campaign openly. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who inherited the Bhutto legacy, is underage to contest the elections and is wary of making grand public appearances due to security concerns. Consequently, the party presently stands headless.

The two former Prime Ministers entrusted to lead the electioneering are tainted and lack the charisma to enthuse people. Yet, the party has a large following of deep convictions among the lower strata that may not be visible, but has a habit of springing surprises. The electoral strength of the PPP may have weakened, but cannot be written off by any means.

The political party PML-Q, created by President Pervez Musharaf and nurtured as crutches for his decade-long rule, has disintegrated to a large extent. The remnants may be influential in their own right, but are a considerably less potent force in the reduced strength and may even disappear into oblivion. The regional parties like MQM, JUI and ANP that were components of the last government are striving hard to keep their previous vote bank intact. The extent of electability of the nationalist and other religious parties will be put to test in the elections. One only hopes they do well in the polls that is imperative for the regional cooperation and national solidarity.

All previous elections in our country have been manipulated one way or the other by the establishment that is the army and the bureaucracy - aided by the judiciary. This time, however, the roles are reversed. It is the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) fully supported by the judiciary that is calling the shots with the establishment quietly following the events. The outgoing government accomplished its last minute objectives (that their opponents term as pre-poll rigging) by doling out undeserved funds to their favourite constituents till the last moment of its rule. The caretaker governments installed in the centre and four provinces have all been nominated by them.

The caretakers have too much administrative work on their plates for which they had not done much homework. In the present scenario, it is unlikely that they will be able to influence the results in any way. If nothing untoward happens, the elections are expected to be the fairest in our history.

The cleansing process during the scrutiny of nomination papers of the candidates has almost fallen flat. The overzealous returning officers, who were neither issued clear and unambiguous directions, nor any uniform guidelines by the ECP, embarked on a disqualification spree. Most of the decisions taken by them amidst a great deal of confusion have already been reversed by higher tribunals. The credibility of the interim setup, particularly the ECP that commenced on a high moral ground, is thus already slipping. The clear indication is that the nation is desirous of change, but is not ready for it.

The writer is an engineer and an entrepreneur. Email: [email]k.a.k786@hotmail.com[/email]

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]The day Pakistanis will paint their future

Professor Ali Sukhanver
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Election does not mean just stamping a piece of paper and thrusting it into the ballot box; election means far more. Since very after the creation of Pakistan, the politicians have been raising a great hue and cry that military dictators never let them do their work independently that is why they had never been able to deliver what was expected from them. But in the last five years the situation remained altogether different. The army remained all aloof from the political affairs and the political parties remained at liberty throughout the tenure. Some people say that the credit goes to the Army Chief General Kiyani while others are of the opinion that army as an institution was not in favour of repeating the experience of derailing the train of democracy ; though during all those five years, it happened so many times that 'democracy stricken' people gave SOS signal to the army. Now the ball is in the court of the people of Pakistan.

The 11th of May, 2013 would be a day when they would be free to paint their tomorrow with the colours of their own choice. Two things are very important in this regard; the first one is that on the Election Day, we must not limit ourselves to our homes; in the larger interest of the country, we will have to come out and go to the polling stations. Second important thing is the right choice of the candidate we vote for. If we cast our vote in favour of someone who had been involved in any kind of moral or financial corruption in the past, it means we are supporting, favouring and sheltering his corruption. The use of vote is a very sacred national responsibility and any careless approach and nonsense behaviour regarding this responsibility would result in a severe national loss.

For the promotion of democracy the fair, free and transparent election is compulsory in every democratic society and same is the case with Pakistan. But unfortunately in Pakistan, most of the people are not aware of the importance of vote. According to a survey, in spite of the facility of casting their votes through postal ballot system, most of the government servants who are deputed at the polling stations as presiding and polling officers on the Election Day, do not use their right of vote. Sixty percent of the people from the urban areas simply stay at home and enjoy the election process in the manner they enjoy a one-day cricket match. It is only the rural areas where the politicians succeed in dragging the voters out of their homes but these voters are never independent in use of their precious right of vote. They are always under the pressure of the feudal lords, their tribal heads and of the landowners whose lands they are cultivating. It is the responsibility of the media, the teachers and the religious scholars to educate them and make them understand the impact of their votes on the future of Pakistan. People must be conveyed the idea that vote is a national obligation and it should be cast sensibly only in favour of the political parties which surely and purely belong to Pakistan and aspire to work only in the interest of the country.

The people of Pakistan are lucky enough that under the guidance and command of Mr. Fakhruddin.G.Ibrahim, the Election Commission of Pakistan is making all possible efforts to hold fair, free and transparent elections. More fortunate is the fact that the Pakistan Army is providing resolute support for the completion of the electoral process. The provincial care-taker governments are also doing all their best possible to keep the electoral process above board. The impartiality of the Election Commission of Pakistan, the provincial care-taker governments and that of the Pakistan Army would pave the way to fair and transparent elections but all these efforts would go waste if the voters do not realize their responsibility.

It has also been in the media that some of the terrorist elements have threatened to disrupt the electoral process in Pakistan. According to a recent report published in various newspapers, a militant organization in North Waziristan Agency has distributed a hand-bill among the local people. This hand-bill has tried to convince them to reject the democratic process in FATA. The solitary aim of this propaganda seems to censure the process of elections in FATA and promote an atmosphere of mayhem and chaos. It seems that the leaders of the militant organizations are frightened of democratically elected people who would become a challenge and threat to their authority and supremacy. Moreover some of the foreign diplomats are also trying to influence this process of election by paying regular visits to the hi-ups of various political parties. Such foreign diplomats are constantly in contact with the political leaders who have authority of allocating party-tickets to different candidates. We as a nation must be aware of all such conspirators who are doing all their possible efforts to mar the election process and intend to create problems for us in the near future.

Democracy is the only solution to the problem of extremism and terrorism. We will have to join hands together to crush the forces which are eager to derail the process of democracy in Pakistan. The most important thing to be remembered is that our silence on the Election Day would not be less than a severe crime.

For the promotion of democracy the fair, free and transparent election is compulsory in every democratic society and same is the case with Pakistan. But unfortunately in Pakistan, most of the people are not aware of the importance of vote. According to a survey, in spite of the facility of casting their votes through postal ballot system, most of the government servants who are deputed at the polling stations as presiding and polling officers on the Election Day, do not use their right of vote. Sixty percent of the people from the urban areas simply stay at home and enjoy the election process in the manner they enjoy a one-day cricket match. It is only the rural areas where the politicians succeed in dragging the voters out of their homes but these voters are never independent in use of their precious right of vote. They are always under the pressure of the feudal lords, their tribal heads and of the landowners whose lands they are cultivating. It is the responsibility of the media, the teachers and the religious scholars to educate them and make them understand the impact of their votes on the future of Pakistan. People must be conveyed the idea that vote is a national obligation and it should be cast sensibly only in favour of the political parties which surely and purely belong to Pakistan and aspire to work only in the interest of the country. The people of Pakistan are lucky enough that under the guidance and command of Mr. Fakhruddin.G.Ibrahim, the Election Commission of Pakistan is making all possible efforts to hold fair, free and transparent elections. More fortunate is the fact that the Pakistan Army is providing resolute support for the completion of the electoral process. The provincial care-taker governments are also doing all their best possible to keep the electoral process above board. The impartiality of the Election Commission of Pakistan, the provincial care-taker governments and that of the Pakistan Army would pave the way to fair and transparent elections but all these efforts would go waste if the voters do not realize their responsibility. It has also been in the media that some of the terrorist elements have threatened to disrupt the electoral process in Pakistan. According to a recent report published in various newspapers, a militant organization in North Waziristan Agency has distributed a hand-bill among the local people.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Searching for saviours

Syed Hashmi
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

I.A. Rehman’s latest article published in Dawn on April 11, discusses the relative importance of individuals and systems in Pakistan, in the political context, and is appropriately titled ‘Individual vs the system.’

He claims, with some justification, that in Pakistan people relate the conditions prevailing in the country with the men on top, without giving due consideration to the fact that the ‘system’ may bear a lot of responsibility for the state of affairs, as also the class and institutional loyalty of the influential people around, with the result that the men on top may not have been in a position to alter the course on their own.

He gives a few examples to prove his case: like Ghulam Mohammad alone being blamed for subverting democracy while ignoring the anti-democratic alliance of civil and military bureaucracies. In a mild tone, somewhat condoning his acts which set a precedent for illegal and disastrous military takeovers, I.A. Rehman claims that as a representative of military, Ayub Khan had no choice but to hand over power to Gen. Yahya Khan, and that Yahya Khan does not bear sole responsibility for the separation of East Pakistan for which 24 years of poor governance had created the background. However, it the generals deserve to be condemned for illegal takeover of governments because the positions were not thrust on them, rather they grabbed these out of their lust for power, and in most cases, for the benefits these brought. We know Ayub Khan’s sons obtained early release from the army to pursue lucrative careers.

The writer is being a bit economical with facts relating to the separation of East Pakistan because while poor governance was common to both wings, the Bengalese were being mistreated in a big way, with their representation in the civilian administration, the military, as well as their share of national wealth and assets were kept dismally below what their population would justify. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s refusal to accept Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rahman’s mandate was also a contributing factor towards the final split.

He is quite right about the prevailing trend in Pakistan to look for saviours and it was this tendency, as well as the mess created by the civilian governments, that made people welcome various military dictators who always came with a promise to clean up the system, and did some good work initially but in the end, proved not much better than the civilian governments. Their worst crime was not to let the democratic systems take roots in Pakistan.

I.A. Rahman is right again when he says that ‘the idea of democracy was born out of the desire to protect the community against the excesses of its rulers, of which good men could be just as guilty as the bad ones,’ and that ‘the objective of the democratic movement everywhere has been the development of a system in which no single individual can become an absolute ruler and which possesses the instruments of keeping the custodians of power in check.’

The writer would seem to suggest that if given the choice of having good men on top or having a government with good systems and institutions, his preference would be for the latter because with good systems and institutions in place, the top man would be kept in check, enabling the government to function fairly efficiently. He therefore suggests that we should stop looking for and counting on saviours.

Personally, I do not like this classification of men as good and bad ones because this decision will get influenced by a persons own beliefs, even whims and fancies about what is virtuous and what is evil. I will put people in two categories i.e. those with integrity and capability, which qualities are essential to enable them to deliver, and others who lack these qualities.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that even for Pakistan, democracy is the best form of government but it has to be a functioning democracy, and not in name only, which is what we had whenever we got a so-called democratic dispensation. I also know that democracy needs time to grow and develop, but for that to happen, there has to be a move in the right direction, with each democratic setup being an improvement on the earlier one, but unfortunately in our case, we have found each government to be worse than its predecessor. So the self-cleansing process supposedly inherent in the democratic systems does not work at all in our case and has in fact become a self-dirtying process. The state of the country now as compared to what it was like five years back amply proves the point. The last few decades have been really devastating.

I remember, just after partition, we hardly had any industry in the part that now forms Pakistan as the region had previously been developed and maintained as a bread-basket for the un-divided India plus the recruiting ground for Her Majesty’s forces. However, the enterprising people then worked hard and established quite a few industries in the country. We had well-running railways plus Pakistan International Airlines which made people proud. As a matter of fact, this was PIA staff which established many of the Middle Eastern airlines but now PIA and railways are a disgrace. Instead of seeing new industrial units being established, we now hear of Pakistani industrial units re-locating to various countries, including Bangladesh and states in Africa. During the last five years, the national debt has doubled with nothing to show for it. So, the outlook is very depressing.

According to the writer ‘the objective of the democratic movement everywhere has been the development of a system in which no single individual can become an absolute ruler and which possesses the instruments of keeping the custodians of power in check.’ However, in our case, the story is the exact opposite. What we actually saw was the placement of weak, incapable person of dubious integrity as heads of national institutions so as to make these incapable of exercising any checks on important office holders, and to facilitate their corruption and personal enrichment. So, with the checks removed, the officials in important positions have in fact become dictators even though nominally holding democratic-sounding designations.
We do need sound systems and strong institutions to exercise proper checks and balance which are the basic ingredients of democracy, and we have also seen that these do not come about automatically through the operation of democracy but have to be introduced, developed and maintained by capable men and women of integrity. So, you see, in a case like ours, having capable men and women of integrity becomes a matter of survival because they are the ones who make or break systems and institutions. In a way, the writer admits this need when he says “The political discourse should therefore address the flaws in the system of governance rather than remain devoted to a fruitless search for angels.” Therefore, if we look for people with integrity, capability and an unblemished past, the exercise should not be dismissed as hero-worship or something: it is the need of the hour.

And a capable man of integrity at top can make one hell of a difference. He can improve even a rotten system and place it on sound foundations. We saw how Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan of Turkey turned around his country and also confined the military to its normal role, as against that of controlling the country. We also saw how President Mohammed Mursi of Egypt retired Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the head of the country’s Supreme Military Council and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and also cancelled constitutional amendments giving the military wide powers, thus eliminating military control of the government.

So, you see, with the essential checks and balance being non-existent due to the absence of strong systems and institutions, we do need right people to run the country and to put it on the path to progress by building up sound systems and strong institutions.

Until we reach that stage, our need for men and women of exceptional capability and integrity will be much greater as compared to an established democracy where institutional checks and balances are in place and working, The type of characters we had in the past won’t do, especially in view of the grave problems and existential threats that the country is facing in all sectors. It is not hero-worshipped or something: it is just need of the times.


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

Erasing Pakistan’s ideological foundations
 

[B][SIZE="4"]Erasing Pakistan’s ideological foundations
[/SIZE][/B][B]By A. R. Jerral
[/B]
[B]Pakistan is a Muslim state created on the foundations of Islamic ideology. In the 1940s, the driving slogan behind the Pakistan Movement spelled out this direction unambiguously. The Objective Resolution, which is part of our constitution, clearly lays down the direction that this country ought to take. Yet, in the past 65 years, we have collectively failed to move in that direction. The nation has not been able to determine whether this is a wilful failure or intellectual lassitude that has not allowed us to take the projected path.
[/B]
The Islamic political ideology and secularism are directly opposite systems; though Pakistan has never strictly adhered to it, yet it has kept its Islamic moorings intact. Our political system, nevertheless, is secular in essence, with some ideological dressings that gives us some satisfaction to claim that we are an Islamic State.
We have an Islamic Ideological Council (IIC) that is supposed to translate our laws and procedures in accordance with the country’s Islamic foundations, but it has not made much progress. In the vacuum that IIC has left, the forces of secularism are playing their part vigorously to transform Pakistan into a secular state.
The Islamic political and social ideology has emerged as the political enemy of the West since the fall of Communism. As Pakistan is the only state that emerged on the basis of the Islamic ideology it is the prime target of the secular forces; if Pakistan capitulates, it will become a prime example for the world that Islam as politico-social system is not tenable.
Our bureaucracy and academic intelligentsia is in the forefront of this effort. It is a generalised statement and can be objected to; but the recent attempt to remove the Islamic subjects from the schools’ syllabi strongly suggests that this could only have happened with the complete cooperation and assistance of the Education Department and those academics that are charged with the responsibility to frame the curriculum of schools and colleges.
The timings selected were critical; the interim setup was due that would be involved in the elections. The change was supposed to be implemented un-noticed; however, thanks to a vigilant journalist, who blew the whistle.
The West has branded Islam a radical and militant ideology; Islam has been accused of radical teachings inducing terroristic trends. The propaganda was intense enough to compel Pakistan to remove Quranic teachings from the school and college subjects.
I distinctly remember that Surah Tauba (Chapter 9) of the Holy Quran was removed from academic curriculum under the pressure exerted by these forces. In their perception, this chapter teaches violence; ironically, none of our religious scholars and the IIC objected to this removal.
The attempt this time was to remove all references to those national heroes, who led the path to independence. It seems that we are trying to gradually erase the names of those who got us the independence. Recently, there was a move to remove the name of Quaid-i-Azam from a university, now the name of Allama Iqbal is intended to be erased from the books. Erasing names and achievements of our national heroes from textbooks implies that we want the future generations to forget them and their ideals; perhaps, it will help to usher in secular ideas.
It is a subtle move. Indeed, the target is the young generation, who is impressionable and can be steered towards secular teachings by making changes in their course of study. These young people will provide the leadership of tomorrow in the country. With secular education, they will move away from the Islamic ideology, which impacts the politico-social and socio-economic collective activity.
Apparently, the secular forces want religion to be a personal and private matter, as is prevalent in the West. Gradually, this attitude results into a free society, where virtue and vice become indiscernible.
This time the target of subversion was selected with deep thought and our own people were selected to launch this onslaught. The secular forces have apt accomplices available here. Many of our academics are educated and trained in Western secular universities and most of them follow the same ideology.
The syllabi that they assemble have visible secular biases. A cursory look of Islamic subjects for class fifth to ten will amply demonstrate my contention. It appears that the Textbook Boards (TBBs) have no nationalistic guidelines.
The recent effort to subvert the ideological contents of the syllabi was not noticed by the authorities; however, the Chief Minister Punjab reacted on the report published in a newspaper. Besides, it is hurting to know that except one journalist no one, including our religious polity, raised any protest against this alteration of the syllabi; looks like the IIC is either ignorant or unconcerned. The Chief Minister did not know what his Education Ministry and TBB were doing.
Education has become a provincial subject, but this does not mean that there should be no check on the concerned authorities by the federal government.
Needless to say, education lays down the foundations on which a country’s survival depends. Those who make policies, determine the curriculum and conduct the education of the young generation should have proper guidance and supervision. The foundation of education must strengthen the ideological foundation so that national objectives can be achieved.
Our TBBs should be made to function under a proper education body; its officials must be properly guided about the evolution of the curriculum that reflects national aspirations; the syllabus developed should be vetted by a superior authority comprising people from different walks of life. This activity should not be left to secular academics alone.
This time Pakistan has warded off the attack, but efforts to subvert the basis of Pakistan’s creation will continue. There is need to develop a mechanism that will curb such attacks in future. The Chief Minister ordered an inquiry to fix the responsibility of this lapse; based on the findings of inquiry those who are responsible for playing with our national and Islamic moorings must be given exemplary punishment.

[I]The writer is a retired brigadier.
[/I]
[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/17-Apr-2013/erasing-pakistan-s-ideological-foundations[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"][COLOR="DarkOrange"]A revolution in Pakistan?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Vaqar Ahmed


There is a general consensus in Pakistan that the country is heading in the wrong direction. The same perception exists outside Pakistan with the term “failed state” raising its ugly head more frequently in the international media. How does the country get out of the precarious situation it finds itself in today?

The solution offered by mainstream political parties and the civil society is that the continuation of the democratic process affords the best chance to the country. However, pose the same question to a man on the street and the answer could range from bringing back the army to lining up all the corrupt politicians and putting a bullet in them. Some other would maintain that the root of the all the trouble is economy, poor law and order and the scourge of terrorism.

Given that both military dictators and civilian rulers have betrayed the people of Pakistan time and again, it is surprising that there is not much talk of a mass uprising to destroy the prevalent power structure and replacing it with a system that is responsive to the needs of the populace. On the national level there is only one political party, the Awami Workers Party (AWP) that endorses bringing about a revolution in Pakistan. However, even this coalition of the fragments of the left-wing political groups has admitted that this is not the right time for revolutionary politics, and has thus, decided to participate in the election process by fielding a few candidates.

So, why is there no revolutionary movement in Pakistan?

The answers may be found in the history of anti-colonial movements in the subcontinent. There were only two major armed struggles in the undivided India against the British rule. First, the war of independence of 1857 that, some historians claim, was more of a mutiny than an organised and protracted struggle. After putting down the peril of the 1857 uprising, the British ruled in peace for nearly eight decades. This period of peace ended in 1942 when the Indian National Army led by Subhash Chander Bose, a communist intellectual, fought against the British rule with the support of the Axis powers. Another revolt took place in 1946 when the sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutinied against their British officers.

Other anti colonial efforts like the “Quit India” movement were non-violent civil disobedience movements and not revolutionary struggles.

The Pakistan Movement itself was mainly a legal and constitutional battle. Mr. Jinnah was the ideal leader to spearhead this movement because of his expertise in constitutional law.

While these struggles did hasten the departure of the British from India, the primary reason was that in the aftermath of the Second World War, Britain was in no position to maintain its rule and had already accepted that quitting India was its best option.

Compared to the other movements of national liberation like Algeria, Nicaragua and Mozambique, the independence struggle in India was predominantly legal and constitutional with non-violent means used to put pressure on the coloniser. Also, there was little participation of the working class in the struggle. In contrast, the Algerian war of liberation that was fought from 1954 to 1962 was lead by FLN – a socialist organisation formed by the merger of smaller groups. While estimates vary, anywhere between a million and 1.5 million Algerians were killed in the eight years of the struggle. The population of Algeria was just 10 million in 1960 and it lost a staggering 10 per cent of its population in achieving independence.

Thus, when Pakistan was created it did not have any historical experience in revolutionary struggles. In Pakistan the only time there was a serious attempt at mobilising the working class to bring about a radical change was between 1968 and 1972 during the anti Ayub Khan movement led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). A number of left groups that were influential in the working class became energised and played an important role in bringing PPP into power. This is where the left in Pakistan made a bad judgement and instead of continuing the struggle with the factory workers as vanguard, it stopped and pinned their hopes on PPP to bring about radical changes. It soon faced a rude awakening when PPP abandoned its socialist agenda, dismissed left-wing provincial governments in NWFP and Balochistan, arrested the left-leaning leaders and then slapped some with charges of treason. The left in Pakistan never recovered from this debacle.

Another malaise also crippled the left – its derivative nature resulted in uncritically following the dictates of direction taken by the two main communist centres of power – China and Russia. In 1971, when it should have condemned the military action in East Pakistan it supported the massacre simply because China (for its own strategic interests) was supporting the Pakistan army. Wars have historically provided the best opportunity for leftist revolutions. Russia is a case in point. The West Pakistani left missed an opportunity again and instead of gaining advantage from the weakness of the state alienated the left in East Pakistan.

Whatever juice remained in the left movement was squeezed out by the draconian policies of the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq, and the demoralisation that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Currently, Pakistan’s left is the weakest it has been since 1947.

Today, the only struggle that can be remotely called revolutionary is the nationalist struggle of the Baloch. No national organisation of the left in the country has the ability to mobilise the downtrodden classes.

To prevent Pakistan’s headlong fall into an abyss, changes are needed at the grassroots level through a revolutionary movement. This is the responsibility of the left in Pakistan. The left must muster up its resources, organise itself, do a fresh analysis of what needs to be done and get ready to pick up the pieces again and rebuild a better country.



The author is an engineer turned part-time journalist who likes to hang out at unfashionable places like shrines, railway stations and bus stops.

[url]http://dawn.com/2013/04/16/a-revolution-in-pakistan/[/url]

[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"][CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]A nation lost in transition

Ali Ashraf Khan
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER][/COLOR]

While Pakistan seems to have been ‘lost in transition’ from a newly founded, under developed country into either an Islamic welfare state or a democracy during the last 65 years without much success in either direction life outside Pakistan has been going on and the world has changed a lot during those 65 years.

My foreign travels started first when I was a college student and since then I have not only traveled East and West and met many dignitaries in those countries like in China during Mao-Tse Tung’s lifetime when Chou en Lai was known for its human resource management and making wonders, one such was the re-construction of Silk Road by the Chinese and it was then that I happened to experience their hospitality extended to Prime Minister Bhutto in Friendship and Brotherhood Camps visit alongside KKH on the Pakistani side. A Barter trading syndicate for trade by road between Gilgit & Kashghar was also established by China and Pakistan in the seventies.

But a recent business trip to Hong Kong and China made me painfully aware of the fact that the center of gravity has shifted to the East while the Western world and its allies are getting close to another all time record great recession that might plunge the dollar regime into history. Today’s China is a world class country; to me even Europe looked to have been left far behind. Hong Kong is a Chinese exclave and has since developed into an economic giant, though until recently it was a British colony but the change after that is on the surface, business and prosperity is booming around and in my opinion after Tokyo Hong Kong is the second most expensive city for tourist.

The fact is that its closeness to China made it a convenient location for world businesses during the cold war period that did not want to or were not allowed to go directly to China. That is why despite its limited territory it has developed a thriving industry and business climate supported by first class infrastructure and communication lines.

An even larger economic wonder is China; within thirty years it has changed from a mainly peasant society to a thriving industrial nation. That development has come for a price, no doubt about that, but China today has the means and the confidence to face the challenges that are coming from globalization and Hong Kong is a true reflection of that myth.

My friend and business associate Shah also arrived in Hong Kong from Frankfurt the same day and next day we left for Shenzhen in China, Shenzhen and Guandou both are thriving business cities in mainland China and one thing that impressed me was all the Chinese people especially the present three generations are no less then citizen in any European country, workaholic, and they are all busy with their jobs of innovation, we were lucky to have with us two studios young ladies well versed with the art of business requirements, Katherine was our local representative, she impressed us with her business acumen and knowledge, she made everything possible in our short stay and one thing that impressed most was their straight forwardness we had booked orders for Jewelry without Nichol finish, but the whole sellers later when we had returned after confirming from the manufacturer that it can’t be produced by them told us openly, if they had shipped those with Nichol we would have suffered but this is their honesty in business.

Then we returned to Hong Kong to attend Fashion Access Exhibition, which is an exhibition of world class. Pakistani leather products were in demand but Consulate had failed as usual to provide basic information about the Pakistani participants. On my return to Karachi a leading business tycoon surprised me that he was among Pakistani participants and we could not meet there.

I was all the time scratching my head thinking about reasons for our failure, I recall my student days in Lahore, where students from many developed countries used to come for studies, we had foreign student hostels for them and even Girl students from Saudi Arabia in large number use to come for Medical degree, Iran & Turkey students were there in every branch of study, Malaysia, Jordan/Palestinian, Arabs and Sri Lankan were also there. Now all types of people from the West are coming to adventure in this very sensitive field concerning our nation’s future, if Education received due attention, which it has not during all this time, where would we stand today.

Whatever we had at the time of partition has been thrown to the winds. Infrastructure development with increase in Industrial productivity has been neglected, so has been energy production.

Ayub Khan era was known as an era of decade of reforms, when our country was progressing, which was not liked by the so called progressive elements who use to call East is Red and on coming into power with this slogan they soon changed their skin and Asia became Green for them and this appears to have been designed to push Pakistan into bondage, which we are now.

It is unfortunate that all the miseries that afflict Pakistan are manmade and our own contribution, we cannot blame others for our many failure, the Debacle of East Pakistan should have opened our eyes but alas!

The following four decades were marred with mediocrity, adhocracy leading to bankruptcy of leadership in every walk of life be it political, civil and military bureaucracy and business leadership, the dilemma is we debate our ideology and great scholars take pride in questioning our ideology, now talk everywhere goes that we are not a nation, one thing that other nations have protected the most for attaining self respect in the comity of nation.

With this assessment of our bright past one wonders what have we been doing all these years in last four decades? When we look back at our history it has always been a struggle for power among the different parts of the country and their ruling elites, whose only aim was to achieve power by hook or crook so a compromised leadership emerged on the screen to ruin the silver lining appearing on Pakistan’s horizon. Economy has been neglected most of the time. Interestingly, it was under military rule when our economy did a bit better as it was the case under Ayub Khan, when he had 5 year economic development plans. Alongside there was a 20 years perspective plan, and a country like Korea was one country that had borrowed our five year plans as an example of successful economic development. Where are they today and where are we? The following civilian governments seem to have regarded it as their first and foremost aim to undo whatever had been achieved.

That was the case under Z. A. Bhutto who nationalized upcoming industries and placed them under PPP stalwarts without any knowledge in business and management for their persona plunder. He also took care of the civil service where he destroyed the frame that the British had given to it and politicized it and introduced corruption. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were saddled two times each to work on the dotted lines of troika of power known as establishment.

Benazir IPP’s worked as last nail in our economic coffin, while Nawaz Sharif claimed largest mandate, coined a new terminology “Qaraz Uttaro Muluk Sanwaro, which was overwhelmingly supported but nobody knows where all those dollars went? He also called a national convention of business leaders on the very first day and formed over a dozen committees to introduce reforms to jump start the ailing economy, one committee was for Export revamping, where I was also a member and I have been protesting all through that period that not a single suggestion of this report was implemented.

The same was the fate of other committee reports. National interest was compromised with the personal interest of the rulers.
Then came General Musharraf after a coup, which had a built-in complex to obtain US support instead of that of the people of Pakistan, who are supposed to be the real fountain of power.
He proved spineless and submitted to US demands to become a frontline state in their proxy war on terror, Turkey refused to provide air bases on the strength of parliamentary resolution, in 2003-4 we fell victim on nuclear proliferation allegation and Dr. Qadeer Khan was badly humiliated on foreign desire, later even Benazir Bhutto agreed to provide access to Dr. Qadeer and for inspection of our nuclear assets that led to drafting of infamous NRO, which was scrapped by the Apex court but the damage has been done.

The same can be said about the recent PPP government that has undermined and made irrelevant whatever was left of former institutions like parliament, NAB, ministries, autonomous bodies and corporations and other institutions.

The decade from 1988 till 1999 is called by economic analysts ‘a lost decade’. And the era from 1999 to 2013 can be called the final ruin of the post-colonial national project of Pakistan. During this period the sovereignty and national interest of Pakistan was finally sold for money and weaponry to the US and Pakistan became a US proxy in the war in Afghanistan.

And when we are looking at the parties and candidates that are applying to run in the next elections one is at a loss to understand how they would do any good to the country. None of the parties has a program for economic development worth mentioning.

The need for National reconciliation and strengthening the solidarity in Pakistan without foreign intervention, article 62 and 63 have now become laughing stock for all and sundry, caretakers are nothing less than chair takers. The change the nation was aspiring to get is no where in sight.

Neither meaningful poverty alleviation nor new foreign policy on independent can substitute our slavery to the US with good-neighbourly relations with China, Iran and Russia. This kind of elections will bring no change and no democracy. Why can’t we learn this lesson finally after such a long time? God bless! Pakistan.


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"][COLOR="DarkRed"]Mandate of the caretakers

Malik Muhammad Ashraf[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


Notwithstanding the prophecies and misconceived notions of the cynics that nothing will ever change in this land of the pure, the saner elements within the society and the bulk of the intelligentsia is of the considered view that the process of change for the better has already been prodded by the ever vigilant media despite its sporadic indiscretions and propensity to go into an overdrive in violation of the professional codes of conduct and internationally recognized media ethics.

I also feel that the freedom of expression and independent media is the best thing that has ever happened in this country. The culture of accountability and public scrutiny introduced by the media has certainly shaken and dismantled the foundations of the archaic and moth-eaten edifice of politics of graft and entitlement. It is no more possible for the practitioners of traditional politics and the old guard to keep things under wraps and continue indulging in their traditional pursuits with impunity.

In fact the independent media and pro-active judiciary represent a formidable combination in the fight against corruption, changing the traditional approaches to politics and setting in motion a culture of day to day accountability. The media unraveling and spotlighting the illegality of the actions of the executive and the wreck less corruption in the government organizations and SC making sure that no reported case of corruption and unconstitutional and illegal indiscretions goes un-noticed. Is it not a marked departure from the past and a change that the hapless masses have yearned ever since the inception of Pakistan? It certainly is. It arguably is a sequel to the awareness created by the media that hitherto silent majority has been shaken out of its slumber and is poised to challenge those who have taken this country for a ride over sixty five years of its existence.

It is no more possible for any government or government functionary to escape from the vigilant glare of the media and society for any indiscretion committed by them. The latest example of the role that media is playing in checking this phenomenon is the hype created over the statement of the care-taker interior minister in favour of Nawaz Sharif which led to ECP taking notice of it and writing to the Prime Minister about the matter. The care-taker Prime Minister took immediate notice of the matter, called the interior minister to explain his conduct and aptly reminded him that the role of the care-taker set up was to create a congenial atmosphere for the ECP to hold free and credible elections and not to indulge in any activity which could create an impression of partiality of the care-take government or any individual who was part of it.

In the wake of the protests of the political parties and defined role of the caretaker set-up that action was much desirable. I do not know what was the motivation of the interior minister in saying what he said but I do know for certain that the man did not do it on purpose and probably he lacks the skills and dexterity of choosing the right words and expressions to put across his views. He has the reputation of an honest and upright police officer and served in Balochistan for long. He is the right choice as interior ministers as he knows the intricacies of issues relating to law and order and security. It is hoped that he will be more discreet in future and concentrate more on the role that he has been entrusted with.

The ensuing elections will not only test the ability and commitment of the ECP to hold free and fair elections in the country but will also be a great challenge for the law enforcing agencies and security outfits in providing a secure environment to the voters to cast their vote and also protecting the political leaders who have security threats from the Taliban and other detractors of democracy, particularly the leaders of MQM, PPP and ANP against whom the former have vowed to act. The incidents of terrorism and target killing of the politicians have already started surfacing and the Taliban have accepted responsibility of carrying out those killings. As the elections draw near, the intensity and frequency of these incidents is likely to increase. Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Balochistan are the most vulnerable provinces due to the prevailing circumstances where more and strict vigilance will be required.

The credibility of elections will depend on the ability of the care-taker set-up in assisting the ECP to hold elections in a fear-free environment that tempts the voters to go to the polling stations to exercise their right of franchise. The care-taker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, during his recent visit to Balochistan rightly directed the provincial authorities and the law enforcing agencies to create a congenial atmosphere for elections in the province. The coming elections are significant from more than one aspect. They are billed as a turning point in the history of the country which will determine the future shape of the political landscape and integrity of the country. In the context of process of reconciliation in Balochistan they are perhaps the last opportunity to create conditions for resolving the issues that forced the people to go on the mountains and mount insurgency. Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Chief of BNP has already returned and announced the participation of his party in the elections. He has also advised the Baloch insurgents to come down from the mountains saying that guns could not resolve any issue. This change of heart by Mengal is a very positive development. However, he has also expressed some reservations about the sincerity and ability of the authorities to hold free and fair elections and demanded cessation of kidnappings and killings of the Baloch youth to make the election process credible. That indeed is a colossal challenge for the care-taker government, especially the interior minister who is well conversant with the situation in Balochistan.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"][COLOR="Navy"]As institutions mature

Niaz Murtaza [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

EXCEPT for some rollback of Taliban territorial gains, performance on immediate issues during 2008-2013 was largely poor even after accounting for the tough external environment and past legacies.

Immediate issues are obviously paramount. However, even worse than poor immediate performance is when the future appears equally bleak. Many people are too overwhelmed by present worries to worry about the future. But for those interested in evaluating both, the remaining question is about the impact the post-2008 democratic era had on future governance prospects.

History shows that national progress requires strong governance institutions but it cautions that such institutions develop gradually. The French Revolution is presented as a short cut to democracy’s leisurely, meandering gait. However, governance in post-revolution France did not improve immediately but decades later once democracy produced strong institutions.

Such institutions will mature and produce tangible results gradually in Pakistan too. Governance institutions include immediate service-delivery ministries and government enterprises. The performance of many such institutions actually deteriorated post-2008.

Governance institutions also include more strategic legislative and watchdog institutions — eg the judiciary and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) — some of which can gradually force improvements within service-delivery institutions. Fortunately, one sees positive signs here if one defines progress as not only achieving the ideal but also improving incrementally over the past.

Take the case of interim set-ups. The current set-up is not ideal. But earlier, presidents blatantly appointed interim prime ministers from favoured parties. So, Ghulam Ishaq Khan handpicked Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in 1990 while Musharraf handpicked Mohammedmian Soomro. The current set-up, selected by the government, opposition and the ECP, is more neutral, so much so that it is almost invisible and the ECP appears to be running Pakistan.

Consequently, the parties that boycotted the 2008 elections, eg, the Baloch nationalists and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), are now participating. The current ECP’s performance itself is not ideal, but is an improvement over its predecessors.

Finally, the Supreme Court has been able to function more freely than ever before, despite repeatedly challenging the government, including firing its prime minister.

Contrast the PPPs resigned acceptance with Musharraf’s ferocious reaction twice to far smaller Supreme Court challenges. While the PPP did drag its feet before the Supreme Court, democratic pressures did not allow it to trample it with its feet like military dictators did.

People complain that the Supreme Court and the ECP have allowed major culprits to contest the 2013 elections. The counter argument is that while angry voters may demand instant, Taliban-style street justice without due process, institutions must follow constitutional provisions.

Pakistan’s constitution mandates (rightly) that, except for government defaulters and violators of ECP electoral guidelines, candidates can only be barred after court convictions, whether the charges relate to committing crimes or violating Islamic and Pakistani ideology.

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s justice system lacks the capacity to prosecute major crimes speedily. Thus, fake degrees are being largely targeted as these can be investigated quickly.

Given continued democracy, the Supreme Court and the ECP can eventually help strengthen the justice system so that major culprits get barred from future elections. However, even the present situation is an improvement over 2008 where Musharraf’s National Reconciliation Ordinance allowed even convicted persons to contest elections.

Another post-2008 positive has been the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) rapid rise. Parties can be evaluated based on their ideology, policy, management capacity, internal democracy and integrity.

Ideological differences bar me from supporting the PTI (and even other major parties). However, one must acknowledge the objectively verifiable fact that the PTI represents an improvement over existing major parties along the last three dimensions. Its rise undermines the argument that the current democratic trajectory will merely perpetuate corrupt politics.

Interestingly, the PTI floundered under Musharraf even though he was supposedly encouraging new politicians. But Musharraf actually supported status quo politicians in the PML-Q and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and persecuted the PPP and PML-N. Their persecution allowed the latter to present themselves as victims once Musharraf’s ‘miracles’ floundered by 2007, upending the PTI.

Thus, the PTI was the biggest loser under Musharraf. However, having governed unhindered but poorly for five years now, these parties cannot present themselves as victims. Consequently many people are eyeing alternatives.

So, while they are well short of the ideal, promising strategic institutional developments have occurred under post-2008 democracy.

How much stronger would governance have been today had Pakistan had unfettered democracy instead of four military dictators and the subtler manipulations of bureaucrat-presidents during the 1950s and 1990s? Perhaps, parties capable of solving immediate issues and possessing sounder ideologies may have emerged and be winning elections by now.

While the post-2008 improvements may seem inadequate to some, these 50 years produced less strategic institutional development than five years of even highly imperfect democracy.

Democracy’s beauty is that it forces tainted politicians to introduce greater institutionalisation than supposedly well-meaning dictators claiming to inculcate ‘genuine’ democracy. Dictators strengthen themselves and weaken institutions, not realising that the strong democracy that they promise emerges from the reverse.

However, democracy is an investment offering future pay-offs. As economists argue, investments involve foregoing some immediate consumption (performance). Thus, the correct criterion for judging democratic developments is not whether they improve immediate but future performance. History’s answer to that question is a resounding yes.

This does not mean that voters should ignore immediate performance. Electoral fates get largely determined by immediate performances. Moreover, the improvements highlighted above largely represent inexorable results of democratic development rather than deliberate incumbent intent. Thus, this article preaches persisting with democracy, not incumbents.

The writer is a political economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

[email]murtazaniaz@yahoo.com[/email]

[url]http://dawn.com/opinion/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Handlers of democracy are corrupt to the core

Asif Haroon Raja
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Notwithstanding the long list of failings of political and military regimes, there were good points to brag about as well. It is unfortunate that the last coalition government had nothing to show and feel proud of. The period from March 2008 to March 16, 2013 will be remembered as the darkest periods of Pakistan’s history.

The last government is busy highlighting its so-called achievements through page-size ads in newspapers. It is however quiet on its loot and plunder which continued till its last day in power. As if five years of loot was insufficient to rob this poor nation, the outgoing looters passed laws authorizing the PM, Speaker National Assembly, Chairman Senate, Sindh Chief Minister and Speaker lifetime security and perks and privileges.

On the last day of its tenure, the outgoing government issued 70 CNG licenses; Speaker Fehmida approved 100% increase in benefits and allowances of all members of National Assembly; income of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, ministers and special assistants increased by 40%; entire staff of Ministry of Information given foreign postings; billions of rupees dished out and banks remained open to ensure transaction. It gives a glimpse of the lust and greed of parasitic rulers. Handing over Gawdar Port to China and going ahead with Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project are the only two initiatives for which this government can be given credit, but these came at the sunset of its five-year tenure. Onus of fruition of the two vital projects would rest on the shoulders of next government. These vitally important projects upon which the prosperity of the nation hinged should have been undertaken expeditiously sometime in 2008/09 instead of diverting state resources towards fighting war on terror. Had it been done, Pakistan would have avoided prolonged load shedding of gas and electricity and averted energy crisis and thus saved the industry from getting enfeebled. Industrialists would not have shifted to other countries, inflation and price hike would have remained within limits and unemployment situation wouldn’t have become so bleak. Even the value of Rupee would not have plunged so rapidly. GDP would not have crashed to an all time low 2.8% and budget deficit gone out of hand. So would have been the case of foreign exchange reserve which today stand at less than $ 7 billion. Macroeconomic indicators which remained in positive till end 2007 would have continued to remain positive and poverty level kept within limits. It in turn would have helped in curbing religious extremism and terrorism. Had the greedy legislators kept their greed in control and concentrated more on governance and adopted honest and austere living instead of indulging in mega scandals and extravaganza, Pakistan would not have lost Rs 8 billion daily in corruption. Thus economy would not have reached the brink of collapse. Since all those who mattered had no regard for the country and its people, they preferred only those schemes which gave kickbacks. They misused the profit earning state corporations to fill their pockets rather than fortifying the institutions. Bureaucracy connived with the ruling politicians in money making projects.

The PPP-ANP-MQM trio not tiring of speaking about the virtues of reconciliation could have washed its sins had it built Kalabagh dam after hammering out consensus. Rather, it put this vital project in a cold freezer at the very outset of its tenure and chose Rental Power Plant to make quick money and plunge the country into darkness. The champions of democracy hypocritically pretending to be in love with democracy inflicted such deadly blows to the democracy that the people have started hating democracy as well as the politicians.

Pakistan was worst affected by terrorism but the outgoing government failed to chalk out comprehensive counter terrorism policy. Neither the government nor the judiciary remained in step with the Army whenever it conducted highly challenging operations against the terrorists. As a consequence, when the Army completed its difficult tasks of attacking, capturing, consolidating, holding and maintaining peaceful and secured environments in the captured areas, the government remained in a state of limbo. It showed no desire to install civil administration and commence socio-politico-economic programs to address the grievances of the people and win their hearts and minds.

The Army had to perforce perform dual jobs of holding the area as well as carrying out rehabilitation, reconstruction and development works. Thousands of terrorists nabbed in the firefight were handed over to the police but were let off by the courts on account of insufficient evidence collected by the investigating agencies and also because of the lack of will of the judges on account of threats received from the militants. Consequently, the Army had to once again face the released terrorists. The Army also had to take on the extra burden of holding on to the indicted terrorists under trial for long duration because of indecision of courts. Likewise, the civilian intelligence and investigation agencies have left everything to ISI and MI whereas the internal security should be their baby and none else.

But for the poor governance, massive corruption, insensitivity of ruling regime and its subservience to Washington, neither the US could have spread its perverse influence in the society nor could the anti-state extremist groups play havoc. Breakdown of law and order in FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi, which has made the state fragile, facilitated entry of foreign agents to fish in troubled waters and deepen the chaos.

Frustration of the people became so acute that foreign based Tahirul Qadri managed to hold biggest rally in Lahore and then carry out largest long march and sit-in in Islamabad to force the government to negotiate with him. Although Imran’s Tsunami has lost its initial fervor and Qadri and Musharraf’s balloons have busted, but the political temperature has reached a boiling point and things have become utterly confusing because of security threats posed by TTP. Many doubt whether elections will be held on time and that too peacefully. Others say that even if elections are held, the same lot of crooks will again enter the corridors of power and the cycle of loot and plunder will recommence with fresh vigor. They are convinced that without electoral reforms and refurbishment of Election Commission (EC), the entry of undesirables cannot be blocked.

While the political system and democracy may be good, the handlers of the system are immoral and corrupt to the core. Unless the fraudsters, cheaters, tax dodgers, loan defaulters, profiteers, hoarders, law breakers, graft takers, fake degree holders, dual nationality holders and soul sellers are weeded out and replaced with fresh faces, no change can come in the decayed system. Had the EC ensured screening of candidates strictly in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, 95% of electable would have got disqualified in the preliminary round.

Great majority of urban youth has got disillusioned by the sham democracy and is yearning for a healthy change. The young ones are so charged up that they will refuse to accept the polling results if parasitic leaders re-enter the legislature. The blame will be put on the EC and the caretakers. The EC is already under intense pressure for not doing enough to stop pre-poll rigging and for not carrying out screening of candidates ruthlessly. While the EC has cleared almost all aspirants for unknown reasons, FBR, State Bank and FIA have failed to provide details of wrongdoings of the contestants to the EC. Undoubtedly the EC has disappointed the people in the pre-poll phase; one wishes the EC works as diligently and sternly as the higher judiciary to ensure fair and free polls on the polling day. If 11 May experiment fails, people will demand military takeover or democracy based on Sharia.

(The writer is a retired Brig and freelance columnist and a defense analyst)

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Globalization and Democracy: A recipe for Pakistan?

Ali Ashraf Khan[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


Faith in Democracy has been a major characteristic of Western political thought since Enlightenment. It was held that democracy is the best and moreover, the only valid system of governance and only people who have accepted the underlying values of democracy are modern, progressive and good. With globalization of the financial and other markets Western values were exported to the rest of the world keeping in mind that this was ‘progress’. In some cases like the former colonial societies in Africa and
South Asia including Pakistan parliamentary democracy was a colonial heritage and since decolonization those societies try to fill the empty democracy shell with matching content. In Pakistan as well as in other societies this has not been successful even after the passage of 66 years. And then there are those places like Afghanistan where the West has tried -unsuccessfully- to put democracy into place through war and manipulation. Export of democracy thus has been a main feature of western-driven
globalization together with economic and cultural imperialism as a tool to maintain the Western dominance over the rest of the world.

But this staunch believe in democracy has been undermined by the political realties in the developing countries like Pakistan. In Pakistan we have seen a constant deterioration of the political system that the British had put into place before leaving because only a very small minority of western educated people could understand its main features and even less people could embrace the underlying values of democracy such as respect for an impersonal and secular law and equality of men regardless of their economic or social position. Feudal lords and even many people without landholding living in cities have a feudal mindset which does not allow for equality. They believe in ‘good families’ and ‘poor’ family backgrounds and they keep separate crockery for the servants in their cupboards. Moreover, other than in the West where society has been going through a long process of secularization and individualization as a result of which western societies consist of secularized individuals in Asian and African countries these processes have never taken place and thus our societies are based on communities such s religious communities, ethnic communities, bradari and tribal affiliations that define our social fabric and basic value system. In our societies political affiliations are not defined by political ideologies but by allegiance to the social group to which we belong. That is why political parties in Pakistan are rather family enterprises than ideologically committed organizations.

Because of this basic underlying mismatch of democracy with our society democracy could not deliver. It worked worst in tribal societies like Balochistan and KPK/Fata and the former independent states of Swat and Dir. A weak and uncommitted to common good central government could not establish law and order and creditability in those areas. That is one of the reasons (among others) why we have a strong and growing demand for replacement of this type of political system called democracy by an Islamic state which seems to be a better choice and better match of the believes and aspirations of the people even the young generation as a recent report has found out.

This demand has been rejected by the west and western educated elites because they still believe in democracy bringing progress. It is therefore interesting and important to know that even in the West now this belief in democracy as the one and only political system leading to progress and prosperity has come under critique. With globalization progressing and the economic slowdown and financial crisis hitting many western economies and resulting in spending cut in educational systems among others Western scholars and scientists are looking for greener pastures in Asian countries where they would have refused to go just a couple of years ago. And so we find a growing number of western faculty teaching in oil-rich Arab Emirates and as well as in China. And it seems that this first-hand experience of a new culture and society in which they have lived is opening their eyes to new (for them) ideas and help them giving up old believes which they had taken for granted while in their Western homeland.

One such example was reported from a conference of economists that recently had taken place in Hongkong. A Canadian scholar Daniel A. Bell who has been teaching political philosophy in Singapore, Hongkong and lately in the Tsighua University in Beijing did explain what he learnt during his stay in East Asia in the Hongkong conference.

During his stay in East Asia he has come to know about the different value system of those societies based on Confucianism and that has changed his ideas in many regards fundamentally. In an interview he said “I’m no longer of the view that democracy in the form of one person, one vote is the best way of organizing political relations.

I now think that other ways of choosing rulers, such as a combination of examinations and recommendations, are more likely to secure quality rule.” This sounds very much like Allama Iqbals critique of democracy who said in one of his poems that democracy is counting the heads only even if the host of the head is uneducated or a crook. The substance of a man, his ability, moral standing and education or experience is neglected and not taken into account. Inspired by the teachings of Confucius Daniel Bell in his address in Hongkong has also criticized democracy for this and he has been advocating an alternative political system that chooses its ruling elite based on Confucian principles such as intellectual capacity and moral standing instead of universal franchise. He also expressed his opinion that this system -though far from a perfect way - is being promoted in the Communist Party of China already. With regard to elections he thinks that those are only useful on the local level where wrong decisions do less damage. One should think that he is rejected with such views in the West and might even be on the observation list of some intelligence agencies for anti-democratic views. But no, not at all; he has gained access with these views to prominent circles; he is writing columns in the “Financial Times” and the “Guardian” and is a sought-after speaker at the conference of the ‘Institute for New Economic Thinking’ financed by George Soros, which goes to prove that a new Dete’nt has come into force between powers that matter.

Another main critical points against democracy is its short time horizon. Any government has to produce “change” within four or five years - until the next elections which is much too short a time. This should make us think when we hear pledges from our aspiring politicians like Imran Khan that miseries that have been building up for decades or centuries like corruption, nepotism or even energy shortage will be put right within months or a couple of years. This is impossible and who is promising such things is a liar. But that doesn’t mean that change should not be attempted. It is high time for us in Pakistan to do away with our colonial heritage of ‘democracy’ that has never suited our society and has been used and abused by the feudal elite to perpetuate their hold to political power. Pakistan has become hostage in the hands of exploiters, recent experience of inducting caretaker in centre and province has been a shady deal between the power brokers in choosing their henchmen to bring their benefactors back into power without proper scrutiny of their credentials.

Tall claims are made by all and sundry but the fact is that every usurper has inducted amendments in 1973 constitution and Bhutto himself started the process. The party that claims the legacy of Bhutto also failed to thrash out all these amendments instead it inserted 18, 19 & 20th amendments that has led to making confusion more confounded. In the process of trying to please our former colonial rulers, western donors and the neo-colonialist US, we have ruined our own heritage and destroyed our own traditions. Though created in the name of Islam Pakistan has become a place where the very essence of Islam has been forgotten and it has become a menace rather than a relief for the Muslims. The world is changing and we have to change if we want to improve our lives and that of the society.

We remember till the 1960s we used to have the Imperial system of weights and measures, than it was replaced by the decimal system of weight and measures which is much easier and better system which is all over the world used except in the Commonwealth dominions. So hanging on to old ideas is bad. Just another election will not do; without doing a complete surgery that is due since 1971 we will not progress. The confusion is clearly visible in the media debates and the handling of Articles 62 & 63 by the RO,s on the ideology and rationale of creating Pakistan.

Today our biggest problem is foreign intervention in the domestic affairs and our complacency about it. The first thing that needs to be done is plug these holes from where they creep in, we have to be vigilant, and determined to face all the challenges that are there and the nation is prepared to sacrifice if an honest leadership emerges on the horizon of Pakistan for a better and prosperous future by standing on its own two feet and not on the crutches of IMF &US. God bless Pakistan.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]An uberblick

By:Imran Husain [/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

[CENTER][B]Is democracy no longer the best revenge?[/B][/CENTER]

German for overview, because that is where I am right now. The past week has been hectic to say the least. The horrific Boston saga, the mortifying earthquake, the tragic bombing in Peshawar, and of course, for people here, the unthinkable apprehending of the ‘president’. There are times I wish I could be dispassionate in discussing events that are close to heart and just discuss them as they are, but unfortunately my origins take over.

The moment I landed, the last so many hours spent on a plane, I was informed that “your president” has been arrested. I mumbled, “He isn’t president” but needed to get connected to know what exactly had transpired. When I boarded the plane at Karachi breaking news was that Musharraf’s bail had been cancelled and orders to arrest had been issued. That to avoid being arrested, his handlers had rushed him out of court and to his farm house in Islamabad. The events immediately after were for me a blank.

So I was a little surprised that it wasn’t commiseration for the earthquake or the incident in Boston that my hosts addressed but Musharraf’s “arrest”. For one, I spent some time in the car explaining that he was no longer president, and hadn’t been for X number of years. People in rational countries do not believe leaders can be involved in multiple ‘crimes’ but I sense that is changing quickly.. Accusations confronting leaders these days encompass unbelievable alleged facts. There is plenty that doesn’t make sense on the Musharraf subject.

First and foremost is the fact that we had learned in the past five years that “democracy was the best revenge”. The arrests and harassment of political leadership was a thing of the past that had been shelved once and for all. President Zardari deserves full credit for this. It is a huge happening on the Pakistan scene. It seems that we are now being coerced to review this. Yes, not just Musharraf alone did unconstitutional things. All and sundry condoned, validated, sponsored and accepted all of what happened. The people distributed sweets. So whom are we going to take to task or trial and are we going to spend the next decade unraveling the past while conveniently forgetting we have to address the compelling needs of a nation of 180 million people.

This is what incompetent governments do in order to divert attention. It is unfortunate that despite not involving itself in the revenge scenario the last government was engulfed in events that I believe strongly did not allow it to function. When the constitutional head of government is destabilized and forced to spend a majority of his time in defense of the constitutional head of the State governance is halted. So, as incompetent as the last government may have been, its job was not made easier by events. The actions subverting it were prejudiced by pride regrettably. And I believe the same is happening now; again at the behest of the very same actors.

The prime question asked is, why did Musharraf return? Absurdly people here believe, as I am told he does, that he stands a chance to regain power. That is certainly not the case, for sure. Leaders are deluded especially after almost a decade of unchallenged power as in this case. The retinue enforces this delusion for personal benefits. Those close enough to convey reality are rebuffed. Let’s just sum it up quickly and leave it at that. The ‘commando’, as per training, or brainwashing if you prefer, returned to complete ‘Mission Impossible’. Let us pray that he remains unscathed.

When Boston hit breaking news, I was sitting with a Bostonian in Islamabad. I winced, especially when a few hours later it was stated that “a dark skinned” person was believed to be involved. Of course, as anyone of us, I dreaded what could have followed. Good fortune prevailed and ‘we’ were not involved. Whatever, it was grotesque. I am unable, at my age, to comprehend this lust for blood, this desire to maim and kill; this savagery that has overtaken the world. I can only assume that the unfortunate vastly outnumber the fortunate driving this incomprehensible rage.

The efficiency with which agencies have been able to identify and capture the culprits must be commended. It is this response that can deter horrendous events and provide the sense of security desperately needed the world over. You can’t blame agencies for being paranoid. It has become a way of life.

At home, having lost one important family member, the Bilour family was mercilessly targeted last week again. Multiple deaths of the innocent ensued. Fortunately the main target survived to continue his avowed battle against terror. The question, yet again, arises as to the ability of the terrorists to plan and execute repeatedly without detection and marks the inefficiency of our security apparatus.

Terrorism is senseless. Those perpetrating it are wile human beings. Each occurrence is deadlier and the machination of evil conjures weapons that defy normal minds. That these people co-exist in society and walk the streets with normal folk is evidence of how lethal they are and our vulnerability. While the world is unable to adequately protect itself, terrorists hide behind laws, constitutional rights and are given full protection by the very same. They even protest action. This is so ironical.

The line has to be drawn somewhere. Justice must be done and it has failed to respond in the required vein. Lip service will not do. When a murderer still lives years after committing the crime in broad daylight there has to be something wrong. When terrorists are not mercilessly quashed and operate with abandon. I believe it’s time for navel-gazing. This questionable high moral ground when everything stinks needs to be remedied.

As a people we have been desensitized. Death and mayhem have quickly assumed the proportions of a daily occurrence. People die and the media hollers. Within hours its passé and we ignore it. If it’s close to where we live, we make the duty call to verify that all are safe. Earthquakes, floods, bombings come and go – as distant as you can imagine. That is tragic.

There was so much fervor and energy in the response to the earthquake up north a few years ago. I was there on a short visit and so proud of those who had set up camps. People from all over the country, I met some who had probably never been north. It was hair-raising to hear the story from the lips of survivors; their gratitude for the rescuers. Soon it all died down. Moneys released for survivors never reached them, redeveloping the area has been abandoned and the sufferers continue suffering. Three years later flood victims in Sindh are still displaced. The media has abandoned them; they don’t make ‘breaking news’ any longer. Tragically, this is what will happen in the latest quake.

Statistics quoted in a recent article reveal the state of mind of those who stand to inherit and reap what we are sowing. It is a thorough condemnation of our failure. We need to hang our heads in shame rather than tout democracy or achievements when 32 per cent of the youth consider military rule a viable future and regrettably 38 per cent are even willing to consider Shari’a rule a possibility. The one positive: 61 per cent we are told are willing to vote next month. Let us pray that they vote with their conscience and defy political feudalism. That may eventually prove to be the possible answer in the process of revitalizing and restructuring Pakistan.

The writer can be contacted at: [email]imranmhusain@gmail.com[/email]

- See more at: [url]http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/04/23/comment/columns/an-uberblick-2/#sthash.t4CKXtbb.dpuf[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Moral slump[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

April 25, 2013
Mowahid Hussain Shah




Moral slump is a pervasive pre-election perception, as battle for the ballot boxes loom ahead.

The makeup of democracy comes with a big price. One manifestation of it is in the corridors of power, which are flooded with bogus credentials. What takes a young man or woman years of hard work to attain legitimately now can be obtained through a counterfeit mill, calling it fake degrees.

But even more serious is the absence of rule of law, the spectre of constant insecurity, lack of fair dealing, unavailability of equal opportunity, and arbitrary actions. Family-operated oligopolies masquerade as political parties.

All of the above are tantamount to the phenomenon of fake governance. It is difficult to build a structure when the rudiments of foundations and infrastructure are not there.

The energy crisis afflicting the nation should by all standards be considered unacceptable in the 21st century. Yet, the on and off syndrome of loadshedding, which is devastating to the national economy as well as to the minimum well being of the people, is being digested as the new normal.

Not surprising then is the emerging issue of counterfeit pledges. Tall promises are proliferating, along with the allure of instant solutions to deeply embedded complex problems. The race for power is running parallel with rampant inflation.

What is needed is the writ of state ensuring equal protection under law. What is not needed is more talk and more talk shows. The task of rulers is to inspire confidence in the public that tomorrow is going to be better. It is not to leave behind a legacy of energy-draining despondency.

Pakistan has always had plenty of leaders, but where it does lack is in its leadership. Hidden amidst the commotion is the growing monopoly of big media houses, carrying within it conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety.

Now these dominant media houses are beginning to encroach into executive territory, the implications of which will slowly unfold. It would be difficult now to quarantine big media’s overriding influence, which is seeping into spheres outside its domain.

Sometimes, the system corrupts the man. Sometimes, the man corrupts the system. Either way, the average citizenry suffers and governance erodes. The rule of the unqualified and inept has brought sorry results.

When there is no vetting for the top slot, one can imagine the consequences and its impact on the middle and the bottom, who are likely to take cues from the top. Recommendation then becomes the sole qualification. No wonder many organisations are dysfunctional, bloated as they are with non-performers. What were once ships of excellence have now been torpedoed by mediocrity.

In the field of sports, the decline of cricket, squash and hockey stand out. Similar, too, has been the case of academia. The same applies to diplomacy abroad where those sent often have neither the personality nor the mentality to deliver the goods. Without a sweeping overhaul and revamp of policy and personnel, it shall be more of the same.

Can the nation afford more of the same? Or has the addiction to nonsense on the airwaves numbed the senses?

The writer is an attorney-at-law and policy analyst based in Washington DC. He is the first Pakistani American member admitted to the US Supreme Court Bar.

[url]http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/opinions/columns[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]First things first

S.R.H. Hashmi
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]

Comparing us Pakistanis with people from rest of the world, or at least most of it, we are left in no doubt that we are a unique breed, and I do not mean it as a compliment. I think this clarification was absolutely essential otherwise the statement could be open to misinterpretation, because most of us hold ourselves in very high regard, blaming the rest of the world for conspiring to deprive us of world leadership, a position that rightfully belongs to us.

Also, with people around the world, one could tell the difference between an educated person and the one not quite so, but not with Pakistanis with whom the distinction is sometimes so blurred that you can’t really tell which is which. Discussion programmes on the television are a very good proof of that where the anchor-person often looks on helplessly and tries desperately to regain control of the programme. Recently, the Election Commission had to tell the assembly hopefuls, in the style of a school teacher asking brats to behave, not to make personal attacks on their rivals Surprisingly, in our case, the lesser-educated people are better-behaved because of not having the arrogance which the educated people feel their level of learning ‘entitles’ them to.

And the art of ridiculing others has acquired the status of national sport. And we enjoy exercising authority, and even the smallest level of authority that one might have is expanded and magnified to the maximum, and we seem to believe that the real use of authority lies in mis-using it, to the benefit of ourselves, our family members, associates and friends and to the detriment of others around us.

And we have the mind of a child, except that it does not grow with age, with the result that we maintain child-like simplicity and excitement all through our lives, frolicking like children, completely oblivious of multiple dangers lurking all around us which, if not attended to, could, God forbid, finish off Pakistan as we know it. With Iraq already devastated, Syria now in hand, Iran Pakistan are the next obvious targets but we do not seem to be too bothered.

We have got to realize that after the Iraq invasion, which proved very costly in terms of dollars and American lives, our enemies have developed an economical model which involves setting different groups within a country against each other, with minimal costs to the sponsors. This model, developed and tested in Iraq, is now being successfully employed in Syria. In our region also, they have already activated their programme. It is a matter of shame for us that our enemies, some of whom are disguised as friends, have a more effective network in our tribal areas which helps them choose targets for their drone strikes, or to launch attacks against Shia community, as also against us.
And we are corrupt, at least most of us are. And if not directly involved in financial corruption, those working in government or semi-government organizations do ‘steal’ time, by arriving late for work, leaving early and even disappearing during working hours.

And while not being able to perform our own task satisfactorily, we are too eager to interfere in other persons’ jurisdiction, firmly believing that anything that anyone can do, including experts in the field, I can do it better while, lacking even rudimentary knowledge of the subject.

And our systems are old and out-dated, which is mostly true, at least for institutions not in the private sector. Take for example the voting rights of overseas Pakistanis, very many of whom will clearly be dual-nationals. Every one agrees that Overseas Pakistanis, whose pulse beats with us, and who go out of their way to help us out in every hour of need, must be allowed to participate in the election process. Despite all this, we failed to evolve a proper system for the purpose all these years, and have suddenly woken up and want it done instantaneously and are not prepared to take no for an answer, despite serious warning of mishaps occurring in case the system is rushed through. In the rest of the world, if the institution holding prime responsibility for the job, the Election Commission of Pakistan, categorically stated that it is not in a position to include overseas Pakistanis in the forthcoming elections, then even while condemning it for inefficiency, others will accept it grudgingly, instead of trying to force the ECP to arrange voting facilities for overseas Pakistanis on the basis of claims made by other institutions with performance records that could not be termed as impeccable. Even while proclaiming this affection for overseas Pakistanis, we know when a dual-national Pakistani approached an institution, he ended up as a terribly disappointed person.

Recently, I read a report where an official claimed that thorough scrutiny of a candidate’s record could not be done as it would take time and interrupt the ‘smooth’ holding of elections. So, quite a few people with tainted past, who should not have been allowed anywhere near the polling both, have been cleared and are all set to participate in the elections. An investigative bureau’s official suggested that due to shortage of time, the real scrutiny of the candidates should be carried out after the elections. Now, if an institution dares not stop the candidate even during the pre-polling process, how could it be expected to challenge the person when he gets firmly entrenched in the assembly after winning the election?

Recently, we read a depressing report that the criminals who gang raped an 18-year-old girl at the Mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam have, after five years’ trial, been set free because of lack of evidence, rejecting identification by the victim and DNA evidence. First of all, the cases should not go on for years and secondly, the law of evidence and investigative processes should be updated to bring them in line with the twenty-first century. The way things are; the system suits and protects the criminals instead of redressing the grievances of the victims, which is quite shameful. On the other hand, there are accused persons who have spent long time in prisons awaiting judgment, with their period of detention already having exceeded the maximum punishment that they would have been given, if actually convicted on the charge they were on trial for.

With corruption, which had been our problem right from the early days of Pakistan, we now have another menace, extremism, which reared its ugly head a few decades back and has been increasing in intensity all these years, and has now grown into full-blown terrorism. The sane leaders of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had warned against establishing Jihadi manufacturing factories to fight America’s war with Russia, but their advice was not heeded and now law and order situation in three out of the four provinces of Pakistan seems to be out of control.

The MQM had warned of Taliban arriving and establishing in Karachi but those who pass for leaders in our country ridiculed the warning. If the gravity of the situation was recognized and corrective action taken in time, situation would have been far better than what it is like now. Perhaps those in a decision-making position were too busy making money and placing their favourites in important positions and had no time for trivial matters like law and order situation which affects only the down-trodden masses, with their own security assured through private and official security personnel.

Our armed forces are doing what they can and have suffered substantial casualties in the process. However, their request to our civilian government to formulate a well-integrated anti-terrorism policy produced no results despite the government enjoying full five years in power.

I think it is time for those in authority to concentrate a bit less on whipping Pervez Musharraf and much more on the issues which are a matter of life and death for us, well, more of death than of life, as we see at present, at least in three provinces of Pakistan. We hear of an all-parties conference being called. However, it should not be treated just as a talking forum lasting a day or two but one that creates a permanent body which devices some interim and permanent measures for the solution of this problem, and gets the necessary legislation enacted in due course.

One obvious area is the improvement of investigation and prosecution procedures so that the criminals once arrested are given due punishment instead of most of them getting acquitted to resume their activities with greater confidence and vigour. We do need to update laws of evidence, and introduce measures for protection of witnesses. judges and prosecuting officials, and also to increase the strength of law enforcement and judicial officials which at present is nowhere near the required levels. We also need to give the law enforcement officials modern equipment and gadgets to enable them to deal with an increasingly sophisticated gangs of criminals, backed by resourceful enemy states which are now after us.

Musharraf needs to be tackled adequately but I think we need to spend the country’s time and resources on the real issues, instead of wasting all these on Musharraf-bashing, just for the fun of it. The down-trodden masses that never had it so bad as they are having now, are in no position to share the wretched sense of humour displayed by our higher ups.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Politicians are biggest enemies of democracy

Asif Haroon Raja[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


Persistent leadership crisis, frequent takeovers by military, tussle between secular and religious parties, antagonism between two mainstream parties, micro management of Pakistan’s policies by USA and its role in manipulating election and India’s unabated belligerence forced both civil and military regimes to remain India focused and to turn Pakistan into a security state. It in turn retarded economic and democratic growth.

National security and unresolved Kashmir dispute being of prime concern enabled the military to maintain a domineering position even when it was not in power. The civil government was restrained from crossing the red lines drawn by GHQ. This unwritten restriction motivated by national interests irked the civil leadership when in power. Sense of unease and irritation among the civil elite led to a cold war between the civil and the military. This controlled exasperation at times spoiled civil-military relations.

Failure of successive civil regimes coupled with security concerns forced or tempted the military to step in and rule for long years to cleanse the mess left behind by the civil government. The politicians in opposition after failing to bring down the ruling civil government coaxed and provoked the Army Chief to takeover, assuring him their full support in dethroning the elected government. They have traditionally distributed sweets on the fall of democratic government.

The military regimes did improve the economy, maintained semblance of order and speeded up development works because of relatively better governance and financial management, but impeded growth of democratic institutions.

As long as the military ruler ruled the country without acquiring the services of politicians, output remained at peak. In its bid to acquire legitimacy by giving a façade of democracy, each military ruler inducted the same lot of condemned politicians in his government. The mix whitewashed whatever achievements were made and brought bad name to the Army.

The judiciary legitimized the military rule under the doctrine of necessity. Forcible takeovers by Army chiefs were validated by the judiciary. Yahya was declared a usurper once he was no more in power and because of the 1971 debacle. The military dictators were allowed to suspend, abrogate and amend the constitution and issue Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). The judges willingly took oath under PCO. Bureaucracy always molded its working in accordance with the wishes of the rulers and served them obediently. It has been hand-in-glove with corrupt political elite and has also been misused by the military.

Media was vastly expanded and liberated by Musharraf and it became a force to reckon with, but in the aftermath of sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar on March 7, 2007, which triggered lawyer’s movement, the media became hostile. Secular journalists and pseudo intellectuals, mostly on payroll of foreign powers maintain aggressive stance against the Army as an institution, but feel pleased in promoting Indo-western themes. Besides negative role of own media, Indo-US-Jewish-western media has traditionally bad mouthed Pak Army.

PPP Jayalas joined by the liberals and secular elite as well as media continue to upbraid Gen Ziaul Haq mercilessly and unjustly hold him responsible for all the ills in the society. The PPP during its last rule not only declared ZA Bhutto’s hanging on April 4, 1979 as judicial murder, but also declared Zia’s rule illegal by passing a resolution in the parliament. Gen Zia in his 11 years rule added several feathers in his cap and raised the image of Pakistan in the world comity very high. However, PPP in its four stints gave nothing to the nation except false slogans.

The PML-N blames Gen Musharraf for inflicting a severe blow to the burgeoning democracy. It forgets that Nawaz Sharif had sacked Gen Karamat on flimsy grounds and bypassing Gen Ali Kuli Khan, appointed Musharraf as his successor. Instead of sacking him when he was in a weak position after Kargil conflict, he retired him when he was strong. Nawaz also forgets that Musharraf was fully supported by PML-Q led coalition consisting MQM, ANP and MMA from 2002 till end 2007. He was allowed to hold two portfolios of President and COAS. Even Imran Khan supported him till 2002. Benazir struck a secret a power sharing deal with Musharraf in July 2007 which enabled her and her cronies in exile to return home.

The secret deal was inked two months after the Charter of Democracy was signed by Benazir and Nawaz Sharif in which the foremost point of agreement was never to invite Army generals to takeover. But for infamous NRO issued by Musharraf, Benazir and others couldn’t have returned to Pakistan. PPP returned the favor by letting Musharraf win 2nd term on 6 October 2007, but once it gained power, it joined hands with PML-N to unseat him in August 2008 and allowed him to go in exile with full honor. Now when he returned to take part in elections, the PPP has joined hands with those wanting his trial under Article 6.

After seeing the poor governance and record breaking corruption of the last government, it has now been established that politicians and not Army are the biggest enemies of democracy. The Army leadership maintains that the Army seized power only when the country got derailed and each time the Army took over the reins it put the country back on the rails. The blame game continues even when the Army under Gen Kayani showed exceptional restraint and refused to takeover when huge calls were made repeatedly urging him to free the people from the clutches of parasitic rulers and save the country from getting ruined.

Reportedly, ATC Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi who cancelled pre-arrest bail of Musharraf is brother of Capt retired Mansur Zaidi, who was court marshaled by Gen Musharraf. Mansur was caught running a security company in Islamabad in 2008 and supplying weapons to Blackwater. Another revelation that has come to light is that Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui who cancelled Musharraf’s bail was a Mutahida Majlis Amal candidate in 2002 elections and a lawyer of Lal Masjid case. Supporters of Musharraf are saying that the judiciary has become vindictive and is bent upon punishing him and are egging on Gen Ashfaq Kayani to step forward and save ex Army chief from humiliation.

The last PPP regime managed to pull on with Gen Kayani since he lent full support to democracy and showed no Bonaparte’s tendencies. Finding him reliable he was given three-year extension to secure its five-year tenure. Notwithstanding several frictions which erupted from time to time on national security matters, a near breaking point reached after the memo scandal in 2011 took an ugly turn. The headlong clash averted due to PM Gilani’s retreat.

Gen Kayani has set a good precedence of keeping the military detached from politics and keeping it supportive of democracy. Had he intervened and sacked the PPP regime, there would have been huge rejoicing and Kayani would have been declared a hero. However, within six months situation would have reversed. The PPP would have regained sympathies of the people by acting as a political martyr and Kayani branded as a usurper and enemy of democracy. He did well to let them stew in their own juice and let the people to decide the true worth of politicians.

Hopefully this hands-off tradition will be maintained in future as well. Likewise, the politicians should also show greater sense of responsibility by not inviting the Army to takeover or maligning the Army as a habit to cover their own failings. Both the military and civil leadership should develop better understanding and try to improve civil-military relations and strengthen democratic institutions.

This can happen only when the politicians recognize their own failings and carryout self-correction and start behaving more maturely rather than continuing to parrot hackneyed themes and portraying military rulers in poor light and blaming them for every wrong that takes place.

Bureaucracy which has remained part of the problem also needs to mend its ways. Media can play a constructive role in harmonizing civil-military relations. Lastly, now that Musharraf has comeback at his own despite advice given to him by his advisers and Establishment, and is out of political race, justice demands that he should be given fair trial.

(The writer is a freelance columnist and a defence analyst)


[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]

[CENTER][U][B][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="5"]Good and bad dividends of democracy

Muhammad Shoaib Akif[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][/U][/CENTER]


In a country that was the outcome of democratic procedure in 1946, the democracy itself has suffered most so far. Democracy takes its revenge when it suffers which nothing can stop provided its sufferings are minimized timely.
It’s like a functioning organ of a body that becomes cancerous and if not required remedial measures are taken timely, it kills the organ first and then the body. The United Pakistan did not remain united anymore after the election of 1970. It was the first of revenge of democracy in Pakistan by majority of economically and politically most exploited people of East Pakistan: Bengalis.

The first ever constitutional completion of five years by democracy, in Pakistan, is due to unprecedented developments and not to any divine intervention. These developments are the answers to the problems what PPP-led coalition government inherited from Musharraf’s politico-economically disastrous military rule.

Economically, the problems such as energy and mafias-made commodity shortages, near default economy with 21 billion US $ trade deficit, circular debt of almost 2 billion US, 25% inflation, sick stock exchange and structurally crumbling army due to its internal abnormal promotions and external increasing business related activities.

Politically, the PPP-led government inherited state made and self grown mafias and militants, enslaved Swat, detained judiciary, bruised Baluchistan, burning FATA, boiling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, barricaded Islamabad, ready to explode Karachi and Quetta, hate spreading Madrassahs located everywhere especially in Punjab’s cities, dubious policy on terrorism, democracy-hating lethal mindset and worst of all an isolated and ostracized Pakistan.

The two mention-worthy things, which Musharraf did, could have brought about good changes. They were the district governments, and Kashmir policy of Musharraf’s last two years in uniform. The district government system lacked political participation and was anti-democratic, and hence failed and led to individualization of society. The Kashmir policy was discarded by the army, once Musharraf took off his uniform, to carry on its un-developmental expenditures in future governments.

The PPP-led government completed its term and deserves a big credit for that. Economically, ending the commodity shortages, taking stock exchange to new heights, reducing inflation to single digit of 8%, attracting all times high remittances of 13 billion US $ annually, giving provinces autonomy by removing concurrent list and a revolutionary financial award and reviving economy to that degree where it has become a kind of bubble that will not burst suddenly.

Politically, revitalizing the army by involving it in liberating Swat and Malakand division from the internal enemies, showing respect, though sometimes reluctantly, to super active judiciary, making media freer than it was ever before, succeeding in making anti-democracy lethal mindset less lethal, helping Afghanistan getting rid of Taliban, getting Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project going; and best of all leaving behind a Pakistan that is not isolated or ostracized.

The PPP-led government avoided introduction district governments system on party basis. If the PPP-led government had held the elections on party basis for this system, democracy would have led to differential developments leaving behind more poverty around and in urban Sindh and central Punjab. PPP-led government could not do it due to central Punjab and urban Sindh based political forces. Having district governments around is the shortest way to empower the masses, and to curb corrupt bureaucratic power, provided the bureaucracy is pro-democracy which it has never been.

However, democracy is stronger than it was ever before. Though the hawkish and hardened souls from central Punjab are still expecting the change through undemocratic means, such thinking is natural in a country whose history is full of coups and conspiracies. It will take two more elections for all of us to know about the worth and wonders of democracy.

PPP will again win in the election-2013 to form a coalition government with anti-Taliban democratic political forces in its leadership. Internally, PPP will have to face cash and capital hungry civil-military bureaucracy which doesn’t want most of revenue goes to people and provinces where it actually comes from.

Externally, Arabs and Americans are the enemies of open society and democracy in Pakistan. Arabs don’t want a predominantly Muslim Pakistan to be democratic truly. The tribal Arab kingdoms and fiefdoms want to promote tribalism to counter modernization, democracy, industrialization, and hence, an organized economy, in the region, especially after the wave of Arab Spring started in the recent history of Middle East. That’s why their politico-economic support to Pro-Taliban Initiative (PTI) and other pro-Taliban political and non-political forces of Punjab continues in Pakistan since 1970s.
The Americans want their meaningful presence in a land trade corridor that can connect strategically and economically two-thirds of the world. They are relying on the regional governments to facilitate their presence. They would do anything to achieve their objectives if resisted. They can again put Pakistan and India on an antagonistic course. When the Soviets left Afghanistan, Pakistan together with its friendly states from the Gulf took charge of the situation. The US afterwards supported the Jehad covertly. This is how the Taliban - the leaders of an organized and controlled militancy - emerged. Consequently, defiant and parallel militancy also emerged.

The warlords, the drug traffickers, the traders in arms and ammunition and extremists from different places formed their own militant organizations in the Pak-Afghan border areas. The dedicated Muslim activists funded by the rich Pakistani and Arab individuals, institutions and organizations also helped create militant groups inside Pakistan. This is how various Hizbs, Jaishes, Sipahs, Lashkars and ‘good’ Taliban emerged.

The controlled, defiant and parallel militancy devastated Afghanistan and Kashmir. The defiant and parallel militancy distressed China, India, UK, Russia and many Central Asian States. The militancy did not spare even its promoters. The Americans faced 9/11. Pakistan has been facing suicide attacks and bomb blasts on a daily basis.

The war on terror against the Afghan Taliban has already been won. Now the war is being fought largely against parallel and defiant groups. The war is not ending because at times these groups are protected by various states for situational compulsions or even to use them as strategic partners. Presently, there is coordination among almost all militant organizations. The ongoing war on terror is, thus, a complex war, a war that deals with its opponents as enemy and as friend - as the situation or strategy demands.

Pakistan’s oversized civil-military bureaucracy needs capital to sustain itself. It is expecting the Americans to be more generous. In case it remains capital-short, it will use all the resources, human and otherwise, that it has produced during the Afghan wars. The other way is that the future PPP government evolves a consensus among all stakeholders that failing to bridge the fiscal gap through indigenous resources will yield anarchy, and it will hurt all.

President Zardari is a determined person who is committed to the elimination of religious extremism. He has changed the direction of Pakistan. However, in a thorny journey to metamorphose Pakistan, the biggest resistance is coming from the civil-military bureaucracy, which has with the passage of time, become increasingly capital-greedy. The sooner we change the direction of the civil-military bureaucracy, the sooner Pakistan can change its history before Pakistan becomes a history itself.

[url]http://www.thefrontierpost.com/category/40/[/url]