A beautiful life
By Ghazi Salahuddin

Ultimately, the test of the ongoing electoral exercise will be the change that it can bring about in the lives of the ordinary citizens. And that would not be possible without a shift in the mindset of the people who have perpetually been in power.

Change, of course, is the dominant slogan in the campaign that will get into high gear when the nomination process is completed. But there still are grave apprehensions that it is likely to be more of the same.

In fact, what has changed in recent years is that our social deprivations are now more intense and the dark forces of militancy and religious extremism have distracted the attention of the powers that be from development and social justice.

I had an occasion this week to collect my thoughts on the prevailing situation in Pakistan when asked to make a presentation at an Oxfam GB conference held in Islamabad. The subject assigned to me was: ‘Development and humanitarian trends: role of civil society in the current context of Pakistan’. While this encounter allowed me to recycle my thoughts, as I do in this space, I felt inclined to put specific emphasis on the lack of human dignity for the poor and the entrenched class structure in the traditional sector of our society.

By way of an example, I made use of a quote from a published interview of a dignitary from the ruling class. This is what he said, apparently with a sense of pride: “I have a beautiful life, a home much more beautiful than the Governor House. I have bigger lawns. I have a better plane than the governor’s plane. I don’t take any strength from this office, but I understand it’s a great responsibility and burden. May be I don’t make people happy, but I hope I make my God happy”.

Well done, sir, and may your lawns grow greener and bigger. A beautiful life it certainly should be. One also wonders if its beauty and grandeur are further enhanced by the misery of the lives that are lived beyond its high walls.

Anyhow, when I read this excerpt, the participants belonging to the Oxfam partners engaged in social development projects did not have to think very hard to identify the person who is so well endowed. Yes, it is the present Governor of Punjab Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmud.

You should read the quote one more time. Consider the thought that while he may not be making people happy, he feels more assured that he is making his God happy. Whose God is it, for God’s sake? It is hard to say, when you look at the present state of Pakistan.

In his interview published in Newsweek, Pakistan, Ahmad Mahmud also said: “I must admit I am a champion of dynastic politics”.

Now, I do not wish to make any comments that are personal in nature. The governor is known to be a fine gentleman and worthy of respect. What surprises me, though, is the manner in which he has expressed himself.

Besides, it is important to look at the region to which he belongs. It is also to be noted that former prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani is a close relative. We are aware of the beautiful life of Gilani and how his fortunes, and those of his family, may have multiplied while he was in office.

In any case, these are families that have ruled in their region, representing it – and technically its people – in successive assemblies and have taken their turns in the national and provincial governments. The forthcoming elections are bound to certify how fathers and sons and brothers distribute all the constituencies among themselves.

It is true that such families – political ‘waderas’, in a sense – are too many. But the example of the Makhdooms that I have highlighted is remarkable in one respect. They come from a region that is identified as underdeveloped and poor.

You are welcome to include Shah Mehmud Qureshi in this list though he is unlikely to make the confession that Ahmad Mahmud has made. The entire logic of creating a separate province out of southern Punjab is that it is a very deprived region.

Again, this is not the only instance of how very rich and powerful families can grow and flourish in a barren landscape made more desolate by the living conditions of the ‘wretched of the earth’. A couple of months ago, I travelled to Tharparkar with a group of development experts and activists.

We stopped over in Badin to interact with some members of civil society. The stories of poverty, deprivation and degradation that were told to us were soul-destroying. It was an emotional experience. Yet, Badin is very rich as an oil-producing district and its elected representatives, such as the family of Zulfiqar Mirza, are very well endowed.

So, we have this paradox of very rich and politically powerful families representing very poor people often surviving in sub-human conditions. The pity is that the electoral politics is conducted in the name of the ‘awam’. All power, they say, belongs to the people. But it is the powerlessness of the people that baffles the mind.

When we talk of poverty, we should also try to understand its various implications. Our poverty is also social and moral and intellectual. I would say that even what Ahmad Mahmud has said betrays the poverty of our affluence. A beautiful life, in that sense, can be unbearably ugly.

On Thursday, we had the latest reminder of what the situation on the ground is. The 2013 UNDP report on human development has ranked Pakistan 146 out of 187 countries. We have constantly been falling in the Human Development Index. There is little satisfaction in knowing that we are at par with Bangladesh and just ahead of Angola and Myanmar.

The most striking feature of the report, as stated in a United Nations press release, is that 49 percent of the population in Pakistan lives in poverty. Irrespective of how you measure poverty, the grim reality of it all is manifest in what is happening to us at this time. Look at Karachi and hang your head in shame. It is hard to dispel the impression that things are really falling apart.

Can elections pick up the pieces and create a new Pakistan? I find it hard to offer any hope in this respect because I see little scope for a paradigm shift in our ruling ideas and a genuine awareness of the reality of our existence in the minds of our rulers. Perhaps they are pleased with the thought that they can still lead beautiful lives.

The writer is a staff member. Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail. com