Institutions debacle!
If we peek in the history of the country we shall find out that institutions have never been strong in Pakistan…….democracy has always suffered from the hands of people with highly despotic frame of mind; although Quaid e azam n Quaid e millat had things under control in their respective tenures….all the politician respected their word n mostly in critical matters they used to take the decision on their own and is was usually welcomed with open arms by every one concerned---perhaps because of their high stature but with the assassination of quaid-e-millet; downfall started. when mr. nazim ud din became pm, he was extremely polite n good–natured, patriotic person but lacked the decisiveness in decision making.
He believed in the power of parliament , he wasn’t keen to reach the masses and hear what they had to say rather he considered parliament as the sole voice of masses, he used to discuss every matter in the parliament n the cunning politicians took advantage of his loose control….every minister used to consider himself all in all in all matters….n with the controversial personality of ghulam mohammad as governer general and his intrigues supported by opportunist politicians, circumstances were created where he had to resign from the prime ministership…..then started a real chaotic n ironic era of Pakistani politics under the auspices of ghulam mohammad n later on by sikander mirza…few incidents of that time will clarify things as followed:
· An ambassador who comes to Pakistan(m. Ali Bogra) to discuss the terms on which loan was to be taken by a super power in midst of famine in the country; on reaching airport he comes to know that he has become the pm of the country…..
· No substantial effort was made to form constitution for the first 9 years where as India
· Political parties got created within the parliament (republican party), floor crossing was in vogue.
· Constitution was abrogated after 2 years of its promulgation.
· Army was given the task to stop smuggling of valuable crops n other resources from east Pakistan to India…..but after a few weeks influential `smugglers` compelled the Feroz noon govt. to take those authorities back from army.
· smuggling prospered immensely in that time and country suffered famine time by time.
· Also no concrete efforts were rendered by the governments to appease the flames of hatred n sense of deprivation in people of east pakistan n Mujeeb ur
feudalism flourished immensely n their influence in every walk of life became evident n of course casted its deep detrimental effects on country progress n prosperity whereas India got rid of feudalism immediately after partition n even Bangladesh on becoming independent, abolished this malicious system.
So it reveals that from the very beginning things never looked good for democracy….and because of frequent martial laws n incompetency n selfishness of politicians never let the institution of democracy to be strengthened.
Considering the current situation of Pakistani politics , one need not to be a analyst to say that country is going through very dire situation and concrete steps are required to be taken. Govt. has lost its credibility, popularity n integrity even the veteran n shrewd leaders r calling for massive change n even martial law. which is really weird n makes one realize how pathetic governance is prevailing in the country. People r getting frustrated n violent n ready to tear apart any one to give way to their frustration, which ought to be an alarming sign.
For the Govt. I believe some corrective measures are imperative to be taken whether by politicians themselves or any other body like supreme court etc sother wise masses will take everything in their hand and that anarchy wont be pleasant for any one……we ought to take both kind of measures; short term to stop the situatin from further aggravation n long term to bring about a massive change…short term measure may include strong check n balance in all institutions especially govt. departments, a mechanism should be developed that could ensure the transparency in the Govt. matters especially regarding allocation n utilization of funds, I believe computer based facilities should be used extensively in Govt. Dpts n all the details regarding funds utilization should be maintained there for every stakeholder to analyze for themselves and media would have to play a vital role there..but the most important aspect is of long term planning…..i believe core problem of Pakistan is poverty n unequal distribution of wealth, because if u r not fed, patriotism, social norms, relations, laws, human rights, global warming does not exist for you as all these things come way after in the consideration of a person untill his basic needs of food n shelter are met that’s way our general masses find it hard to comprehend why westerners emphasis so much on animal protection, environment etc
So firstly measures are required to eradicate poverty n raise quality of life of people on the whole, agricultural plans and incentives are essentials along with provision of suitable environment for business n private sector, provision of small loans etc
Then come the most important stage of educational reforms, our education system is basically defective it needs to undergo some substantive reforms n medium of eduction should be a single one…portion of education in GDP must be atleast 6% considering all the constraints…but pathetically it`s stranded on mere 2%.
And a sense of awareness needs to be awakened in the masses in terms of democracy; our people don’t know what they are expected to do as a democratic nation especially in electing representatives. I sometimes strongly feel that democracy doesn’t really go well with our people as in words of iqbal
`Logon ko gina jata hy tola nhi jata.`
so rightly how does a `rehri wala` and a` scholar` be considered equal……and dilemma here is that in my country people with some insight don’t actually participate in voting, I`ve come across many educated n especially educationist individuals saying that they`ve never cast vote in their life, it confirms that an important portion of society doesn’t believe in prevailing system and secondly in election even a child is aware whats goin on, most of the people give clan n family based votes, never know what`s the manifesto of the party; it becomes an individual or local thing rather than that the matter of the country, people are sometimes forced, a great number of votes are traded as well like a commodity, it requires common sense to understand that some one who is buying your vote, spending millions on his campaign; how can you expect him to be morally n professionally an honest person in office.
The ladder to power in our country is truly twisted, I don’t think any middle class gentleman can even think of participating in election,. criterion is rather elusive, some consider that one should be landlord or a notorious smuggler or something n someone with lots of black bucks to be in politics, of course some exceptions are always there.
And there aswell to achieve higher positions you need to be in the good book of party leaders too because no democracy prevail within the parties as well n strangely every party has its own set of democratic rules as they say: only the winners decide what were war crimes!
But the trouble is that we have Hobson’s choice in terms of system to opt…no other option than democracy, we need to adopt it in real sense then only martial laws should be out of question n masses would be stirred up to recognize their responsibility but still a vicious circle including factors like poverty,feudalism, illiteracy n conservativeness stand tall in the way of our goal, but we need to strive for it because persistence to our goal can only help rather than indifference on individual as well as on collective level.
All that up here is not meant to be any scholarly work its just the confusion, frustration and solutions of my mind drawn up here.
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!!!
REGARDS,
ZIA BUGVI
