The masses must awaken

PAKISTAN is floundering in a maelstrom of crises. The future of the judiciary is likely to pivot one way or another depending on how, or if, the judges’ restoration conundrum is resolved. The growing budget deficit has compelled us to crawl before foreign powers, begging bowl in hand, compromising any shreds of national sovereignty and pride that remained.

The electricity shortage has made life unliveable for everyone in the searing summer heat and is also bound to have profound economic repercussions.

Spiralling poverty, runaway prices of oil and essential food commodities, lack of opportunity, uncertainty, corruption and a harrowing law and order situation, because of which no one is safe even in their homes, have all but destroyed the common man. The collapse of the writ of the state and virtually all state institutions has prompted some to label Pakistan a failed state.

The promise of meaningful change heralded by the verdict of the masses at the Feb18 polls has been reversed by those who crept into power by virtue of a tragic kink of events and who, even before the polls, allied themselves with the forces of the status quo through a shady deal. That the concept of change is lacking from their intent is proved by the dubious constitutional amendment package they are promoting as the panacea for our pains.

In it, they dangle the carrot of restoring the judges, but in such a handicapped form as to make their restoration meaningless, hamstringing the judiciary forever. They propose to restore genuine parliamentary democracy by curbing the president’s powers, but at the same time wish to give the president a constitutional umbrella to sanctify his actions, including the illegal Nov 3 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), which they continue to vilify in public.

They beat their chests in public, calling for the president’s impeachment, but at the same time maintain a backdoor channel with him. This constitutional package has been deliberately designed to be unacceptable by mingling good with bad. It is an exercise aimed only at buying time.

That this government appears to show no genuine commitment to implementing real change should come as no surprise. They are products of a deal hatched under the status quo and, therefore, have a vested interest in preserving it. Though the electorate delivered an unequivocal verdict against the status quo, they could not have placed the responsibility for change on more ill-suited shoulders.

These are the ‘hollow men’, T.S. Elliot wrote of in his famous poem. But not everyone in politics is hollow. The people had a choice. However, the voters rejected all others to elevate those with a failed and stained past to power. They made a decision through the ballot box based purely on emotions rather than reason and are now paying the price for it.

They should expect no better from these leaders than the current mess. C.S. Lewis, in his book The Abolition of Man, writes: “In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the gelding be fruitful.”

This government is what it is and can do no better than that which its natural propensities permit. The people must suffer the consequences of their choice until either providence or their own initiative provides an opportunity for them to redeem themselves. But what is really shocking is that though the people now realise their mistake, they seem to be in no mood to make amends for it. As if in a trance, they continue to bear the brunt, mumbling their discontent, rather than holding their leaders accountable.

At a time when many are forced to scavenge for food on rubbish heaps for mere survival, hundreds of ministers and advisors live it up on a lavish state-subsidised ego trip and are squandering millions from the public coffers on luxurious vehicles, palatial homes and other perks and benefits. Yet the people remain silent. While the country squirms in the grips of multiple crises, our leaders jet set all over the world and make decisions regarding our future on flights to Dubai and London! But the people remain unmoved. Millions of rupees are wasted on protocol and security arrangements for those who hold no public office and relatives and friends of those in power. But the people remain mute.

Far from holding them accountable, people actually legitimise their perverse rule by flocking to these rulers to seek jobs and other favours. They are baton-charged and humiliated to keep them at bay, but still they keep coming. It is a sickening sight.

Sooner rather than later, people will have to understand that they, not the rulers, are the masters. They must realise that the succour they crave from burdens and hardships comes not from degrading themselves by begging and crawling before unworthy rulers. It comes from establishing a sound system run by clean, honest and competent leaders, so that they no longer have to de-humanise themselves to obtain that which is theirs’ by natural right.

This can only come about by taking a firm, principled stand against all that is wrong and making rational, sensible choices at the polls rather than being swept away by emotions and sycophancy.

Left to the devices of corrupt, incompetent and self-serving leaders, this ship will inevitably sink. The masses must awaken and become masters of their own destiny. No one should expect that changing the course of a nation’s destiny will be an easy affair. Of course it will involve hardship and sacrifice. As the saying goes, revolutions are not made with rose water.

This is where the problem lies: everyone wants something now and no one is prepared to bear hardship and make the requisite sacrifices. But the alternative is far more painful and ruinous. Plato wrote, “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” We have had more than our share of evil over the last six decades. Time has come to clean house. This is a task no one but the masses can fulfil.

Posted on: 18-June-2008

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