National consensus
Opposition circles in Pakistan have demanded a National Government to cope with the ever worsening internal situation and the rapidly changing geo-political circumstances. The incumbent Government has laughed this suggestion off as unnecessary, unrealistic and without constitutional basis, echoing the PPP stance during its regime. The need and advisability of a National Government is debatable at the worst of times and the efficacy questionable even in the best of circumstances, there remains an overwhelming need for national consensus. Without a meeting of the minds on key economic, political and administrative issues, the proposed National Government may become a battleground of sorts, paralyzing the civil administration.
Key issues affecting the lives of most citizens of Pakistan need to be spelt out, in priority to that affecting a significant minority. The common good should take preponderance over the subjective interest of a minority, the majority taking into account the minority interest so as not to alienate them from our society. In face of the IJI Government’s overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and whole hearted support of the President, the manner the Twelfth Amendment was rammed through the National Assembly in 30 minutes flat gave an impression of weakness, an unmistakable sign of under-confidence in its own vast numbers. Nobody doubts the efficacy or need for the said legislation, the arbitrariness gives rise to doubts about how the new law will be utilised, reinforced by the perception that the intelligentsia and the masses do not have confidence in the impartiality, honesty or integrity of some elements among the law enforcement agencies. When justice becomes selective, it tends to become a crime. Subjective IJI weakness was again on display with the induction of a 50-member Federal Cabinet with about 20 Parliamentary Secretaries, something which could have been avoided. Politically it makes sense to include disparate forces within the ambit of the Government, it also allows the minority constituent groups occasion for blackmail at the slightest pretext. The 80 or so MNAs who find themselves outside the Cabinet may feel slighted and thus remain open to exploitation by the Opposition. Politics may be a game of compromise and convenience, little attempt has been made at compromise with the political forces in Opposition. In the changing geo-political circumstances, dramatic initiatives are possible in both external and internal issues if we inculcate a spirit of compromise and a genuine commitment to national unity in supersession to selfish vested interests.
The struggle and sacrifice of the Kashmiri people must not only be applauded, we have to invigorate our foreign policy options to ensure that India and the world community see our stance as united resolve. Dialogue with the major Opposition leaders is necessary for perfecting a single platform. We must be prepared to extend some sort of an olive branch to India. The issue is sensitive and cannot be debated publicly for fear of any number of reasons muddying the situation to the detriment of the Kashmiris. Views of the representatives of the AJK Government and Opposition as well as the major militant factions within Indian Held Kashmir need to be ascertained. Taking into consideration all relevancies and coalescing them into a broad platform would save remorse later on, not taking into account internecine conflict. In all international forums the Opposition must support the Government’s stance while acting as a check against any deviation. All factors point to a gradual de-escalating of the war in Afghanistan. The All Parties Conference on Afghanistan before the final phase of the 1988 Geneva Accords provided for a broad political consensus, despite differences on perception and emphasis. The Government should have initiated discussions with the PDA to obtain a united front before the current negotiating process got underway. Our historical ties with Central Asia, dreamed about by visionaries even before Pakistan was created, is suddenly wide open to us for exploitation. The Muslim Central Asian Republics will have the last priority of aid from western sources, creating a tremendous opportunity for the Muslim Ummah with Iran, Pakistan (and Afghanistan) in the forefront. While Afghanistan has already been continuing the historical land link (across the Oxus), both Iran and Pakistan have contiguous land routes for trade based on the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. This politically sensitive and economically lucrative issue must be subjected to intense internal debate to arrive at a consensus.
Despite political posturing there is definite consensus of sorts on economic issues. The sizeable majority of legislators has permitted the Nawaz Sharif Government to put those basic economic reforms into place which the Benazir Regime had on the drawing boards but lacked the political strength to put into effect. The pace and mode of privatisation needs to be discussed, some statements of the Opposition about renationalisation are rather alarming for present and future investment, seem to have been made out of pique rather than conviction. In any case it is necessary to have an agreed structural framework where reforms instituted are well thought out and lasting. To encourage investment, confidence in continuity must be restored.
The Government has been tarred and feathered because of the Cooperative Finance Companies scandal, Benazir exploited this by a grassroots campaign into the heartland of Punjab, gathering momentum till she did a mystifying “time-out” at Jhelum and headed for France. She was about to enter that territory which is the traditional recruiting ground of the Army, the maximum number of people swindled by the Coops have been ex-servicemen and civilian pensioners who had invested their commuted pension and life savings. A long march to Islamabad would have been possibly fatal for this government, they were left panting on the ropes but welcoming the respite. In any case luminaries of the Opposition are also involved in the scam and this measure (which is politically a time-bomb) could be better addressed as a human-cause issue to alleviate the sufferings of the poor, gullible millions who have invested their life savings.
As predicted, whether under PPP or IJI colours, the common political denominator for solving Sindhi’s problems rested with Jam Sadiq Ali. The PPP failing to use him as Chief Minister, it fell to the lot of IJI to do so, with lethal effect on the Provincial PPP. Jam swiftly brought relative peace to the urban areas, by making a historical compromise with the MQM, which is as it should be! However, the rural areas have deteriorated from a “state of siege” to a virtual “state of insurrection”, captive in the hands of dacoits armed with sophisticated weapons. As does happen in such cases, some elements in the law enforcement agencies have gone out of control and into business for themselves, excess is now being practiced by them in the name of Jam Sadiq and Irfan Marwat. Human beings can be pushed to a limit and Jam is too much of a consummate politician not to realise this, so he must rein in these elements. While a strongman image does no harm, it would be a tragedy if Jam Sadiq and Irfan Marwat should be seen as supportive of such tyrants, misusing their name and authority. Police officials tend to change masters without missing of a step. The shoe may well be on the other foot next time around. Serious dialogue among politicians is necessary to ensure that the law enforcement agencies do not cross the thin line into political repression. The prime requirement for any society is that the rule of law must be upheld.
The most important need is to address the deteriorating international reputation of Pakistanis as individuals. Being scandalized as heroin smugglers was bad enough, the BCCI saga has labelled us as white collar criminals also. Repeatedly the Government has been urged to place the local BCCI under direct control of the State Bank of Pakistan, remove the present BCCI management and conduct an independent enquiry in association with recognized international investigators to show the truth about the so-called “Black Network”. As it is there is a world-wide feeling that local BCCI officials are “untouchable” because they know too much and a cover-up of BCCI activities is underway in Pakistan. The President of Pakistan, normally a discreet person, must disassociate himself from the BCCI Foundation. As a nation we must shun misplaced loyalty and face ugly reality, thousands of innocent expatriate Pakistanis may lose their jobs because we chose an ill-advised ego trip. Job openings in an already scarce international employment market will be closed to Pakistanis. One of the important factors of our economy, home remittances is already dwindling. The Government is again urged to carry out damage control and take remedial action NOW!
A unique international opportunity is available for Pakistan. Instead of proposing Gohar Ayub Khan for the largely ceremonial post of Chairman of the International Parliamentary Union, why not propose Ms Benazir for the post of UN Secretary General? There are few people in the world with the positive international credentials that she has, added to the fact that maybe the time has come to have a woman in this prestigious world appointment. Margaret Thatcher may have more experience but Third World nations feel she is too dominating. In many ways Ms Benazir is the perfect choice, education, background, political history and all. Her frequent international forays recently in spite of domestic political opportunities point to the fact that she may herself be interested in becoming the UN Secretary General and may have been on a quiet, personal lobbying campaign. For Pakistan, one cannot think of a greater singular honour internationally. With Benazir in the UN post, the present adverse media attention against Pakistanis will be deflected considerably as her charisma and media presence easily obliterates negative reaction, as we have seen domestically. Pakistan must seize this chance of a lifetime, even domestically this may serve to lower the threshold of confrontation.
National consensus requires a pragmatic approach, coupled with unity of purpose. To develop that consensus we need leaders of vision, prepared to sacrifice their egos for the national good.
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