A recipe for survival
Very few leaders have the courage to face upto reality until it is too late for them to remain players of any consequence in the unfolding of history. Hindsight comes after the event, for everyone that is except those who are so engrossed in their own aura that their egos make them blind to the truth. A handful of men and women with vision do exist, people who are capable of sacrificing their todays for a better tomorrow for their nation. These leaders are sensitive to the needs of their electorate and are ready to take tough decisions from a position of strength rather than negotiate them when they become weak. The character of a nation is an amalgam of the character of its leaders, poor nations cannot afford poor leaders.
Pakistan is at a crossroads of history. While the return of democracy has brought back hope, there is a dangerous drift in our society from established norms, disaster could be less than a breath away. As the institutions of government have become increasingly corrupt, the props of civilized society have been whittled away. A stage has come where the average citizen fears to report any crime, the fear being that the civilian law enforcement agencies may persecute him rather than prosecute the offender. Once upon a time we were very proud of our judiciary, the prolonged merging of judiciary with the executive has virtually destroyed the integrity of the courts, if not at the higher levels, certainly at the lower reaches. In every department of government, corruption is endemic, the stock fear is that the lawless (and their progeny) may become the ultimate managers of our frayed society, the ultimate anarchy of the Medillin Syndrome may be about to come true in Pakistan.
Ms Benazir and her successor as PM, Nawaz Sharif, have political weight of almost equal quantum but Nawaz Sharif has also been able to achieve more in the economic field. In the political field, both have blundered into political minefields. By appointing a close political ally, Ch Nisar Ali, Federal Minister for Petroleum to function also as his Special Assistant for Political Affairs, Nawaz Sharif has been better able to head off potential disaster than his more charismatic opponent. Why Ms Benazir preferred to use Happy Minwala as her political troubleshooter rather than an elected representative having political credibility no one will never know, least of all her own close aides.
In critical ministerial appointments, IJI overwhelms the previous PPP Government. Compare IJI’s Ch Nisar Ali in the Ministry of Petroleum with PPP’s Jahangir Badar, Malik Naeem Khan of IJI is head and shoulders (literally and figuratively) over Sardar Faisal Salah Hayat while Ehsanul Haq Peracha is no match for IJI’s Sartaj Aziz in the Ministry of Finance. Ms Benazir had (with honourable exceptions) ministers who seemed to be more like men on the make with touts on the take sprouting all over the countryside. Whereas Ms Benazir did have excellent political material in people like Aftab Ahmad Sherpao (the then NWFP CM), Sardar Farooq Leghari, Aitzaz Ahsan, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, etc too many of her cabinet ministers did not have any credibility. The IJI’s counter-weight list on the other hand has outstanding/above average people Raja Nadir Pervaiz, Fakhr Imam, Sardar Assef Ali, Lt Gen (Retd) Malik Abdul Majid, Rana Chander Singh, Hamid Nasir Chattha, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Hazar Khan Bijarani, etc, men about whom there are no whispers and rumours (or hardly any of substance). Nawaz Sharif has certainly had his faux pas in the Coop Scandal and the Daewoo fracas but he has shown a ready (and remarkable) willingness to lie low under fire, his larger than life brother (and target of opportunity for the Opposition) Shahbaz Sharif, managing to keep out of the glaring public eye, at least presently. All this is not to say that the PPP does not have honest and capable men and women, they have them by the droves, relatively much more in numbers and sheer dedication than their counterparts in other political parties, those at the upper reaches of leadership were made redundant by Ms Benazir by being kept out of the Ministries and shelved in Committees and Commissions, nothing was heard from or of them thereafter, some just quit the PPP in sheer frustration. Try as he might Nawaz Sharif cannot overcome his basic lack of ability to communicate with a mass audience, Ms Benazir has a God-given charisma that arouses mass adulation. That Nawaz Sharif has been able to hold his own is a remarkable achievement, a duel between organisational ability against spellbinding rhetoric modulated to fit audiences of every description. In a strange quirk of fate, the two leaders complement each other, if this potential can be harnessed for the good of the nation, this country will rise despite itself.
The IJI (mainly the Pakistan Muslim League) and the PPP (as a major component of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA) must come together for the good of the nation and establish a national government for a period of three years. During these three years, the aim of the national government should be to consolidate national integrity. National integrity can be duly strengthened by bringing about economic emancipation. To Nawaz Sharif’s undying credit he has started the process of economic self-sufficiency by deregulation, denationalisation and disinvestment to achieve the stated national objectives, it is necessary to make the institutions at all levels accountable. Accountability can only be achieved if there is democracy from the grass-roots level upwards on a phased basis. There should be no element of control by bureaucracy over the powers of spending of the elected representatives. The only paid government servants should be the auditors at every level and members of the law enforcement agencies. The philosophy of government should be that direct taxation must be linked to direct spending by the lowest level of elected representatives i.e starting from the Union level upwards. Federal Government’s revenues must come from indirect taxation, (i.e. customs duties, etc) but must be of direct benefit down to the Provincial level (which must collect VAT, sales taxes and excise duties).
A slate of ten candidates must be elected to be Union Council members in the exercise of adult franchise. The first two gathering the most votes must face a run-off election to become the Union Council Chairman. When all the Union Council Chairmen have been thus elected they then automatically become the slate of candidates for election to be the Sub-divisional Chairman, the first ten being elected as Sub-divisional Council members. Those Union Council Chairmen who become Sub-divisional members should be replaced by the defeated candidate as he/she got the second largest number of votes and is thus the next best representative of the electorate. The two members gathering the maximum votes then face a run-off election to become Sub-divisional chairman. In a similar manner as aforementioned, the District Council members are chosen, the first two facing a run-off election to become District Council Chairman. Only those who are members of the District Council then become eligible for election as either Provincial or National Assembly members. This grass-roots process ensures that there is no “absentee landlord-ism” in politics. The Prime Minister and Chief Ministers are eligible for election if they are National and Provincial Assembly members, their nomination must come from at least 25% members of the respective assemblies with the two having the most support facing each other in a run-off election based on adult franchise.
All income and wealth tax must be collected according to an agreed national formula but must be the domain of the Provincial Government. Corporate Tax must also be with the Provinces. The tax must be collected by the Union Councils and 50% given over to the Districts. The Districts must then keep 50% and give 50% to the Provincial government exchequer. Each tier must use the revenue receipts at their tier for the social infrastructure meant to support the inhabitants of their own respective areas. The Provincial Government must establish new hospitals, roads, universities, courts, power generation units, telecommunication facilities, etc down to the District level, the recurring expenditure must be met by the District. Similarly the District must go down in development work to the Union level commensurate with Union needs, the recurring expenditure must be met by the Union. The Union must establish and maintain its own institutions from the taxes it generates.
Depending upon the backwardness of the areas and the requirements of the Provinces, the Federal Government must allocate development funds. This is in addition to the Federal institutions that it establishes and maintains at the Provincial level, including National Highways, Electric Grid network, Federal Police, universities etc. There should be Ombudsmen at each level of government and each discipline i.e at the Federal, Provincial and District Level as also at the Federal and Provincial levels with men of repute in Taxation, Commerce, Telecommunications, Medical, Education, Irrigation, etc specialists in every field with inherent knowledge and a capacity to take quick decisions. Qazi courts must be established at the Union levels and go upto the Federal level.
Implementation of the new system will take some time. A National Government must refine these ideas in their practical implementation. No single party or grouping can hope to individually devise and implement a fair system bringing genuine democracy to the fore, a democracy that has an in-built system of accountability that decries patronage of any kind. Unless the client-patronage on which our present democracy is presently based is replaced by the merit system, there is no real hope for us. Client patronage can only be eradicated if people with grass-roots support come through the phased adult franchise process and are made masters/mistresses of the destinies of their electorate rather than be at the mercy of paid bureaucrats. With the country beset by internal strife and economic apocalypse, with the geo-political situation undergoing rapid changes, it is extremely necessary for our political leaders to open and continue a serious dialogue, the only forum for it is the formation of a national government. The country’s two main political groups have barely a few percentage points difference in their vote-getting potential, it is time that together they tackle the national issues on an emergent and cohesive basis so that the government facing the international and internal crimes is truly representative in nature. Personal ambition has to be subordinated to the national interest and only those party functionaries known for their personal integrity and honesty should be part of the Federal and Provincial Cabinets. Indeed the first priority of the national government should be a bipartisan effort to prosecute the corrupt irrespective of their party affiliation or status, this can only be done by a national government. The alternative to a democratic solution to the present crisis, before it spins out of control causing serious internal strife, is to have a tough, no-nonsense all-cleansing martial law. This is a solution that will not be palatable to any politician, as such it behoves them to begin the necessary dialogue leading to a National Government that will come to grips in a hurry with the burgeoning problems of this country.
The Federal Cabinet must be a coalition of the two major parties with smaller parties given recognition according to their national vote in the last elections. A cabinet could have 20 Federal Ministers and 20 Ministers of State with 7 of each coming from IJI and PDA (almost 38% of the national vote each in the last elections), the remaining six could go to the others according to their share of the vote. The allocation of Ministries must be well-balanced. Hypothetically speaking, Nawaz Sharif could continue as Prime Minister with Ms Benazir becoming Deputy Prime Minister, the Foreign Affairs and Interior portfolios going to the PDA, vice versa if the situation is reversed. If the Finance Minister comes from IJI, the Economic Affairs Ministry must be in the hands of PDA, the Petroleum Ministry being balanced off by the Ministry for Production, the Ministry of Communications being paired with the Ministry for Information. If the Ministry of Food & Agriculture is with the PDA, IJI must keep the Ministry of Water and Power and so on. In every case, if the Federal Minister is from one party, the Minister of State must be from another. This can work as a model for cooperation or could be a recipe for disaster, the end result will depend upon the level of national commitment and sense of sacrifice displayed by the incumbents. In order to ensure that the Armed Forces remain committed to democracy by being part of the process, the Federal Minister for Defence (and his Minister for State) must be a respected (and effective) ex-Armed Forces person, a consensus candidate duly agreed upon by both parties.
The thought of the best potential of both the major political groupings working together in tandem is exciting, it can only work for the good of Pakistan as it tackles the country’s social and economic problems on a bipartisan basis.
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