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The gathering storm

Pakistan is today in a state of deep economic and political crisis, almost everybody who is anybody seems to accept this as a fact except the so-called “ruling troika”. Obviously they know something the rest of us do not. The demeanour and response of the President and the COAS to media questions displays either a blissful ignorance of realities on the ground or a deliberate effort to play down the issues motivated out of their own individual interests. What is worse is that they tend to first give bland answers to the media that are ambiguous in nature and then subsequently proceed to deny the perception that is taken by the public as to the real meaning behind their pronouncements. Putting it bluntly, they have been playing such with public emotions that a stage is coming where the veneer of character and integrity of these gentlemen is going to wear off sooner than later. After all there is a limit to giving them the benefit of doubt. As far as the Constitution is concerned, the indignities that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is being presently subjected to speaks volumes for the dubious respect that the present regime has for the dignity of this august office as enshrined in the Constitution.

The greatest asset that this government has is the poor quality of the Opposition that it has had to contend with. If the PPP regime are their own worst enemies, the Opposition do not lag behind in being even worse enemies of themselves. Pakistan has had many crisis through the half-century of its existence but one cannot remember any other period of time where we may have had mass public apprehension of so many issues at any one given time. While the political parties seem to have woken up to the fact that politics aside there is a real danger to the Federation, public apprehension has been registered by groups affected by economic woes by individual protests rather than any organised raising of voices. The prevailing disunity and disorganization among the politics notwithstanding, a semblance of common purpose of ousting the government at all costs by any means seems to be emerging. On the surface at least it does not seem to be causing the PM any sleepless nights, serenely confident she is busy symbolically thumbing her nose at all comers, friend and foe alike. I almost kept a bet (and would have lost it) with a confident and more worldly-wise Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee that the Gen Babar I knew (and respect) would rather resign than sit alongside Haji Nawaz Khokhar in the Federal Cabinet.

Nothing symbolizes this thumbing of the nose more than the swearing in of the PM’s spouse Asif Zardari as the Minister of Investments. As everyone knows AZ (as he is known by friend and foe alike) runs a very efficient parallel government that has effectively emasculated and/or circumvented the Constitutional process. Only the selection of the present COAS upset well-laid plans to take over regal possession of this entire country lock, stock and barrel in a creeping, deliberate manner. The scenario was breathtaking in its concept and would have been admirable if it was not balanced on a thin fault-line that divides good from evil. Given AZ’s known powers of governance as an unofficial super-PM, the only reason for legalizing him as Minister seems to signal a scornful response to very strong, evidenced accusations of nepotism and corruption. As Barrister Bachaa has stated, “what has poor Zardari done to deserve downgrading to the rank of Minister?” unquote. This one-liner could be humorous if it were not so true. The Bhutto-Zardari combine were presented with tough choices with respect to the real estate they own in Surrey, to accept ownership thereof and be damned or to brazen it out and rely on the usual public amnesia to soon forget it as an issue (anyone remember the “Sikh List” believed to have been given over to Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 that was solely responsible of the cessation of logistics to the beleaguered Kashmiri independence fighters?). Joining the government formally gives AZ the perception of a certificate of purity that has to be acknowledged by all (including the President and the COAS, who of course must not think of AZ as corrupt or they would have said so at least in the interest of national security). For cynics who tend to imply that Zardari is the “Minister for Investments Abroad”, the official Ministerial position now authorizes him the salutes of all uniformed functionaries. Before the COAS tosses off his smartest salute, he should perhaps ask himself with what conscience he could send home early persons of three star and two star rank, surely their supposed misdemeanours were nowhere as bad as those being attributed to poor AZ?

The week marking our entry into the year of 50th independence started with a strike called individually by a host of protest groups, not the least being the newly galvanized Opposition parties. Most commercial and industrial entities kept their doors and shutters shut, public transport was intermittent for the most part. Normal routine was badly hit as the number of absentees from work was fairly large. While the government controlled media understandably called it a failure, the fact remains that united or not, the Opposition to the Government is growing, not so much because of political initiatives than for the government’s mishandling of the economy. Since ultimately economic problems come home to roost politically, the government of Ms Benazir seems to be presently in a no-win position. On the one hand is the IMF that feels that the present regime has not gone far enough in undertaking basic structural changes in the economy, on the other groaning under spiralling consumer price escalation the public is not ready to take on any further burden. The Surrey Estate affair being aired at this particular moment is like waving a red flag before the public bull. Sensitive to the public mood, the government has been carrying out a creeping political and administrative retreat on the tax front, giving in to individual protest groups one by one. The downside is that even those who have no reason to protest have taken up cudgels to somehow escape the tax net. The government is absolutely correct in trying to document those who constantly stay away from attention, they will now take refuge in the shadows of the greater public protest and will thus escape due retribution for another year.

Political and economic troubles have beset Pakistan in the past, the country has survived in the core of its existence. Whether it will be able to survive spiritually the criminal assault on the judiciary is another story. Discipline is basically an abstract quantity that is enforced both by motivation and/or fear. Since nationhood is basically an assemblage of willing like-minded people, self-discipline and self-control is the major factor that keeps equilibrium in society. In civilised society judges and courts at every level have a pedestal of honour and respect that is kept aloft by invisible authority. “How many divisions does the Pope command?” asked Stalin, the answer being “none” does not diminish his authority which is derived from the moral force of belief. If this modicum of respect is violated it amounts to contempt which is a criminal offence under the Constitution. What is happening today in Pakistan has wider ramifications for the future. In utter contempt of the Supreme Court, the Government has been refusing to implement its ruling for over 150 days now. The media and government machinery is being blatantly used for personal attacks on the judiciary, various indignities are being visited on the person of the honoured judges. Without respect for the apex Court where is the future for the rule of law in this country? God forbid if this moral authority should break down at its core, we will disintegrate as a society into a Somalia or a Rwanda in double quick-time as everyone (and his/her uncle) takes law into their own hands. While most people seem to view the present economic and political turmoil as a sign of dark clouds clouding over the future days of Pakistan, the “Gathering Storm” that the campaign of the present regime against the judiciary portends is far more dangerous. Perhaps the greatest irony in the matter is that a Government that claims it has risen to power through the democratic process by Constitutional means and thus demands recognition by all the forces in the country as a constitutional entity, has such disrespect for the one Constitutional authority that is the civilized arbiter in society of all Constitutional mores. There is a civilized way of the educated that demands respect for the rule of law, and then there is the way of the illiterate that has no respect for anything but the rule of the gun to enforce their concept of law. This government seems to want problems to be settled by resorting to confrontation and violence, by the overwhelming use of force at its disposal. This gathering storm could sweep us away both as a civilized society and the last vestiges of the nation we once were before the creation of Bangladesh. Let those who still have the capacity to uphold the law ensure due respect for the judiciary by speaking up now despite their penchant to hang onto their own seats of power at the cost of the country they profess to serve.

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