The Helpless Tending the Hapless
After sacking politician Khawaja Nazimuddin as PM a year or so after they successfully conned him into vacating the Governor General’s chair for bureaucrat Ghulam Mohammad in 1951, the superior bureaucracy proceeded over the years to usurp the rights of all other services who were not in the Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP), ie customs, income tax, police, secretariat group, commerce and trade and railway officers, but mainly the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officers etc. CSP cultivated good relations with the Army with the sop of 10 % quota in the successor District Management Group (DMG), police and Foreign Service, even bringing the C-in-C of the Army at one stage into the Federal Cabinet. The minority Federal bureaucrats imposed blatant discrimination on their majority Provincial “colleagues”, how can good governance be possible at the grassroots level? Sub-judice before the Supreme Court (SC), the DMG is successfully prevaricating by keeping “agreements” that gave them untold power as “state secrets”.
With the Constitutional protection of their service given in both the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions kept deliberately out of the 1973 Constitution, self-preservation forced bureaucracy to align themselves with the wishes of different political masters who promote them, post them and/or suspend them at their own will and whim. This politicisation compromised their credibility and effectiveness. On their side of the bargain, the politicians allow the Federal DMG to criminally dominate their Provincial “colleagues”. Irrespective of Imran Khan’s “Tsunami”, with the PCS officers up in arms in the Punjab against the incumbent Sharif govt, the “Patwari factor” will work against them from being re-elected.
The former IG Sindh Police claimed helplessness before the Supreme Court (SC) bemoaning 30% of his force was politicised, various political handlers ensuring that whenever target killers were hauled up they were let free within hours. The junior Police ranks have been stigmatized by their own commanders about endemic corruption and high-handedness, this acts as a force-multiplier for the already adverse puldec mis-perception about them. More than 20% of the force is punished for corruption each year, has anyone ever heard of any SP or DIG being held accountable for lack of supervision? Why do most of those “living beyond their means” belong to the Federal Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) constituting 7% of the officer cadre, rather than the Provincial Police officers (PPO) numbering 93%? Similar to the DMG, the PSP blatantly discriminates against the PPOs.
Dogar was chosen to head the SC to avoid accountability, or at least frustrate the process. When Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was restored, great expectations were raised about widespread accountability. Even with a Dogar-less Iftikhar Chaudhry-led SC more than a dozen plus judgments remain without implementation, can anyone remember what the acronym NRO stands for? About 900 days later, public aspirations for the SC to deliver on accountability has diminished markedly. Why did their lordships avoid giving a definitive SC ruling against the militant wings of the political parties for target killings in Karachi despite conclusive findings? Fretting and fuming makes great courtroom drama for public consumption, the SC’s rhetoric remains just that. It was shocking to hear the CJ lament, “where do we send the corruption cases?” The CJ noted that officers recommended by the apex court for being prosecuted for corruption were promoted and posted to better positions while those officers working properly and dutifully are being transferred to Gilgit-Baltistan. If that is not sheer helplessness, what is? With their job security more important than fighting crass criminal motives of their political masters, deprived of judicial protection the bureaucrats have little stomach to uphold the laws of the land. Adm Fasih Bokhari as Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) could put some steel into their spines. A man of proven principles, Bokhari can help the superior judiciary bring accountability back into our lives if he stays true to character. The Election Commission (EC) suspended many Parliamentarians for not submitting their asset details. Very commendable but why is the man holding the highest public office in the land absolved of this principle? To be President, a candidate must be eligible to be an MNA, legally Zardari should declare his assets. What do our Honourable Lordships in the SC think?
Their ongoing human sacrifice notwithstanding, the military hierarchy seem to be “subaltern-like” deaf, dumb and blind to the rapid collapse of the country’s social, economic and political infra-structure around them. Upholding of the Constitution and not interfering with civilian authority’s supremacy is commendable but where is the Constitution when they interfere to get their way as and when it suits their own core interests? The Army’s inborn penchant for accountability (for others) remains something for the rulers to worry about, but the rulers are not showing any such concern anymore. The general perception is that human weaknesses can be exploited, that the military hierarchy has been “compromised” somehow. Given bitter experience, theirs could be a genuine aversion to taking over power, notwithstanding the legal ramifications of the SC verdict against “doctrines of necessity”. No military has any business taking over the govt but they must show visible support to the superior judiciary in ensuring that those in power do not misuse it. The day could well come when the Army keeps holding the Constitution aloft but is left without a country. Kayani discovered belatedly that Mike Mullen’s friendship was skindeep relative to US core national interests, the COAS is no Gorbachev but he should remember the Soviet Union disintegrating even while the Soviet leader was being profusely eulogized by the west as the “great deliverer”. Can Kayani rely on the tremendous discipline that is the hallmark of this Army keeping the rank and file helpless?
With the one great superpower in the world presently helplessly locked into supporting outrightly crooked and thoroughly corrupt regimes in the name of “democracy”, not only in Afghanistan, but to our detriment, in Pakistan, the hapless in our country are facing rising prices and abject poverty and deprivation. With the education system in disarray, the once-vaunted running of trains subject to the appearance of the out-of-order locomotives, the loadshedding of electricity and gas closing down industries adding to widespread unemployment and making life quite uncomfortable, without hope of justice only courtroom rhetoric and drama and with accountability thereof now just a distant dream, with terrorists having warped religious motivation exploding bombs at random in streets, mosques, school etc, with the Army’s (and the ISI’s) image in tatters abroad, with political leaders having fake degrees and making false declaration of assets hiding their inadequacies by showering ungentlemanly abuse on their opponents, is it a wonder that the prevailing despondency is eating into the natural resilience of the hapless people of Pakistan? Public confidence in the ability of state institutions to deliver having virtually evaporated, can one fault the hapless for losing hope that the helpless can deliver?
For the sake of the hapless of Pakistan, can the “helpless” rise to their own potential and conscience before it is too late? Will Imran Khan’s Oct 30 Minar-i-Pakistan rally be the political game-changer the hapless in Pakistan have been desperately looking for? Maybe it will goad the helpless into being less so!
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