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A State of Hypocrisy

What a travesty that Zardari, on Benazir’s death anniversary, should call former President Pervez Musharraf a “Billa” (tomcat) – one of those that come along and “drink all the milk”. While one could disagree with Pervez Musharraf on any number of counts (including the NRO that permitted Zardari another go at Pakistan’s treasure chest), Musharraf is not a thief.
Musharraf’s riposte about ascertaining which ‘Billa’ drank the most ‘milk’ was, therefore, most appropriate. The irony is that Zardari, who is normally liberal with the truth, should so brazenly taunt, by inference, the Pakistan Army. His PR types tried damage control by calling his remarks “allegorical”. Allegorical indeed!

The superior judiciary well knew about the endemic corruption that permeated Zardari’s regime but in a reverse use of the ‘doctrine of necessity’ conveniently ignored reality in the mind-boggling belief that they were upholding the constitution. This highlights the fantasy democratic world we have created for ourselves. The president of Pakistan should be the person symbolising rule of law; and Zardari displayed utter contempt for rule of law. This contempt persists even when he is out of office – just consider the blocking of a main thoroughfare in Karachi adjacent to Bilawal House under the name of security.
The Sindh High Court ruling for removing the obstacles/barriers cuts no ice with the Sindh government. Protesting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers squared off with PPP activists and had to face being beaten by police batons. To their credit, the SHC pulled one back by declaring the obnoxious amendments to the Sindh Local Government Bill as unconstitutional.

As chairmen JCSC and COAS, Gens Rashid Mahmood and Raheel Sharif are lucky in not inheriting the mess Musharraf left the army in, eroding the professionalism of the senior hierarchy by promoting mostly undeserving ‘Bajis’ into three-star slots. Kayani moved on a broad front not only to make the army into the mean fighting machine it once was but to restore its self-confidence and public image. However, he failed to integrate the higher command of the armed forces.

Rashid and Raheel owe it not only to a higher calling as patriots but to their professional integrity to remove the anomalies presently disfiguring what should be a unified command structure. The rank and file can only rise up to their expectations of their chiefs if they rise beyond the selfish parameters of their personal fiefdoms to the aspirations of the nation.
Despite his recent five-star incarceration, Musharraf persists in being seriously delusional. His statement that the whole army stands behind him is wrong and mischievous and meant for his own survival. Musharraf should have the strength of character and propriety not to get the army that suffered because of his personal ambitions embroiled again in controversy to save his own neck. Shame on him for trying to get the army into ‘the line of fire’. He owes that much to the uniform he once wore.

While the army’s rank and file will not like to see their former chief humiliated, they certainly do not condone treason. Having violated the constitution in what they thought was the greater interest of the nation, Musharraf and his aides should now have the courage to stand by their acts of Oct 1999 and Nov 2007, and in-between. If what he did was not for his personal sake why should soldier Musharraf fear the consequences?

On his return to the court in 2007, the former CJ set off unprecedented judicial activism but on issues of substance – NRO, the Swiss Case etc – there was much noise in the courtroom but no substance. The silver lining during the former CJ’s tenure was the induction of over 100 judges in the superior judiciary. Over the years this will make quite a difference in the quality and potential of our superior judiciary. To his credit there was also considerable movement on human rights issue during the former CJ’s tenure. We now see less sensationalism more professionalism. The former CJ tasted political power from his time in the streets and may have a political future marked out for him.

The government has to focus on reinvigorating the economy. To do that it has to first tackle the insecurity that is eroding the confidence of the investors. While it pursues dialogue with the Taliban to get them into the mainstream of the country, one does not hold out any great hope that these ruthless militants will ever give up the power they presently exercise though the barrel of the gun. Moreover, how will we separate the ideologues from the criminals?

While the military has fought a successful counter-insurgency, all the talk in the government about a Counter Terrorism Force (CTF) is just that – talk, at least until now. Steps must be taken to reactivate the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and convert the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) into the nucleus of a CTF.

Without energy the economy is going nowhere. Initially prioritising getting more out of our existing power plants by overhauling and efficiency-sizing them, the government has taken positive steps putting in new units on a fast-track basis, whether hydro, thermal, solar, wind, etc. Incidentally we have again fallen behind in our circular debt cycle.

This government inherited an awful mess from their predecessors and for this reason, one has to give them more time. The barometer of Zardari’s misgovernance can be gauged from both the PPP PMs, Gilani and Ashraf, being under investigation for corruption even while PPP-led coalition was in power. The PML-N had good knowledge of the problems they were likely to inherit if not the full extent of it, and on the face of it they did not work out a plan of action.

Proper and effective management is needed for both the government and senior-government entities. The lack of it is asking for trouble, a recipe for economic and political disaster. If there is a paucity of talent among their loyalists, the government must tap potential outside its political cadres.

While we have yet to see the fulfilment of many promises and the economic aspirations of the people are far from being assuaged, there is no comparison between Mian Nawaz Sharif’s regime and that of Zardari. Anything is better than the misgovernance of the PPP-led coalition. The Sharifs are at least attempting to provide good governance in contrast to the deliberate malfeasance of the Zardari-led regime.

For one reason or the other the electoral process is being delayed mostly by the provinces. The provincial governments will get the incentive to conduct the elections only if the courts re-install the previous local bodies administration till the delimitation process is correctly completed. At present, this democracy is in a state of hypocrisy without local bodies functioning at the grassroots level.

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