Where Do We Go From Here?
The recent Federal Budget has increased the threshold of pain that the common man has to endure because of the misconceived policies that a “democratic” regime is implementing in horrendous fashion through an errant bureaucracy. Despite what Mr. VA Jafarey claims, and Mr. VA Jafarey has been making quite a number of claims to the contrary recently, the economy is in serious trouble. If it were not for our much vilified parallel economy, the same that everyone (and his/her IMF uncle) wants to document and cannot, we would be up the creek with only a begging bowl for a paddle. The Pakistani Rupee is sliding ominously against the US dollar and the country’s stock markets are barely kept afloat by frequent doses of massive public sector intervention. An economic disaster-in-the-making is not a startling revelation, not only does it cost the man in the street more to go on living, everyday drives him deeper into debt. The middle class cannot afford to die even, their hard-saved life insurance may not be worth the paper it is written on, given that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has requisitioned almost all of State Life’s funds to create the instant liquidity Government of Pakistan (GoP) seems to acquire whenever an IMF deadline approaches. Creative accounting be damned, we have resorted to outright fudging to maintain the financial lie that all is “milk and honey” with respect to our economy.
Former Finance Minister Senator Sartaj Aziz, made some telling points when releasing statistical data showing up the economic shortcomings that have brought us to such a desperate financial position. Since Minister of State for Finance Makhdoom Shahabuddin lives by the formula “ignorance is bliss”, the Atlas-like burden fell on VA Jafarey whose efforts were unconvincing because misrepresenting the truth with confidence is alien to his rather dignified persona. Rhetoric aside, the fact remains that we have to meet our debt-service obligations very soon and do not have the wherewithal to do so with our current liquidity. Without the IMF crutch we can only turn to our traditional help from our friends in the Middle East and they are about “dry” themselves. We have no recourse but to appeal to the “patriotism” of the noveau rich who have salted away much abroad from their “pocket money” to give us a loan at a much higher rate of interest. We will need at least US$ 3 billion to bail us out and tide things over during the Mexico-type financial emergency that most pundits predict is just around the corner.
Corruption is neither an invention nor has it been patented by the Ms Benazir regime. All the governments, Moeen Qureshi’s supposedly squeaky clean Caretaker regime included, have had their share of rascals. During Martial Laws, publicity about the volume and frequency of corruption was circumscribed because of the restraint on the print media, that nadir of corruption has only been surpassed by the present free-for-all. Furthermore, corruption is not confined to the hierarchy, it is very much present through the entire spectrum of government. In many cases those who made hay while the sun shone in the 80s have the sun still shining on them in the 90s and they are making even more hay. These stalwarts just change their liveries (loyalty being an abstract form to them) from time to time and are very much still running the government for their new masters as they did for their old masters, without efficiency and with its usual dose of nepotism and corruption. That is the sum of the authentic statement repeatedly made by Murtaza Bhutto, himself prime suspect of conducting an elaborate “Noora-Kushti” with his PM sister to keep justice (and the Armed Forces) away from his doorstep. You may resent the corruption, refined over the ages, it has now become an accepted part of life and you cannot do much about it. That compromise our principles for, this should not be acceptable to civilized society. That fact has given rise to another disturbing phenomena, the flouting of ill-gotten gains without any fear, that is the level of brazenness we have ascended to. So what if there is an oversize farm in Surrey, a luxury apartment in London, an elaborate chalet outside Paris or even an island off Spain, is there anyone in authority with the courage or the conscience to ask where, in the absence of any known business, the money came from? The Opposition must be commended for the sophisticated ploy of requesting the ruling couple to redeem their “honour” by filing a suit against the errant British newspaper that spread such “canards”. Despite a lot of rhetoric and chest-beating about “tribal honour” and a dramatic tearful denial, one notices that honour has become subservient to discretion, understandably the better part of valour. After all what is to be gained by denying any further what everyone knows to be the truth? Better to brazen it out and rely on a gullible public to have a short memory, the “Madam Marcos” example is a perfect role model to emulate, the brazen face of corruption in the face of public exposure.
Why blame Ms Benazir in isolation, blame “the retired ballerinas” who surround her and insulate her from what the public really thinks. Having served Zia faithfully whether in uniform, in civil service or on deputation with international organisations, these persons obviously believe that there is no life after retirement, unlike old soldiers they refuse to simply fade away. They want to live their entire public life all over again, the second time devoted almost exclusively to the pursuit and acquisition of money and power for at least three of their future generations. Some of these retired ballerinas roundly vilified and targeted the PPP during Zia’s regime, creating hell-on-earth for the party workers in whichever field their authority held sway. The pall-bearers at Zia’s last rites today occupy luxury official residences and perks/privileges resembling those of an Arab Prince, while the PPP workers, except for a privileged few who have come to terms with their conscience and have been accommodated, are still camped outside in the cold. During the period of serving Zia, PPP workers kept on searching for a place in the sun, today Zia’s cohorts occupy the same seats of power they did under Zia while the PPP workers have their share but only in the form of a scorching sun outside the corridors of power. And what about those “retired ballerinas” that serve the World Bank and the IMF before retiring to become doomsday soothsayers about their country’s economic shortcomings? At least people like Dr. Mahbubul Haq have settled down in Pakistan, the others come here either during their holidays or on “emerging” business. That is the sum total of their brand of patriotism.
Increasingly the last hope for this country seems to be the new found independence of the judiciary. Implementing the rule of law in a society that accepts misdemeanour without embarrassment is no mean achievement. Through the whole spectrum of society there seems to be a fresh wind of hope, courts are waking up to the fact that they have to dispense justice, not the whimsical dictates of the executive. In a Third World environment, display of such independence by the judiciary not only needs courage, it requires that courage be shored up by an effective authority. Somebody has to stiffen up the judiciary’s spine in the face of the threats and calumnies hurled at them, the judiciary can only be strong if they are comfortable that support to them is credible. As things go today, the economy is in doldrums to the extent of comprising national security while the rule of law is not only being mocked with contempt, it is being violated at will in the face of judicial restraint. The exercise of government has become a sham devoted solely to the practice of nepotism and corruption. Where does all this leave those who have a stake in this land? Where do we go from here? And when?
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