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Selection and Maintenance of Aim

The primary mission of any government in the world is to tend to the economy. A vibrant economy is the source of life for the people of any country, divergence from the selected aim has meant disaster for many a nation. In the struggle for power since the country was divided in 1971, the economy has been given a very low priority and the result has been that on a pro-rata basis the quality of life in 1997 is far inferior to that enjoyed by the average citizen 25 years earlier in 1972. For divergence from the primary aim we have only got an inferior leadership to blame, a leadership that gives only lip-service rhetoric to its major responsibility, subordinating it to a myriad number of issues with their own priority given to survivability and how to ensure longevity. The unfortunate part is that if the government would concentrate on fulfilling its promise for the service of the people (and only people) as its primary aim, the issue of longevity would resolve in its favour as a side effect of its greater success. However every government that comes to power gets itself so involved in working for the “next” term that they never finish their first term. Despite our hopes for a sea-change in attitudes, we find that Mian Nawaz Sharif’s regime is no different in their approach to governance than their predecessors, they have fallen into the same routine of riding to power as democrats with the “mandate” of the people, then shedding their democratic cloak for absolute monarchy and then attempting to elongate their civilian dictatorship by any number of means. Less than a year into a massive “mandate” from the people, the Mian Nawaz Sharif regime is reeling, mainly because of a penchant to rail against windmills, with the advice of mule-headed Sancho Panzas.

We have barely passed IMF muster, we came that close to being denied any succour and where would that leave us, up a financial creek without a money paddle? For obtaining that measly financial sustenance, we must thank Senator Sartaj Aziz, the Finance Minister, who, with his amazing command of facts and figures, gave a passionate series of presentations, the last round starting with his excellent discourse at the IMF Meeting in Hong Kong in September 1997 which was very much appreciated not only by the World Bank and IMF hierarchy but by a normally cynical world media, not particularly well-disposed towards financial technocrats. For all those who are waxing eloquent about the release of the first tranche of IMF aid, let’s keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to fulfill their conditionalities by the time disburse of the next tranche comes around. In fact the money dished out by the IMF is important but not that crucial, what is more crucial was the fact that it was agreed to, because if the IMF funds had not been forthcoming, the perception of denial would have devastated our financial credibility in the world market and donors would have deserted us in droves rather than sink money down a perceived “black hole”.

By October 1996, the country’s economy had a huge hole in it, courtesy of Mr Asif Zardari and “Zardaronomics”, a not so new idea which means holding a country’s foreign exchange in one’s personal name (and that of selected nominees/relatives/associates, etc) in foreign banks for safe-keeping, so that the masses in Pakistan cannot waste it on “useless” socio-economic nation-building activities. For the exercise of Zardaronomics the royal one had got together a motley band of financial looters who diverted/directed money into his pocket and/or theirs, the volume/direction of cash flow depending upon opportunity. To keep the economy stable after this plunder, even at an extremely low threshold of viability, has been an Altas-like burden shouldered by Senator Sartaj Aziz mainly and also by the Governor State Bank of Pakistan to a great extent. For a person 70 plus this has been a virtuoso performance but it has almost laid him low physically. He should take into account nature’s danger signals and slow down. As it is his pre-occupation with the economy has diverted his role as the Chief political advisor to the PM as Secretary General of the PML (N), with almost devastating effect to the credibility of Mian Sahib’s principles of governance and conduct thereof. The Sancho Panzas of this world are only yes-men! While every man makes mistakes and leaders do more often than others because of the sheer number of decisions that have to be made on continuing and endless basis, Mian Sahib has been a source of severe disappointment to those normally his fervent supporters. People do not question his judgment about issues, he could be right or wrong and that is in the way of things, they do seem to question his priorities. The major reason why the people of Pakistan have given the PM a mandate to rule Pakistan was because they felt that he was the one best suited to handle the economy. One feels frustrated (and helpless) that instead of tackling the very real economic problems he is instead busy gambling his political future and the economic emancipation of the masses that he represents, on issues which are of little importance to the much suffering general public. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was only a few months from retirement when Mian Nawaz Sharif shortened his own tenure by almost two years in a quarrel that should never have taken place and which was exploited by his arch enemies to the detriment of the economy and the stability of Pakistan, an end result of three dark years of unparalleled loot and plunder. Can Mian Sahib evade responsibility for his misplaced judgment at that time? Now when the Chief Justice has three months or so left, why is he picking a fight with him when he could keep his head down as any good infantryman will tell him, given that he may have sound justification for his arguments? The massive support for the Prime Minister was based on the premise of good governance by him. For the record, what has been going on has been an insensible display of ego at its worst and that will hurt the PM in the long run because the intelligentsia, which in any case has been slow to come to his side, will fade away much more rapidly. As my friend Ardeshir Cowasjee lectured me the other day, it is a question of sincerity of intention. Leadership of any kind anywhere has to have definite indications of integrity of purpose in all their objectives. Leaders must also seem to be clear, not only be clear in the aims but must not give any perception of it to be otherwise. While one disagrees with late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser on any number of counts particularly the mess he got his country into, the man was honest. When his daughter came first in a scholarship to go and study abroad he declined permission. His daughter was very upset and the whole family remonstrated with her father that she had taken part in a competitive examination and got the first position on merit without any help from the father. Nasser replied that he knew that and was very proud of it but if she went abroad the public would think that she was being favoured because she was Nasser’s daughter. In effect, more important than any fact is what the public perception is. Does the public have confidence that whatever the PM is doing is right? What is the public perception? The PM may very well be justified in pushing forward his point of view but unfortunately for him the public perception is that the Chief Justice Supreme Court, being the supreme arbitrator of justice in the land, is right and the PM is wrong.

Much more than anything else is the choice of issue to do battle in. Why is the PM taking an uncalculated risk which may well cost him his post when the political penchant should be to compromise and live to fight another day? Maybe we should all go and whisper the meaning of the word “discretion” many times in the PM’s ear, it is the better part of valour, real, false and/or perceived as such. It is also the twin quality of virtue. The Romans had it right when they placed a man on the chariot of every returning conquering hero entering Rome in triumph, whispering, “Remember, thou art mortal!” The PM should remember that not very long ago he was out in the cold and could very well be again unless he maintains the singular aim that he has publicly chosen, the economic emancipation of the masses.

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