Governor’s Rule in Sindh Reaping the Whirlwind
Liaquat Jatoi was an unmitigated disaster as Chief Minister not only for the Province and PML(N) but also for the country. Stepping in as an acceptable compromise to keep Ghous Ali Shah’s grubby hands from the Chief Minister’s slot in Sindh, Liaquat Jatoi ruled over a fractious coalition. Assisted by two brothers, Salik Nazir and Shahid Nazir from the bureaucracy (known locally as the brothers Nazirov), Jatoi governed on the “Zardari” premise that all was fair game in the Province and his partners were deserving of sharing in the loot and booty. As the party that got the maximum seats in Sindh in 1973 elections, PPP could not muster enough strength to form a majority and a weak coalition came into being in which every faction functioned on the principle that every man was for himself in utter negation of duty and responsibility not only to the Province and the country but also to their own conscience. If Liaquat Jatoi was not being periodically blackmailed by Pir Pagaro’s Functional Group then there was a dissident group within the PML legislators who kept him running for cover to Islamabad. The only people he was comfortable with were the solid phalanx of MQM legislators who looked to their sole leader in London for advice in the obtaining of their pound of flesh and some, deriving maximum advantage from Jatoi’s misrule. Karachi is always a big economic cake where a lot of foreign-aided projects are on order. A triangular relationship developed between Liaquat Jatoi, MQM and the Brothers Nazirov to ensure that most of the projects went to companies of British origin. Investigation revealed that the scam started from the pre-qualification stage. By ensuring that major international companies stayed out of the bidding, one can always stack the deck and easily manipulate projects in favour of one’s favourites. As in Asif Zardari’s reign, huge contracts were directed towards the British or those aligned with them. This seemed to suit everybody and a constant stream of visitors became not-so-accidental tourists between Karachi, London (and back). Logistically it suited everybody, where MQM leader Altaf Hussain was living in comfortable self-exile and most of the British companies were headquartered there. With MQM all powerful in the Sindh Government, Chief Minister Liaquat Jatoi was content to remaining only as a puppet on a string. The Federal Government well knew all this but in order to sustain their provincial government in power they had to look the other way at the excesses being perpetuated by their coalition partners. As such they ignored all the clear indications about the Government, being in power in name only. The Kalabagh Dam issue set off alarm bells in the PML(N) hierarchy, particularly when Liaquat Jatoi came out in true colours to show that he marched to a different beat than that of the party.
Glimmer or Mirage?
While the pall of dark economic gloom continues to hover over us, some short-term indicators have started to twinkle. We continue to face a horrendous economic situation, deepened by a chronic shortfall in revenues. The magic revised figure of Rs 305 billion is still almost Rs 100 billion away in the last quarter, there is the glimmer of hope that the worst may have bottomed out and we may finally be on the road to the elusive economic recovery.
For the common man there is no issue more sensitive than food, followed by water and electricity. Last year, due to faulty projections the last elected regime defaulted on adequate imports of wheat stocks on time, with the Caretaker regime maintaining the status quo of inertia, there were “atta” riots as wheat stocks plummeted. Some PML stalwarts in Sindh took advantage of the situation to turn “atta” into gold. Wheat in tons went across the border, primarily into Afghanistan but also into other adjacent regions. This time around, the government was taking no chances and fully 4 million tons of wheat has been imported to add to the surplus stock held because of last year’s excessive import. Add to this a bumper crop this year and we are fairly wallowing in wheat. This bumper crop has been due to policy initiatives in agriculture, where the agri-credit was raised from Rs 12.5 billion to Rs 30 billion, allowing farmers a 1:2 ratio of DAP to area instead of 1:4 ratio they previously used. With support price raised, this has resulted in 12-13% increased production with 4% increased average, a 2 million ton increase. To this add the success of the Canola crop in reducing our edible oil imports by an additional US$ 300 million last year and almost US$ 150 million this year. With a world-wide slump in textiles, our domestic cotton off-take has been reduced and we have an importable surplus, enough at least to keep feeding our traditional markets. Even though our textile made-ups have gone down considerably, it has been somewhat made up by a sizable spurt in the manufacturing sector, up by almost 16%, almost 60% of it policy-related. The most significant manna has come from heaven as oil prices have crashed the world over, saving the foreign exchange earmarked for this purpose. If “el Nino” holds back in Sindh where the wheat harvest has already started and any rains would play havoc, things may well look up considerably.
Symbols for Accountability
Contrast the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif, appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer charges of corruption in the French Minehunters deal, to Ms Benazir Bhutto, required to answer questions raised by her role in the purchase of five secondhand helicopters by the Cabinet Division and refusing to do so. For someone who has a lot to answer for, she can be quite obdurate most of the time, all cooperation, honey and sugar when it suits her. With great fanfare she appeared on April Fools Day before the Nazir of the Sindh Ehtesab Bench case to take bail on a surety of Rs. 25,000, but she still refuses to appear before the PAC. Answering the PAC summons Mian Shahbaz Sharif confidently answered the queries of Maj Gen (Retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar, former Interior Minister in the PPP Cabinet, and convincingly proved to Gen Babar (and the PAC) with the help of his passport that the information given to Gen Babar based on which the General had levelled the allegations, that he had travelled to France to “influence” the French deal, were wrong. With Gen Babar not able to substantiate the charges, the evidence on record was found to be incorrect and the PAC held the allegations to be false, exonerating the Punjab CM. On this Gen Babar did the honourable thing and immediately retired from politics. Both the events are symbolic of the new season for accountability in Pakistan. Shahbaz Sharif deserves kudos for creating precedence, appearance before various forums is not only being avoided on different pretexts by Ms Bhutto but also by Mian Shahbaz’s Sindhi counterpart, Liaquat Ali Jatoi. Gen Babar did us proud by doing the honourable option available for the upright when proven publicly wrong, such things rarely happen in Pakistan, in Japan they would have committed hara-kiri. Not that senior government functionaries should start appearing in every court on every charge but when the inquisition is desired by one’s colleagues of the elected Assembly, the decorum and dignity of that institution demands the presence of those from whom propriety requires answers from, particularly pertaining to their honesty and integrity. Earlier to Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s appearance before the PAC, the PM’s appearance before the Supreme Court (SC) on a contempt of court charge in Nov 97 had symbolically conveyed to all and sundry that no matter how high the office and the mandate notwithstanding, the authority of the Supreme Court of Pakistan transcended any other authority in the matter of dispensation of justice. For politicians who subject themselves to the court of public opinion on a continuing basis, submitting to the authority of the judiciary in an environment that tends to normally manipulate justice, is an important and giant symbolic step for accountability. However politicians are not the only breed that start filibustering every time a court of law asks them to appear for some reason or the other, bureaucrats very seldom make an appearance and that only on very deep sufferance and with great resentment. Since the judiciary is still not separated from the executive, judges and magistrates below the level of the SC and the High Court remain in apprehension of the long arm of the bureaucracy.
1998 – Reason to Hope?
Having lived through a traumatic 1997, do we have reason to hope for a better 1998? If we continue to repeat the mistakes of the past year then 1998 will certainly be far worse. If our political leadership learns from their own mistakes as well as those committed by their predecessor PPP coalition and the Caretakers who followed them (albeit for a short period), we certainly have reason to hope. One can live on the fountain of hope, one cannot survive on hope alone. There has to be positive activism with a constant check kept both on the style and content of governance that will feed our hopes and aspirations. Given parliamentary brute majority, PML candidate Justice (Retd) Rafiq Tarar was duly elected and sworn in as President. The Courts have still to pass judgment on his alleged contempt of court. One does not see him evading disqualification, condoning his remarks may set an unhealthy precedent for the judiciary future. The PM will be far better off if the President survives only shortly otherwise he will remain a focus of controversial attention that will distract the functioning of the government to alleviate the economic sufferings of the people of Pakistan. If Justice Tarar survives as President, Pakistan will be hard put to survive Tararism.
The country desperately needs macro and micro reforms across the broad spectrum of the whole structure in Pakistan. The macro reforms must follow a comprehensive national census, the most important being, viz (1) local bodies elections (2) majority vote, run-off elections (3) proportional representation and women participation (4) direct elections (5) dovetailing education with population planning (6) smaller government (7) reducing and decentralization taxation (8) direct linkage between taxation and spending and (9) accountability/justice at grassroots level. With respect to micro-reforms, the most important are viz (1) restructuring the police station and the police (2) bringing private sector participation in all the service sectors and (3) private sector monitoring of all government functions. A myriad number of other reforms are needed but these must take precedence.