The Song, Not the Making
Entering the political arena for any soldier is like an infantryman trying to cross a minefield covered by massed artillery including a fair amount of air-bursts. Being a commando, Pervez Musharraf is certainly more infantarian than a gunner, moreover he is anything but “lean and mean”. Calling for a referendum seeking the peoples’ approval of his policies for the past 30 months and continuation as President thereof past Oct 2002, the President proceeded not to heed the advice of a small number of his real friends who were deadset against any Referendum, he went with the majority, i.e. the “yes-men”.
Informed legal eagles are both for and against the Referendum, making constitutionality a matter of legal opinion depending upon which side you represent, so that is not reason for apprehension. The electability of Pervez Musharraf is also not a source for worry, he is extremely popular among the masses and the polls predict a good percentage will vote for him to stay in power and continue his governing the country, or rather, his monitoring of good governance of the country. What is worrying is that while he has been very effective in ruling the country by single fiat without association with any politicians, in this new political environment, one he (and we) could have done without, he has to be vary of perceived friend and foe alike. It was scary looking at the politicians in the front row in Lahore on April 9, on a corruption-meter they exceeded all that NAB has hauled up till now.
Deterioration of Financial Institutions
The three major reasons for the deterioration of the financial institutions in Pakistan are (1) nationalisation (2) dependence of both the government and the private sector for liquidity exclusively on the banking system and (3) pre-emption of substantial part of the credit by the government. A myriad number of smaller inter-locking factors have contributed to the decline of the credibility of financial institutions in Pakistan but most can be traced back to these aforementioned over-riding reasons.
Two major concerns led to the nationalisation of the banks in the early 70s by the first PPP regime. Of primary concern was the fact that control of finances of the country interfacing with that of assets were in the hands of a very small minority. The other reason was that the priority sectors were neglected inasmuch social and even economic development were not supported by credit allocation viz, agriculture, small industries corporation, transportation, construction, etc. Money was concentrated in the urban areas at a severe cost to the rural areas. A great bulk of the credit was going to industry and trade which claimed about 67% of the credit given to the private sector with only the balance 33% going to the rest of the private sector economy.
Merit as a Disqualifier
A system that accepts patronage as the primary factor governing upward mobility must eventually collapse. To compound the situation, the beneficiaries of a Client-Patron relationship have to resort to corruption and nepotism to sustain themselves within the system. This is done to the detriment of talent and merit, striking at the very root of efficiency and achievement. Negating the principle of fair-play and justice in evaluating performance and capability sets in motion a process that eventually destroys the system from within. It puts pressure on the working of any body, administrative, corporate, etc, giving ground to a vicious circle of endemic inefficiency and mal-administration. When individuals without merit become the arbiters of future recruitment, they tend to select people in their own image, force-multiplying the process of self-destruction. Very much like continuing inter-marriage between blood relations leads to mental and physical retardation, patronage leads to debilitation of the system.
Patronage militates against accountability, the lack of it sustains the capacity of the corrupt and inefficient to perpetuate their domination. Talent and merit are never given the weightage they deserve except if it suits the plans of the UnGodly to gain some temporary advantage. The contribution of professionals is rarely recognized and they are usually cast away when not required any further. Since those who should effect accountability would themselves be its first subjects, it would hardly be reasonable to accept that they would blow a police whistle on themselves. The principle of accountability thus fails at the altar of greed and ambition. Once it becomes inherently clear to the honest and efficient that they will get a short shrift if they step out of line, they tend to merge themselves into the system, having a telling effect on the quality of service available. Capable and honest individuals with self-respect become the living dead, existing in deep apprehension out of the basic need of survival for themselves and their families. They watch in frustration as the organisation in which they work is systematically looted, while their talent and merit becomes a handicap for them, those qualities being treated as suspect. Most succumb to the age-old adage, “if you can’t fight them, join them”.
Bipartisan economic agenda
The democratic will of the people has been manifest in the new elected Government in Pakistan, the greatest priority of the new incumbents is to come to grips with the rapidly deteriorating economic situation. Pragmatic policies and lofty rhetoric about principles adopted by PPP at the outset of their tenure were waylaid at the altar of greed, mostly by those who were in the Party for convenience or by the circumstances of marriage. In sum total the 20 months of the Benazir Government contributed heavily to the economic tailspin that we are in now but we should not become guilty of tarring everything they did with a broad brush. The PPP, to their credit and in utter contrast to their manifesto, had opted for privatisation, knocking out the main prop of their own socialistic order (and ardour). The journey from the theoretical left brought the PPP to somewhere right of the middle and into line with the economic mainstream of the world. By outright abandonment of her father’s economic philosophy, Ms Benazir exposed Z.A.Bhutto’s serious economic mistake of nationalisation. In actual practice though, lip-service rhetoric did not translate into Thatcherite reality. A consensus on economic issues has, however, evolved which will stand the Nawaz Regime in good stead in coalescing national support for its economic initiatives, unless the Opposition decides to go “opposition for the sake of the opposition” route. Ms Benazir showed no magnanimity in victory 20 months ago, uptill now she has shown amazing lack of grace in defeat.