A Question of
Good Intent
-Article
ACM Kaleem Saadat
The anxiety level of the citizens of this country
has not been ever higher than it is now. The absence of
governance and a sense of collapse all around is the cause for
this situation. The people had been hoping for their fortunes to
take a turn for the better with the advent of a democratic
government but like all past ones, this one because of its
leaders, has been insecure. The decision makers are not willing
to trust the people and put the right people in the right jobs
and tend to rely on incompetent loyalists, with the result that,
nothing works, be they institutions or services.
It is a national tragedy, when one considers what could have
been and what we are as a nation? For decades, our citizens have
sought an escape from the misery that they had to bear to make a
life for themselves. They tried to emigrate legally and
illegally to achieve this end. The unskilled and the uneducated
usually had to resort to the illegal route and consequently
suffer hardship en route to their destination and exploitation
once there. The green passport became suspect in the eyes of the
immigration and law enforcement authorities all over the world.
This need not have been the case. Our country has abundant
material and human resources but we did not have the fortune to
have a leadership that could use these resources to better the
life of the citizenry. They all sought, and seek popularity and
search for legacies to leave behind without making the effort to
understand what will make them get a place for themselves in
history.
It is true that military interventions in the politics of the
country are largely to be blamed for the dismal socio-economic
state of our people but the politicians share the blame equally.
The latter suffer from their own insecurities- real or
perceived. It does not take long to give people hope and people
survive on hope- always. How does one instill hope in people?
They do this simply by their sincerity and by walking their
talk. How does one appear to be sincere? Plainly by telling
people the truth and taking them into confidence about the
status quo and the reasons for the same. The public may be
illiterate but they have the ability to understand issues and
things affecting their lives. If time is required to sort things
out they will give time to the rulers to do the same. But as far
as their patience to live with false promises is concerned, they
have surely reached their limits.
During the past 62 years, all our rulers have demanded from the
ruled to be patient and repose their trust in them. All this
while, they continued to run the affairs of the state in
mysterious and incomprehensible manner. This way of running the
government resulted in regular disruption of political
functioning, breakup of Pakistan, the Kargil fiasco, the Lal
Masjid disaster, the Judicial crisis of 2007-2009 etc. The
people will trust a government and be patient with it only when
it delivers what they need in terms of basic services and a
progressive rise in their standard of living. In practice, the
quality of peoples’ live has suffered a continuous downward
slide. The military rulers have always insisted that people were
not concerned with democracy. Yes, it is only partially true.
All the people want is a responsive (to their needs) and an
accountable government. Surely, a military government cannot and
will not meet this basic criterion. Sadly, our democratic
governments have also failed this test. The Chinese political
system is not considered fully democratic by purists’ standards,
but each successive leader has left their country better in
every domain as compared to the state in which he had inherited
it. They were responsible for a historical transformation of
their society wherein they were able to pull 400 million people
out of poverty in less than two decades. Consequently, the
people were not only patient but were also willing to sacrifice
for the future of there children and grand children.
In our case people never know why a certain thing is being done
or for that matter not being done? They also don’t know why it
is being done in the way it is being done? Consider the case of
military operation in Swat or the lack of it earlier on. We also
don’t know why our Govt has to beg India to talk to us and what
do they expect from such an un-equal relationship. The
parliament has always existed but has been a silent spectator to
the ravages of the rulers. The rules exist but they are rarely,
if ever, used for the benefit of the people, community and the
country. Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada can come up with any number of
legal solutions to protect a dictator and his actions but will
not provide the answers to the legal and constitutional
questions that bedevil the smooth functioning or political
development of the state. Similarly, the accountability set-up
of the country is not utilized for deterring corruption or
misuse of official authority but it is always used to make
people fall in line with the rulers’ own wishes or to eliminate
political competition. The cases of public interest drag on for
years in the courts but when an individual is to be fixed by the
state, or its beneficiaries, the decisions are produced even on
holidays. SROs, which are in public interest don’t see the light
of day but those that provide benefit to the rightly-connected
people are framed and issued in no time. There is always some
type of ban on people seeking normal, merit-based employment,
but the friends and family of the people in control of state
resources and power can always get cushy jobs. If a slot or a
position is required in the interest of better functioning of an
organization, there are innumerable reasons put forth why it
could not be done but when a near or dear one of the people in
authority is about to retire or become superannuated, any number
of positions are created to serve the interest of that connected
individual. If something is required by the armed forces for
their genuine force-goals needs, the process can take years or
even decades but when there is money to be made by people
connected with decision makers, the process can be expedited and
concluded within months, at times forcing organizations to
accept what they didn’t ask for or need in the first place.
There are thousands of crates and shipping containers of
computer and other equipment lying unused and rusting as a
consequence of such malafide decision-making. The job of
ministers is not to deliver to the people what is their due but
to support unpopular governments and enjoy the perks and
privileges associated with their position in return for the
robotic voting services rendered.
Thus, it is evident we have everything, the people, the
resources, the statutes and structures but good intent, which is
the prerequisite for any achievement, is absent. Uncertainty,
lack of justice and absence of faith in the system causes people
to attempt to accumulate, power to avoid adverse circumstances,
and wealth so that they can feed themselves in bad times. Rulers
tend to rely on loyal magicians to bring about positive change,
and reward them disproportionately. Unfortunately, in the
affairs of the state there is no magic, it is good intent, hard
work and competence that would deliver. The loyalists neither
possess these traits nor are motivated to do the right things.
They have an opportunity, may be the only one, and their
objective is to make the most of it. Yaaron- ka-yaar philosophy,
a favourite of all our rulers, is a recipe for disaster because
it pleases a few but alienates all others. Giving employment to
people purely on the basis of party links has the same effect.
No wonder that we are a banana republic and nobody yearns for
our earlier rulers to return.
Is there a hope for the future? Despite recent positive
developments on the judiciary front and some civil society
mobilization, the rest of the scene is bleak. The political
system shows no signs of reforming itself. The protagonists are
all driven by their narrow power-politics interests. The public
at large figures in their scheme of things only as voters,
befooled and forgotten, every five years. The governments
survive not on the basis of their performance but on the
sharing, read plundering, of the national wealth. After 18 to 24
months, those that don’t have their hands in the national or
provincial till become restless and form forward blocks in an
attempt to change the status quo and become a part of the new
one that they are trying to bring about. Till such time that our
elected representatives begin to vote on the side of principle
for altruistic reasons, and not on the wishes of personalities,
a change for the better cannot be expected. That is not likely
to happen seeing the recent cases of MNAs and MPAs having been
forced to resign because of their unsavoury behaviour. The
accountability of the ballot box remains a myth as the major
political actors have been the same over the last two decades
notwithstanding their repeated failure to give to the citizens a
sustainable, optimistic and dignified existence. Accumulation of
power is an obsession just for the sake of it. Power delivers
nothing; centralization of all decision making alienates other
stakeholders and ultimately leads to paralysis and chaos.
There is, however, hope in the form of a better judiciary, an
activist and noisy media and an increasingly discerning, and
vocal, urban classes, which collectively have the capacity to
hold the rulers to account and making their functioning more
transparent. In the end, all we, the citizens want is a
responsive and accountable government. It’s a question of good
intent!
Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat,
Islamabad.
16 May 2010
The writer is a former Chief of
Air staff, Pakistan Air Force and current Chairman of the
'Thinkers Forum'.
Pakistan's India policy
-Article
ACM Kaleem Saadat
Like most Pakistani citizens, I am always intrigued by
Pakistan’s India Policy-if there is an India policy indeed.
Pakistani governments are not good at formulating and pursuing
policies to their logical conclusions in general and in fact, in
most domains, the ministers don’t even bother about policy
matters. In our scheme of things, elections are all about being
able to become a minister and then serving the interest of the
party leadership, and their own near and dear ones. The interest
of the public at large or the state is limited to public
statements and TV talk shows. However, there are some
ministries, like Foreign Affairs, Defence and Interior etc that
cannot afford to twiddle their thumbs even if they want to
because of the sheer momentum of events. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs may not want to schedule events but there are other
countries and agencies, with which they deal with, do so the
Foreign Office(FO) has to prepare to participate in conferences
and forums where they are invited. That is not to say that there
is no work being done at the Foreign Office-certainly, people go
to their offices, where their superiors ask for reports and
briefs on issues they are confronted with but the citizenry’s
concern is with what results are yielded by the activities that
take place at the FO. To be fair to the FO, they have not been
allowed to play their due role in using diplomacy as an element
of national power. The civilian governments have been guilty of
apathy towards them while the military ones have tended to
disregard their advice or not felt the need to seek any. Thus,
the blame for the lack of effectiveness of our foreign policy
lies with political leadership- both civil and military- of
Pakistan.
Our foreign friends think that we are obsessed with India and
need to ‘normalize’ relations with them. Till recently we were,
in fact, obsessed with external security matters and India has
been, and continues to be, the main actor in the region, yet we
continued to behave in a reactive manner. Three discernible
strands of our policy were to: seek a solution of the Kashmir
problem, secure peace with all our neighbours and enhance trade
with them for the benefit of our people. Since India dominates
the sub-continent with its physical size, population and
economic strength, no progress can be achieved without arriving
at an arrangement of peaceful and good-neighbourly co-existence.
The Indian leadership and public opinion thinks that the
settlement of the Kashmir Issue, according to the wishes of the
Kashmiri and Pakistani people, is an insurmountable hurdle in
the way of Pakistan- India friendship or even absence-of-
hostility. The two countries consistently keep accusing each
other of interfering in their internal affairs.
As a nation, we are fond of believing that the whole world is
against us and that conspiracies are continuously hatched to
keep us unstable politically and economically and to deny us
what may be rightfully ours. Historians have given a name to
such activities and efforts i.e. the ‘great game(s)’. They have
been a constant of the march of history. Through millennia,
nations have considered political and economic gain or influence
to be a zero sum game. One’s own loss is the competitor’s gain
and vice versa. To get an advantage, requires will, competence,
diligence and persistence and unfortunately, our governments
have proven that we don’t have these qualities in abundance. The
other missing link is the absence of nationally-agreed vision
and objectives. Thus, without this foundation a superstructure
of a nation cannot be built. Policy-making and surviving in a
competitive world are, therefore daunting challenges for us.
Returning to the subject, what are the major planks of our
policy vis-a-vis India? What is apparent is the policy basket
called ‘composite dialogue’. The intent of this approach was to
avoid fixation with ‘an’ issue but to progressively resolve
those ones which are less intractable. In reality, it has meant
playing at the periphery without ever coming to the core of the
problem(s). The process is so cumbersome that while the effort
was to solve the Sir Creek and Siachen issues, new problems of
Wullar barrage and Kishanganga dam have been added to the list.
Then there are additional speed-breakers along the road to
reconciliation. There was Kargil, the assault on Indian
Parliament, the Samjhota Express deaths, and the Mumbai
massacre. Pakistan has now raised, belatedly, the case of Indian
support for the militancy and insurgency in Swat and FATA
regions of Pakistan. So the quest for peace and settlement of
outstanding issues has degenerated into holding talks about what
talks can be held, if at all.
It is of course foolish to expect the Indians to yield space or
cede ground voluntarily, but what is consternating is the
helplessness and desperation shown by our successive governments
by begging India, for talks, and the Friends of Pakistan, to
intervene on our behalf and coax India to come to the
negotiating table. Our policy-makers surely know the realities
of power. Will a stronger country yield and give up territory to
another country? Is there a hope of getting more of Kashmir than
what we already have? Will our public be ready to accept
something less than what we have of Kashmir? Is time on our side
or that of our adversary? Does Pakistan need more people and
territory when it cannot take care of what it already has?
Shouldn’t we maintain our dignity by not begging for talks? And
finally, is the situation hopeless? I am sure that the FO has
considered these questions and formulated a policy based on the
answers that they may have come up with. Begging India for a
composite dialogue is definitely not a good policy or strategy.
For Pakistan to be able to negotiate fruitfully, it has to
demonstrate that it is a functioning country with a Govt in
control. That does not seem to be the case at the present time,
consequently the disdainful attitude adopted by the Indian Govt.
Negotiations and dialogues are always successful from a position
of strength. Strength, however, does not come from the size and
population of a country but by the collective output of these
two elements of national power. Our human resource is good but
the political, social and the economic system does not enable it
to be as productive as it can be. Isolated successes in the
nuclear and missile technology domain or the odd success on the
cricket field are not the standards by which we should judge our
successes. In the case of the former, it has been achieved at an
exorbitant cost and in the case of the latter, an occasional and
rare professional performance by our team combined with the
failure of the competitors, were responsible for the success. On
the internet, one receives mails from optimistic individuals
about how beautiful and successful Pakistan is but
unfortunately, all those photos are either of our scenic
northern areas which we neither created, nor developed them to
make them a tourist attraction or a money earner, or of
colonial- and Mughal-era architecture, which again we inherited.
One is almost ashamed of the hoardings that adorn our
Constitution and Jinnah Avenues in Islamabad, as they just show
some artisan working on his handicraft or his final product and
that is supposed to be our window to the world after 62 years of
our existence. Yes , in the recent past we have created some
good road infrastructure but that was because there was money to
be spent(easily by the Govt) and made(easily, again by connected
individuals), while a more sensible solution would have been to
create and run a dependable public transport system to reduce
congestion on urban roads, but the latter solution required
painstaking planning, administering and execution, which would
have stretched beyond the tenure of office of the incumbent
office holders, who would not have gained from the benefits of
such decision-making.
The point that is being made is that a government that is not
responsive (to the needs of the people) and accountable (to
them), will never be effective and would remain weak at any
negotiating platform. Thus, we should first sort out our other
problems with the right prioritization and then think of solving
the Kashmir issue. From a position of weakness, we have been
continuously ceding ground and concessions to the Indians while
they have not shown a corresponding or proportional flexibility.
Whatever we have, we can do a lot with it for the betterment of
our people. Once we are able to give to our people a per capita
income and a standard of living higher than that of the average
Indian, we would have a case for the people of Indian Held
Kashmir wanting to unite with Pakistan. That can come about only
as result of good governance and by getting good value for
budgetary resources expended on development and social services’
schemes. As long as the largesse of the state is doled out to a
few on the basis of political affiliations, we would continue to
alienate the large majority of citizens who find themselves on
the wrong side of the political divide and without hope.
Consequently, we seem to be failing both on the internal and
external front.
Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat,
Islamabad.
03 May 10