“There comes, not seldom, a crisis in the life of men, of nations, and of worlds when the old forms seem ready to decay, and the old rules of action have lost their binding force. The evils of existing systems obscure the blessings that attend them and where reform is needed, the cry is raised for subversion.”
Benjamin N. Cardozo
Discontentment is a phenomenon that comes across more often than any other sentiment these days. Various people trace it to different aberrations and maladies, but no one really comes up with a clear vision for a possible solution.
With many things working for Pakistan on the external front, it is imperative that we put our house in order in the context of rationalising these three constituents. Unless their stranglehold is broken and they begin promoting the cause of truth and refrain from spreading false and fabricated perceptions, the state cannot come together to serve the impoverished people who are buried under a pile of existential issues. The state will be able to attend to its core responsibilities only when it is fully functional. There are no shortcuts to delivering at the grassroots level
This discontentment is multi-faceted and deep-rooted which virtually relates to every aspect of life. It is also a cause for enormous pain. Even among leaders from across political divides, there are murmurs that the system is failing and something drastic needs to be done to help it address the problems people are faced with.
Echoes of a dysfunctional system also emanate from the judicial hierarchy who, ever so often, are heard lamenting the performance of various institutions and organisations, specifically the bureaucracy. It appears there is a level of detachment which has assimilated, rendering the functionaries insensitively oblivious to the woes of the common people. It is, well-nigh, established that “there is something rotten in the state of Denmark”. The looming challenge is to pinpoint the nature and extent of this malady and find out ways and methods to address it.
In undertaking this momentous task, one must begin with facing the truth that the system that we all keep talking about has been grievously manipulated by everyone who ascended the seat of power solely to advance their personal agendas, and not to serve the cause of the state and the people. So, while the state kept plunging into depths of enfeeblement, it is the individuals who benefitted from its largesse, mostly in an illicit manner.
There are hardly any exceptions that would come to mind in this context. Everyone exploited the opportunities to the hilt to fatten their kitties, thus adding further to the miseries of the impoverished millions living off the throw-away morsels of others. So, the equation that has remorselessly evolved in the country is based on granting some the status of being more equal than others.
Consequently, the ones who are less so must always be dependent on the will and indulgence of the more equal ones for their survival, nay their life. This inherent inequality of separating some from the vast majority of people and making the latter subservient to the will of the former is the vilest form of cruelty that could be inflicted upon any people. In Pakistan, a bulk of them are born to be forever wedded to this debased system.
There is a three-pronged spectre that is nibbling away at the health of the state. In its current shape and form, this comprises the bureaucracy, judiciary and a no-holds-barred media which has become a source of disseminating fake and concocted news and generating perceptions which are wickedly flawed and misleading. Each of these constituents has a history of progressing to their current destinations and the roles that they have assumed to playing.
The Bureaucracy, it appears, is the wickedest of the three constituents as it controls the levers of implementing the government’s agenda. Unfortunately, it has never been able to divorce its colonial heritage, not because it could not, but because it did not want to. Instead, it wanted to further perpetuate the ‘gora sahib culture’ with them acting as their veritable descendents and followers. The bureaucracy has been the principal cause for the emergence of a dysfunctional system. This has been a monumental tragedy which continues to afflict the state.
While the critical importance and relevance of the bureaucracy in administering the affairs of the state has never been denied, it is the utter misuse of this authority which has created mountains of problems. The Quaid had shared his vision with members of the service back in 1948: “The services are the backbone of the state. Governments are formed, governments are defeated. Prime Ministers come and go, ministers come and go, but you stay on. Therefore, there is a very great responsibility placed on your shoulders. You should have no hand in supporting this political party or that political party, this political leader or that political leader. This is not your business.” What they did instead is to make politics their business, forever sold out to the rulers of the time to earn disproportionate benefits for themselves, be they in cash or kind. It is as if the country had been created to bring profit to them alone.
Working under a changed environment where accountability has been a key pillar of the agenda, they have virtually put their pens down, the reason being that they don’t want to be held to account. They want to lord over everything unquestioned. Consequently, they have been instrumental in misguiding and misdirecting the executive to bring embarrassment. If things are to change, one will have to start with changing the culture of the bureaucracy and ensure that they operate as genuine servants of the people, and not their masters.
For any state to survive, delivery of timely justice is critically important. Unfortunately, the previous rulers opted for purchasing judgements when they did not deserve them. There have been instances of the rulers passing orders even over telephone and the judges obliging condescendingly, but not without ensuring their pound of flesh. In rare instances when a judge could not be bought over by the lure of money, the apex court was attacked to force it to surrender. The ghastly scenes of the assault still haunt one’s consciousness.
A popular saying that evolved over time is that one should not invest money in appointing lawyers to fight cases. Instead, one should invest that money in judges. So, justice is perceived as a purchasable commodity which is available for a cost. That is why it is generally assumed that one major reason for the gross malfunction of the judiciary is the stock of judges who adorn the benches. In this context, the criminal role of one Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has been particularly sickening who recruited trails of his supporters as judges of various courts without paying due attention to calibre or character.
Major reforms are necessary to ensure that the justice system prevalent in the country actually delivers justice. For that to happen, alongside other steps, effective parliamentary oversight in the appointment of judges will have to be ensured and a viable mechanism installed in selecting the very best to sit on judgement on others.
The third constituent of this pervasive malaise is the media which operates without an ethical or professional code. It, therefore, has bequeathed upon itself the license to say whatever it may want to, in whatever form it may want to. In the absence of effective laws to hold others to account for mala fide intent, the media gets away with daylight murder. This is also owed to the manner in which licences were issued to people to start their channels without being subjected to due scrutiny to ascertain their professional credentials and their relevance to the profession. Another feature of this malady was to allow cross-ownership which has contributed to accumulation of the profession in a few hands who manipulate it to meet their objectives.
With many things working for Pakistan on the external front, it is imperative that we put our house in order in the context of rationalising these three constituents. Unless their stranglehold is broken and they begin promoting the cause of truth and refrain from spreading false and fabricated perceptions, the state cannot come together to serve the impoverished people who are buried under a pile of existential issues. The state will be able to attend to its core responsibilities only when it is fully functional. There are no shortcuts to delivering at the grassroots level.
