Dr. Dilshad Khawaja
It was heartbreaking to know that a political leader of a major political party was assassinated in such a brutal manor that is beyond any human compression. The question of the day in Pakistan politics is who did it? Who is responsible for this great tragedy? Is Al-Qaeda/Taliban responsible for all the ill events in Pakistan? Is this a work of “internal” extremists? Similar to numerous events that historically occurred in Pakistan; we may never be able to find an answer to these questions.
Al-Qaeda/Taliban has become is a well-known factor in Pakistan in recent history. It is customary to blame a “designated” enemy if nothing else is available for explanation, not to mention it is convenient answer. If one can speculate, however, it could be the work of internal extremists. Moreover, who are these internal extremist? This group may be comprised of any faction of Pakistan’s numerous political parties who may not be so thrilled with Benazir Bhutto’s popularity. Better yet, it could also be the work of a bloc within her own political party. Let us face it. Her party managers were able to run the party operations without her presence in Pakistan over the last 10 years. Party workers and leaders were facing tough times within the country, while “the party leader for life” was enjoying comfortable life outside the country, and managing her own business empire based in Dubai. So, the internal extremists could be born within the party. The government of Pakistan, on the other hand, took an easy way out. The government blamed Mehsud, a radical who is believed to enjoy strong ties with Taliban/Al-Qaeda currently living in Waziristan, a northern region in Pakistan. That was certainly a an as easy answer.
The nation of Pakistan is going through its deepest and worst political crisis in the first decade of 21st century. As always, western governments, particularly the United States turn to Pakistan Military, the strongest army in region. Historically, this has had resulted in Pakistan Military controlling the affairs of Pakistan for more than half of our nation’s life.
Has the military in Pakistan ever been able to improve the law and order situation in Pakistan? The answer is not only a big NO; the Military has worsened the situation in spite of its mighty resources. History shows that Pakistan military has had four chances to manage the country, each with longer tenures compared to civil governments. All of them ended with even a bigger crisis. Political crises in Pakistan provide legitimacy to military presence in the government and unfortunately, the people of Pakistan have somewhat accepted this as norm. Therefore, people have started to think that it is ok for the Military to barge in the government affairs and dismantle any institution working in the country. The military successfully legitimizes its action in the name of national interest of the country. Moreover, Western governments also tend to look to the military leadership to, the so called, “stabilize” the country. Unfortunately, the Military has failed the people of Pakistan in all cases. As a result, the Military has lost its credibility in the wake of historical events.
What about political leaders? Does any one of them have the charisma, national appeal, and, more importantly, the ability to bring the country out of this crisis? Sadly, none of the 50 plus political parties in Pakistan is capable of undertaking this task. Two major political parties have already been tested and miserably failed twice. In spite of their claims to have national constituencies, none of the political parties are equally popular in all regions in Pakistan. Their leadership is highly corrupt convicted not only by the national courts, but also by foreign countries. Because of lack of true political platform, politicians do not hesitate to change their party affiliations or to create splinter groups within a party for personal gains. The whole political landscape in Pakistan needs to be reformed.
Can bureaucracy bring the country out of this misery? A quick answer is no. This section of the government is known as a so called the “elite” of Pakistan and has been primarily responsible for running affairs of the country due to lack of comprehensive and capable leadership from the political landscape of the country. Most criticize Pakistan bureaucracy because they have the mysterious talent to fool both the military branch and the politicians. So, the blame ultimately goes to the bureaucracy.
So, what is the solution? Unfortunately, there is no immediate solution. A quick solution would be to change the government with or without an aid from the military in Pakistan. These kinds of solutions miserably failed in the past numerous times. Therefore, solution lies in re-birth of Pakistan as a nation. A selected group of Intellectuals (see definition of Intellectuals in Appendix A) in the country need to sit down and collectively redraw a master plan for the welfare of the country. This master plan should address the mistakes made in past and forge ahead with new ideas of how to govern this land with people of roughly the same faith but with varying ideologies. As a result, a new constitution should emerge, where future leaders would be able to manage the nation in the most fair and just environment. The following few features underline building blocks for the proposed new constitution.
Beside, it is too expensive to run these government offices. A poor country like Pakistan cannot afford big governments.
Appendix A: Group of Intellectuals
A selected group of “Intellectuals” can be formed based on the following criterion:
Appendix B: Few General Guidelines in the Proposed Constitution
Over the past 60 years, the nation has witnessed many twists and turns presented by sitting governments to gain an edge over the opposition of the time. All have equally used, or more appropriately, misused the constitution in the past. This was primarily done under the so-called “Nazria-e-Zarurat” (change in the constitution based on need of the day). The infamous 1973 constitution was amended at least for 6 times by the same government that introduced the constitution. The Bureaucracy, the Military, and the Judiciary are equally blamed for meddling in the affair of Pakistan government.
The following are few guidelines for the proposed constitution. The list can be expanded by the Intellectuals group.
1. Provide a definition of a Muslim country, which is based on the justice system depicted in Islamic teachings irrespective of sectarian bias
2. Define the main role of the Central government for running day-to-day affairs.
3. Define the role of Provincial governments for running day-to-day operations, their financial autonomy, and their relationship with Central government and other provinces.
4. Define the role of local governments, their financial autonomy, and their relationship with their respective Provincial governments.
5. Define the role of Military in Pakistan. More importantly, declare any deviation from their pre-determined role as unconstitutional and make it subject to denunciation of those elements responsible for unconstitutional acts.
6. Define the role of the Judiciary to provide a justice equal to Pakistanis. Define relationship of Judiciary with the law enforcing agencies at the Central Provincial levels. Local/Provincial governments should have direct control over the law enforcing agencies within their respective regions. In Local governments, the Police and the District Management will not be appointed by the Central government. Instead, it should be left with Provincial governments.
7. Define eligibility of elected officials including members of legislation both at national and provincial level. Any deviation from the pre-determined eligibility be declared unconstitutional and make it subject to denunciation of those elements responsible for unconstitutional acts.
Concluding Remarks:
This paper, certainly, does not offer a short-term solution. Nor, it was an objective of the writer. It takes centuries to build a nation. A period of sixty years in Pakistan's life is minuscule compared to the historical evolutions that took place in the Western World. However, the people of Pakistan have to start building the nation sooner than later.
Dr. Dilshad Khawaja
New Jersey USA email: dk@liberty-corp.com
I have over 25 years of market research and competitive analysis experience in several industrial sectors including energy, shipping and telecommunication. Currently, I work for AT&T Business Marketing group, managing telecom industry landscape including the areas of Long Distance voice, Local services, Consumer Internet and Wireless industry. Currently, I focus my research on the analysis of bundling-services and converging trends in the business telecommunication services with special emphasis on convergence between wire-line and wireless services. I have held various market analyst positions across AT&T Finance organizations. Prior to joining AT&T, I worked with Gulf Cooperation Council, an international organization, specializing in Persian Gulf economies. I am also teaching graduate courses in Corporate Finance at the University of Maryland. Previously, I taught finance and economics courses at Keller graduate School of Management, a unit of DeVry University and various campuses of the City University of New York.