After the inclusion of the above-mentioned article in the Constitution, whoever stands in the way of the education of children will be interfering with the basic rights of the citizens of Pakistan. Citizens can now invoke the courts to have their rights ensured.

But now comes the harder part. For the many millions of children who are out of school, or who dropped out of school for one reason or another, will this pledge translate into anything more than a pledge? Will the government actually make the requisite efforts to get these children into decent schools? If the pledge is a serious one, and if the framers of this amendment and those who endorsed it were serious about their intentions, they need to show that they are going to make a real effort at its implementation as well.

Given the magnitude of the task, a realistic and well-thought-through plan of action to address the issue will be required. The provincial governments need to immediately set up permanent commissions, committees and bodies to start working on this issue. They have to figure out how much resources are needed, where they will come from, where we need more schools, and how many, what sort of cooperation is needed from the private sector, how many teachers are needed, how and where we can train them and what the timeframe for the implementation of the new article is going to be.

If we do not see any immediate moves from the provincial governments to start research and analysis on these questions and to seriously start looking for the resources needed, we will know that this amendment was the usual stuff that we have come to expect from the policymakers, politicians, bureaucrats and the ruling elites of the country.

Now that we have conferred the right to education on all children and have even committed to raising the educational finance to seven per cent of the GDP over the next few years, how do we make sure that society as a whole and the government in particular are made to deliver on the promises that have been made? And if the government does not move in the right direction quickly, what should be the appropriate strategy?

Citizens, especially those who are concerned about issues related to education and who feel that educating our children is important for the future of the country, have to ensure that they support all efforts to make certain that the dream is actually achieved in the shortest possible time.

If the government honours its pledge, we have to work with it to make possible that quality education is provided to all children irrespective of their background or any other characteristic. The recent amendment is an encouraging milestone and should provide some impetus. But if the government acts lazily or is not sincere, we have to make sure that it is pushed in the right direction.

The writer is an economist, currently on leave from LUMS.

“‘Milbus’ refers to military capital that is used for the personal benefit of the military fraternity, especially the officer cadre, but is neither recorded nor part of the defence budget … in most cases the rewards are limited to the officer cadre… The top echelon of the armed forces who are the main beneficiaries of ‘Milbus’ justify the economic dividends as welfare provided to the military for their services rendered to the state.”

It then goes on to shed some light on organizations that are pilfering public money. At the very top is the military of course. A book Military Inc. by Aisha Siddiqa portrays the situation of the Pakistani military. Buttressed by numbers and statistics it reiterates what has been intuitively obvious to the nation all these years – the military is skimming a lion’s share of the budget in the name of national defense and it does that through propagating some myths. The military over the years has become a conglomerate of diverse businesses that usually runs its operations surreptitiously under the guise of either foundation for the benefit of veterans or as national or private businesses. Take for example Fauji Foundation. It has declared 25 projects and assets worth $169 million. Apart from transparent projects like these there are others that are run under the aegis of the public sector but are nearly fully controlled by the army. Examples include the National Logistic Cell that is one of the biggest freight handlers in Pakistan and Frontier Works Organization which is the biggest contractor in the country for constructing roads and collecting tolls. Staffed by army engineers, it comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defense. If you think that these spoils are shared equally by all the military personnel then you are mistaken. It is the top echelon of officers that fills their coffers. All this is done through propagating the notion that the military runs business in Pakistan most efficiently and it is not only most adept at cleaning up the political problems left by civilian governments but also indispensable which according to the book is baseless.

Buy the book here…

The ‘beginning of the end’ is a popular cliché. However, it may well apply to the recent political turmoil in Pakistan. Wishful thinking aside, what is the reality behind the rhetoric?

It is true that Mr.Musharraf has outlived his welcome. People who initially welcomed his takeover after the corruption ridden years of Ms. Bhutto and Mr.Sharif have now realized that he has no more to offer than they did. While his hand picked Prime Minister, Mr. Aziz, boasted about ‘growth’ the average person on the street has seen nothing to justify the enthusiasm. Inflation remains high as does crime, corruption and environmental degradation. Property values have sky rocketed making owning a home a far away dream for most. Wages have stagnated relative to costs of living and infrastructure continues to crumble.

Wapda and the ministry of power have implemented an emergency load shedding plan to plug the gap between electricity supply and demand leading to more misery for millions.

On my most recent visit to Pakistan a couple of months ago, I was reminded of my adolescence when the lights used to go out for hours at a time. My American born and raised children complained plaintively that nothing was happening when they turned on the light switch, a novel experience for them. While cricket surely does not rank high on the national list of priorities, the World Cup debacle followed by the recent controversy where the Australian team is refusing to tour Pakistan because of unspecified ‘security issues’ only reinforces the general sense of a country out of control and adrift. Religious extremism continues to mushroom, despite the government’s pledges to stamp it out and Pakistan remains on most Western countries watch list as a ‘country of concern’ for fomenting terrorism.

It is these factors that form the backdrop of the current street protests by lawyers, doctors, teachers and other educated, middle class professionals who were previously a loyal constituency of the former General. Mr. Musharraf and his minions argue, laughably, that this issue should not be ‘politicized’ (as if the summary firing of a Supreme Court Chief Justice by a serving General and self-appointed President was not a political statement in and of itself). In 1986, the return of the late Ms.Bhutto to Pakistan following an American brokered deal was a tumultuous affair with millions (including the author) pouring out into the streets of Lahore to welcome her. That seminal event was followed in rapid succession by elections, the death of General Zia-ul-Haq and the restoration of democracy (albeit in a hobbled manner and for a limited amount of time). This time around, unfortunately for her, her return was far less auspicious. How will things proceed this time?

Despite protestations to the contrary, the government is visibly nervous. An all out popular uprising against the present government would be a disaster for Pakistan’s current ruling circles. Police and military repression is still possible but if applied too vigorously, would risk splintering the army, the ultimate nightmare scenario. For the national security state, a more preferable approach is continuing to spread terror via their proxies, the ubiquitous ‘jihadis’, usually illiterate or semi-literate men willing, for various reasons to immolate themselves and others in a fiery bomb blast. The unpredictability and violence of such events tends to lend further menace to them akin to the frequent and usually meaningless ‘Orange alerts’ issued regularly by the US government.
In addition, with a US presidential election approaching, the powers that be in Washington and the Pentagon cannot be seen to be too open in supporting a ruthless crackdown by an unpopular military dictator, especially with Mr. Bush’s own popularity ratings hovering in the 20 % range. Mr.Musharraf is also increasingly seen as a liability for America’s ambitions in Afghanistan where he and Mr.Karzai are increasingly at odds.

This leaves the door open for some kind of accommodation between the Army and the political parties. It should be remembered that for all their sloganeering, it was Ms. Bhutto and Mr.Sharif who rescued the army when it was in crisis between 1986 and 1989. Considering their popular support at the time, they could have taken concrete steps to shackle the army and institutionalize civilian rule. Instead, they concentrated on undermining each other while the army bided it’s time and waited for the next opportunity.

Ms.Bhutto had said publicly that she would be willing to work out an arrangement with Mr.Musharraf that would allow him to retain the presidency and even his post as army chief. This, of course, would have been a complete betrayal of the people of Pakistan. As it happened, the Army and their sponsors were not willing to tolerate even that token nod to popular rule and Ms.Bhutto’s fate was sealed.

As for the people of Pakistan, they would do well to remember the words of the great French revolutionary, St.Just who said that those who make revolutions halfway only dig their own graves. If they have roused themselves to come on to the streets, they should continue pressing the regime until it collapses. They should then demand free and fair elections with no preconditions. All retrogressive, anti-worker, anti-women and discriminatory legislation should be scrapped immediately, Mr.Musharraf must resign forthwith and the army should return to its barracks. In addition, the constitution must be amended to make forcible removal of a civilian government treason, punishable by death.

The authority of the Supreme Court and the Constitution must be paramount.

However, we should remember that Mr.Musharraf’s policies, like those of his counterparts elsewhere in the world are simply following the dictates of the World Bank and the IMF which demand favorable investment climates and maximum return on investment at the expense of spending on education, health, employment, the environment etc. It is only when there is an international movement to refuse these disastrous dictates that real development can begin. Historically, the regions and economies that have developed the fastest and furthest are those that have radically violated the so called ‘structural adjustment policies’ prescribed by international lenders. Following those dictates invariably leads to immiseration, environmental disasters and human misery. The government of a small, resource poor country like Pakistan cannot, unilaterally, oppose these behemoths. However, a genuinely democratic government, representative of the people of Pakistan can begin the process and lead the way for the rest of the region.

Poem: Jawab-e-Shikwah
Poet: Mohammad Iqbal

Translation (From allamaiqbal.com)
Why should I be destructive and remain reckless of betterment?
Think not of the future, remain occupied in today’s problems?

Should I hear nightingale’s wails, and remain completely silent?
O companion! Am I some flower so that I may remain silent?

The strength of my poetry is encouraging to me
Woe be to me 1! My remonstrance is against God!

It is true that we are famous in the methods of obeisance
But we are relating our story of pain out of compulsion

Though a silent orchestra, we are full of complaint
If the wailing comes to lips we are excusable

O God! Listen to the remonstrance also from the faithful
Listen to some complaint also from the one accustomed to praise you

Though Thy Eternal Essence had existed since eternity
The flower existed in the garden but fragrance had not dispersed

Justice is a condition, O Lord of Universal Benevolence
How could flower’s fragrance spread if zephyr did not exist?

This problem’s solution was the source of satisfaction to us
Otherwise was the Holy Prophet’s Ummah insane?

The scene of Thy world was strange before us
Stones were adored somewhere, trees were worshipped somewhere

The eyes of Man were accustomed to tangible forms
How could they be amenable to accept the Unseen God?

Doth Those know who ever told Thy beads?
The strength of the Muslim’s arm completed Thy task!

Saljuqs 2 were living here and the Turanâs 3 also
The Chinese in China and in Iran the S«s«nâs 4 also

The Greeks were also living in the same habitation
In the same world were the Jews and the Christians also

But who raised the sword in Thy name?
Who reclaimed the despoiled world in Thy name?

We alone were the marshals of Thy troops!
We were fighting now on land and now in the oceans

Some times we were calling adh«ns in the Europe’s cathedrals
And sometimes in the scorching African deserts

We never cared for the grandeur of monarchs
We recited the Kalimah 5 under the shade of swords

If we lived we lived for the calamities of wars
If we died we died for the grandeur of Thy name

We did not wield the sword for our kingdoms
Did we roam about the world fearlessly for wealth?

If our nation had been greedy of worldly wealth
Why would we have been idol breakers instead of idol sellers6 ?

Once firmly standing in the battle we were immovable
Even lions in the battle against us would be in flight

We were enraged if some one rebelled against Thee
Not to talk of sword we were fighting against canons

We impressed Tawéâd’s picture on every heart
We conveyed this message even under the dagger

Tell us Thou, by whom was uprooted the gate of Khaibar7
By whom was conquered the city which was Qaisar’s8 ?

By whom were the images of created gods destroyed?
By whom were the armies of infidels slaughtered?

By whom was the fire temple of Iran extinguished?
By whom was the story of Yazdan 9 restored to life?

Which nation did become Thy seeker exclusively?
And became embroiled in wars’ calamities for Thee?

Whose world-conquering sword did world-ruler become?
By whose Takbâr did Thy world enlightened become?

Through whose fear idols did perpetually alarmed remain?
Falling on their faces saying “Huwa Allah O Aéad10 did remain?

If the time of prayer right during the battle fell
Hijaz’ nation in prostration facing the Ka’abah fell

Both Mahmud and Ayaz11 in the same row stood
None as the slave and none as the master stood

The slave and the master, the poor and the rich all became one!
On arrival in Thy Audience all were reduced to one!

We continuously wandered all over the world
We wandered like the wine-cup with Tawéâd’s wine

We wandered with Thy Message in the mountains, in the deserts
And doth Thou know whether we ever returned unsuccessful?

What of the deserts! We did not spare even oceans!
We galloped our horses in the dark ocean12!

We effaced falsehood from the earth’s surface
We freed the human race from bonds of slavery

We filled Thy Ka’bah with our foreheads
We put Thy Qur’«n to our hearts

Still Thou complaineth that we are lacking fealty
If we are lacking fealty Thou also art not generous

There are other ummahs, among them are sinners also
There are modest people and arrogant ones also

Among them are slothful, indolent as well as clever people
There are also hundreds who are disgusted with Thy name

Thy Graces descend on the other people’s abodes
Lightning strikes only the poor Muslims’ abodes

The idols in temples say ‘The Muslims are gone’
They are glad that the Ka’bah’s sentinels are gone

From the world’s stage the éudâ 13 singers are gone
They, with the Qur’«n in their arm pits, are gone

Infidelity is mocking, hast Thou some feeling or not?
Dost Thou have any regard for Thy own Tawéâd or not?

We do not complain that their treasures are full
Who are not in possession of even basic social graces

Outrageous that infidels are rewarded with Houris and palaces
And the poor Muslims are placated with only promise of Houris

We have been deprived of the former graces and favors
What is the matter, we are deprived of the former honors?

Why is the material wealth rare among Muslims?
Thy omnipotence is boundless and inestimable

With Thy Will the desert’s bosom would produce bubbles
The desert’s rambler can be facing flood of mirage’s waves

Others’ sarcasm, disgrace and poverty is our lot
Is abjection the reward for Loving Thee ?

Now, this world is the lover of others
For us it is only an imaginary world

We have departed, others have taken over the world
Do not complain now that devoid of Tawéâd has become the world

We live with the object of spreading Thy fame in the world
Can the wine-cup exist if the cup-bearer does not live?

Thy assemblage is gone, and Thy Lovers are also gone
The night’s sighs and the dawn’s wailings are gone

They had loved Thee, they are gone with their rewards
They had hardly settled down and they were turned out

The Lovers came but with tomorrow’s promise were sent away
Now seek them with Thy beautiful face’s lamp14 every way!

Lailah’s pathos is the same, and Qais’ bosom is the same
In the Najd’s wilderness and mountains the deer’s running is the same

The Love’s heart is the same, the Beauty’s magic is the same
The Ummah of the Holy Prophet is the same, Thou art the same

Why then this displeasure without reason is?
Why then this displeasure for Thy Lovers is?

Did we forsake Thee, did we forsake the Arabian Holy Prophet?
Did we adopt idol sculpture, did we idol breaking forsake?

Did we forsake Love, and did we forsake the madness of Love?
Did we forsake the customs of Salm«n15 and Uwais of Qur’«n16 ?

We have the Takbâr’s fire suppressed in our hearts!
We are living the life of Bil«l 17 tée Negro!

Granted that Love has lost its former elegance also
We may have lost treading the path of Love also

We may have lost the restless heart like the compass also
And we may have lost the observance of fidelity’s rules also

Thou art changing friendship between us and others
It is difficult to say but Thou art also unfaithful18!

Thou perfected the Dân on the peak of F«r«n 19
Thou captivated the hearts of thousands in a moment

Thou consumed the produce of Love with fire
Thou burned the congregation with Thy face’s fire

Why are not our breasts filled with Love’s sparks now?
We are the same Lovers, dost Thou not remember now?

The noise of Lovers’ chains in the Najd’s Valley has disappeared
Qais has no more remained longing for the litter’s sight

Those old ambitions, we, as well as the heart have disappeared
The house is destroyed as Thou art not present in the house

O that happy day when Thou with elegance will come back
When Thou unveiled to our congregation will come back

Others are sitting at the stream bank in the rose garden
Listening to the cuckoo’s call with wine-cup in their hand

In the garden on a side far from the riotous crowd are sitting
Thy Lovers are also patiently wanting for a Hë! 20

Again endow Thy moths with Longing for burning themselves
Give the command for consumption in Love to the old lightning

The wandering nation is riding again towards Hijaz
The taste of flight has carried the unfledged nightingale

The fragrance of humility is restless in every flower bud
Just start the music, orchestra is seeking the plectrum

Songs are restless to come out of the strings
ñër is impatient for burning in the same fire

Make easy the difficulties of the blessed Ummah
Place the poor ant shoulder to shoulder to Sulaim«n 21

Make the invaluable produce of Love accessible again
Change the idolatrous Muslims of India into Muslims again

A stream of blood drips from the frustrations mine
Wailing palpitates in the wounded breast of mine!

The rose’ fragrance took garden’s secret outside the garden
Outrageous that flowers themselves are informers against the garden

The spring is over, broken is the orchestra of the garden
Flown away from branches are the songsters of the garden

Only a nightingale is left which is singing still
In its breast overflows the flood of songs still 22

Turtle-doves from the juniper’s branches are gone also
Flower petals dropping from the flower are scattered also

The garden’s old beautiful walk-ways are gone also
The branches became bare of the cover of leaves also

But his nature remained free of the season’s restrictions
Would somebody in the garden understand his complaint!!

There is no pleasure in dying and no taste in living is
If there is any pleasure it in bearing this affliction is

Many a virtue is restless in my mirror!
Many an effulgence is fluttering in my breast!

But there is none in this garden to see them
There are no poppies23 with Love’s stain on their breasts

May hearts open up with the song of this lonely nightingale
May the sleeping hearts wake up with this very B«ng-i-Dar«

May the hearts come to life again with a new covenant
May the hearts be thirsty again for this same old wine

My alembic may be from `Ajam, but my wine is from Hij«z
The song may be Indian but my tune is from Hij«z

——————————————————————————–

Explanatory Notes
1. “Dust in the mouth”- This is the expression used in the original poem. This expression is used as a curse in Urdu and is pronounced when someone makes an exaggerated statement or request.

2. Saljëqs- This was a Turkish tribe which inhabited Central Asia. Later they accepted Islam and produced famous Khalâfahs like Öal«h-al-Dân Ayyëbâ.

3. Tër«nâs- People inhabiting the tract north of the Oxus River.

4. S«s«nids- This was a tribe inhabiting Persia. They ruled over a large empire east of the Byzantine Empire across the Euphrates River (ca. 226-641). They were followers of Zoroaster and worshipped fire. They were defeated by the Muslims in 641 during the time of S. ‘Umar R.A.

5. Kalimah-The Muslim creed of “L« Il«ha Ill Allah O Muéammad al-Rasël Allah,” (There is no deity except God and Muéammad S.A.W. is His Prophet).

6. This alludes to Öult«n Maémëd of Ghaznâ and his very favorite slave, Ay«z for whom see Appendix I, No. 34.

7. Khaibar- This was a stronghold of Jews in £ij«z, where they consolidated themselves after their expulsion from Madânah Munawwarah (625). Khaibar had six forts of which Qamës was the strongest. It was attacked by the Holy Prophet in ca. 630. The gate of the fort of Qamës was broken by S. ‘Alâ R.A. which is a very famous act of bravery in Islamic history.

8. City of Qaisar- Allusion to Qusèunèuäiyah (Constantinople) for which see poem 76 (Bil«d-i-Isl«miyah) Note 10.

9. Yazd«n- This is the god of Virtue and Good in the Zoroastrian religion as opposed to the god of Evil and Sin represented by Ahirman. The word is also used in Persian and Urdu for God, as is done here.

10. Allusion to the Holy Qur’«n (48:22-23 and 112:1).

11. Maémëd O Ay«z- See Appendix I, No. 34.

12. Allusion to the achievements of Khair-al-Dân Barbaràsah (1474-1546), for which see Appendix I, No. 51. This particular verse alludes to the expedition of Barbaràsah Brothers (Arouj and Khair-al-Dân Barbaràsah) in north-west Africa for expelling the Spaniards from those Muslim lands and establishing the suzerainty of the Islamic Ottoman Khil«fah. About 1512 they conquered up to the north-western sea coast and in their zeal drove their horses to some distance in the Atlantic Ocean, saying that if the land of God extended beyond the African coast they would conquer it also in His name.

13. £udâ- Songs which camel drivers sing when the caravan is marching.

14. The expression “searching something with a lamp in hand” is used in Urdu to search for something almost non-existent. The intensity of the search as well as a hint of taunt is added by ‘All«mah Iqb«l by including the part of the “lamp of the Beautiful Face of God”.

15. Salm«n Abë `Abd Allah F«risâ R.A.- See Appendix I, Nol. 68.

16. Uwais Qaranâ- See Appendix I, No. 78.

17. Bilal Ibn Rab«é- See Appendix I, No. 17.

18. This is a pun on the word “harj«’â” used in the text. It means omni-present as well as a person who is not restricted to one person in love and fidelity.

19. Peak of F«r«n- F«r«n is the mountain on which the Cave of £ir« is located. God, in His Infinite Grace and Mercy sent His prophets and messengers among all people of the world and at all times. The message of these prophets was confined to that nation and that period. However, the Holy Prophet S.A.W. brought Islam, which was sent as the Dân for all people for all times (see The Holy Qur’«n 5:3).

20. Hë- This is an abbreviation for ‘huv«’ which means ‘He’ and is used for God. Here it is used as part of the expression ‘All«h Hë’ which means ‘Only God has real Existence’ and is used in TaÅawwuf’s spiritual exercises.

21. S. Sulaim«n A.S.- See Appendix I, No. 73.

22. In this verse and those following it to the end of the poem ‘All«mah Iqb«l is referring to himself and his book, B«ng-i-Dar«.

23. The poppy flower has a black stain at the bottom of its corolla. This is poetically referred to as the mark of Love of God.

All citizens of Pakistan share this fate. The rich might feel that they are different, but they are not. We have deposed and hanged enough Prime Ministers, placed plenty of ministers and parliamentarians behind bars, jailed enough bureaucrats and businessmen, and seen plenty of rich people have their fortunes overturned quickly to really believe that they are not ‘less human’ as we all have become. The Generals, the military officers and the judges might think they are different, but they too share the same fate. Ask any man on the street how much respect these individuals or these institutions carry now, and the answer puts all of us to shame. All we can feel is sorrow: sorrow at the loss of our humanity, at the loss of our potential and at the loss of our being.

Sometime back we had interviewed around 15 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs from Karachi. The idea was to get a sense of the kind of problems they were facing. Almost all of them mentioned that law and order was one of the major problems (these interviews date from the Musharraf government days). Two or three of them had had their children kidnapped for ransom or threatened, some of them had already settled their children abroad (dual nationality), and at least two of these fifteen people had been robbed recently, and one had even had his father killed in a holdup. Is this what a society is all about? Should we expect these people to stay in the country, and should we expect them to invest and expand their businesses?

Even more absurdly, there are a number of my acquaintances who have been held up, on open roads of non-Karachi urban centers, and in daylight, and have lost their cars, money and other possessions. None of them, very fortunately, lost their lives, but we read about these cases in newspapers all the time.

It is not just the case that there is lack of law and order in the society, it is more that there is injustice in this society. The police and judicial systems are dysfunctional to the point that no aggrieved party, if they are not ‘well connected’, wants to go to these institutions to seek redress. The robbers know that too. A number of people who have been held up, robbed, abused or even had their relatives kidnapped have had to bear the indignity and the loss in silence. Getting raped once is tragedy enough. To be a victim more than once, and at the hands of the very institutions that are supposed to protect the individual, is tragedy beyond comprehension. But many of us go through the pain almost every other day.

And then it is the indignities of the everyday that hurt. Being stopped at the many pickets in the city, being asked for the ‘nikahnama’ by a barely literate and very abusive police-officer, standing in queues to pay bills, being harassed by personnel from the various utilities, being made to wait on the road just before iftar so that the Presidential cavalcade can go through, being forced to pay bribes to get almost anything done, being forced off the road by military vehicles, being forced to put up with lousy service from the national airline, the railway, the power provider, the telephone provider, the water provider, the garbage collector….how long should the list be.

A police van stopped a car on a blind corner. Two cars following the first car could not see what was happening and so ended up piling into each other. This happened in one of the top suburbs of the city. The drivers of the two cars that collided got out of the car and went to the police van to protest this thoughtless action on their part. But before they could get far with the protest the ASI said ‘I am not your father’s servant that I should worry about you’ and drove off. The level and the enunciation might be distinct, but this is no different from what other powerful institutions and individuals are saying to the rest of the country.

And one has not even talked of the larger injustices prevailing in the society. The Prime Minister, in his maiden speech, said categorically that there would be no land reform even though he knows well that more than a third of Pakistan lives in poverty and has little hope of getting out of the poverty trap. He still felt it was important to reassure the large landholders. More than a third of the country has no access to decent schooling, health facilities, potable water, sewerage, electricity and so on. But the state has, despite this, thought it wise to remove wealth tax and some of the other taxes that could have been used as vehicles for effective redistribution.

What is still not understood by our society is that poverty or injustice is not only the problem of the individuals who face these situations, or of the perpetrators, it is the problem of each and every individual of this society. By slapping the traffic police cop on duty in Lahore, the perpetrators slapped all of us, all of our institutions, and more importantly, themselves too. Does the concerned General think that he has gained some ground for the army from this behavior? He has just reduced the worth of all humans in this society. When a teacher is handcuffed and arrested in Islamabad, it is not a slap in his face; it is a slap in the ministers’ face who had this done. He has made all of us smaller to some extent. The individuals in this society are connected to each other, through institutions, through shared history, present and the future, through the bonds of being ‘human’ (ala David Hume) and through the bonds of being ‘rational’ (ala Immanuel Kant). One person’s indignity is one step in the direction of the destruction of the society as a whole. Appreciation of this connectedness is what is missing from the vision of the present day leaders as well as intellectuals.

General Musharraf insists that Pakistan is a good place to invest in. Definitely, for sectors and people that are heavily protected by the state. But it is not a good place to live, invest in, and raise one’s children in for most of the rest. And the main reason behind this is the indignity and the insecurity that most of us have to face everyday of our lives. People are voting with their feet to show their discontent. There are thousands of highly skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors, who might well have acquired their skills or their capital from Pakistan, or at least a part of it, who are emigrating from Pakistan every year. September 11 events have surely dampened the enthusiasm of many to go to the Western countries, but this is partly because the welcome from these countries has become less warm, it is not because living in Pakistan has become better. Even today, with all the stories of how Pakistanis and Muslims are treated in the United States and Canada and so on, there are thousands who queue up everyday to obtain visas to these countries, there are thousands whose applications for immigration are still in process, there are thousands who want to take ‘refuge’ in these countries, and there are thousands who are willing to pay almost a quarter of a million rupees to have a chance of making it to these countries even illegally or semi-legally.

Economic injustice is surely a large part of the explanation for the preference that people are revealing, but this is not the entire story. It is not the economically desperate alone who are leaving the country. For the entrepreneur and investor class, as well as for the very educated or skilled, Pakistan offers good returns, but for them, security, peace, safety, justice, for themselves and their children, is an issue. Consider the very simple calculus: Suppose patriotism and other connections with Pakistan gave you a ‘utility’ of 1000 units for living in Pakistan, but there was a 10 percent chance that you would face some form of grave injustice here (whatever the form) leading to a substantial loss to you, or your children (say –10,000), the overall value for living in Pakistan, even for a risk neutral person, gets reduced to –100 (1000*0.9-10,000*0.1). If another country offers even a positive value to living there, given that we may not have patriotic connections to it initially, even then people would emigrate. This is what is happening in the case of Pakistan. Of course, for risk-averse individuals, and most of us are risk-averse where our life and the lives of our loved ones are concerned, the incentive to migrate is even larger.

Life is tough in Pakistan. The lack of justice, fairness and rationality in our society imposes a heavy cost on all. It impedes us all from achieving our full potential of being human, and it reduces all of us to being less than human. For the poor, the challenges are doubly binding. Apart from the indignities mentioned above, they have to contend with economic injustice as well, and have to fight hard for mere survival. This cannot be equilibrium for a society. The fact that people are migrating, and not investing in this country should be an eye-opener for all of us. The question is that will we have the sagacity to bring in appropriate institutional, legal and other changes to significantly alter the path we are on. This is the challenge for us as a society, and as a polity.

A couple of days ago I read an appalling piece of news. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced that by paying a fee at the airport, visitors can be whisked through immigration, baggage claim and customs. Will anyone be surprised when existing service, already poor by all standards, gets worse for people who cannot or will not cough up the additional dough? Will people ever get fed up of this and refuse to be discriminated against? Is there a part we can play? Why is this system so resistant to change, in spite of significant opposition from within (see, for example, columns by Drs. Khayal and Bari)? Following are my thoughts on these questions.

The social order that prevails in Pakistan is called a colonial system. The society in this order is geared towards serving the colonial master. We, in Pakistan, particularly in the areas east of the Indus, know this very well and have perfected the art of servitude. Starting from the Central Asian kings, through the Moghuls and then the British, the system has changed little. Some masters were better than others but overall society’s main purpose was to serve the ruling class. Masters are, of course, reluctant to give up their privileged position and in general, have to be thrown out either by a new master class (change of dynasty) or by popular movements (independence through revolution or war). The events leading to Pakistan’s independence in 1947 certainly did not fall into the latter category. It was a change of dynasty in the guise of independence. The indigenous elite [1] in India recognized that the old order is falling apart. The inevitability of eventual British withdrawal from India must have been evident to the sharp intellects of the indigenous elite during the First World War. The slumbering masses in the areas now in Pakistan, though, had no great desire for change and no inclination to go through a painful revolution of independence. Whatever little enthusiasm they mustered was a direct consequence of hard canvassing by the elite [2]. So, when after independence, the indigenous elite seamlessly slipped into the shoes of the departing masters, there was hardly a whimper by the commoner, the old faithful. For a colonized nation, most of the things generally identified with stability and prosperity, such as a strong military and bureaucracy, good infrastructure, good schools and hospitals etc., act towards strengthening the status quo. Therefore, the more economically prosperous today’s Pakistan becomes, the firmer will be the grip of the ruling class [3]. For the common man to share this potential prosperity self-rule is a prerequisite.

The masters are not about to relinquish their privileges voluntarily. Do we now wait for a revolution and while queued up for the guillotine (if you can read this you are likely to on the wrong side of the falling blade), lament how we became unfair victims of society’s wrath, or do we start or join a movement ourselves and make the privileged class realize that it is in their long-term interest to stop acting like colonial masters? My vote is for the latter in the hope that it is not too late to avoid the bloodshed that accompanies all revolutionary wars of independence.

A few months ago, I touched upon the moral repugnance of encouraging and perpetuating the class system by keeping servants. But I sold my soul to the devil – we now have a maid, a janitor, a gardener and a chauffeur. I succumbed – and I was told by wise men that it was inevitable. This is a clear example – changing the system threatens the lifestyles of everybody who is in any position to affect change. Let me say that in a different way; only the relatively privileged, people like us, have the full stomachs to worry about issues that go beyond basic survival. But these people would be working against their master status by standing up for social and judicial equality. Hence, in my opinion, there is scant possibility that internal social movements will bear any fruit. That is why exhortations of Drs. Khayal and Bari get nothing but a sympathetic nod of the head even from the most progressive.

The independence movement (I don’t know what else to call it) has to be launched from outside the country. And what better place can there be than the United States [4]. Leadership of this mandate falls naturally on the Pakistani-Americans who see on a daily basis how a relatively classless society functions and how an egalitarian distribution of public services and of disbursement of justice strengthens the civic fabric.

Here is a sample of what we can do:

Break the Feudal-Military Alliance

Lobby the American government to stop all military aid to Pakistan. The only purpose of the military is to keep the privileged in power by throttling and exploiting the common man. I won’t say more – speaking out against the army is a dangerous business unless you have the literary gifts of Javed Hashmi and can use the time in confinement to churn out a new book every six months.

Lobby for an increase in economic aid, which should be disbursed to private charities with an established track record of helping the common man. No money, public or private should flow to any government agency. An example of abuse was the disbursement of aid, sent mostly by overseas Pakistanis in the aftermath of the Earthquake. Local feudals lobbied the government to hand them the cash. They wanted the power to disburse funds according to their wishes. That is bad; our charitable contributions should not end up in the hands of the military (government) or the feudal landlord.

Help the Common Man

– Encourage, through friends and family in Pakistan, charitable work that directly benefits the common man. We must stay away from “The President’s Fund” or other such hoaxes.
– Prepare a list of Pakistani companies that treat their employees well. Conversely, identify the bad guys – companies that use semi-indentured men, women or children. Then lobby to encourage the good guys and publicly admonish and boycott the bad guys.
– Avoid, like the plague, anything that even smells of child labor.
– Treat servants (when in Pakistan) like you would treat your employees or subordinates in the US. They should have a set of job responsibilities, not an open-ended mandate of servitude. For example, they should be under no obligation to carry out the orders of your guests and visitors.

Activism for Political Change

– Make it known that the Pakistani government cannot rely on the Diaspora for unconditional support. We should stop identifying with the ruling elite, and eliminate the feeling of shame which propels us to hide governmental shortcomings and to blindly support their policies in the media and on public for a, sometime against our better judgment. The Pakistani-Americans should give visiting Pakistani government officials “hell”. During interactions with them, focus should be on the many shortcomings not on the few achievements.
– Agenda for specific political reform leading to good governance, such as emphasis on accountability, should be made and publicly pushed.
– Specific vigilance should be set aside for identifying abuse of power. Those instances should be widely publicized to the global media unapologetically.

The new idea here is to start acting like dissidents and not ambassadors of the current system. If you wish Pakistan well, work for its people, not for its rulers.
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[1] The indigenous elite is referred to in popular lingo as the Brown Sahibs.

[2] Among pre-independence Indian Muslims, the only places where the Movement had popular support were Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. Considering provinces currently in Pakistan, my statement above remains factual without exceptions.

[3] The obvious assumption here is that the ruling class will not let the benefits of good schools, hospitals and economic wealth percolate down to the common man. It is certainly true in Pakistan.

[4] A strong case can be made for leadership of this movement to come from British-Pakistanis, who are more likely to identify with the common Pakistani. I focused on Pakistani-Americans due to my own ties with that community.

Now that the Dubai showdown between the Congress and the administration has been averted, there are discussions about the aftermath if this saga. The WSJ has this to say about it:

“The decision by the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to order state-controlled Dubai Ports World to end its control over US port facilities marks the lowest point yet in the relationship between President George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress,” reports the Financial Times from Washington:

With [the president's] public approval ratings at record lows and his Republican party abandoning him, one of the US’s closest allies in the Arab world concluded that he was no longer in control in Washington.

The decision by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, is likely to avert the political backlash that hit Washington last month and may prevent any further damage to diplomatic and security relations between the countries. But it underscored that Mr Bush, who still has nearly three years to go in his second term, has become perilously weak.

The WSJ continues:

“What does it mean if the Emiratis think the president is “no longer in control?” John Fund writes in OpinionJournal’s Political Diary that “it may cost the U.S. valuable intelligence on terrorism,” which the UAE has been providing since 9/11, “and some American workers their jobs” if Air Emirates decides to repay the snub by buying planes from Airbus rather than Boeing.”

To me all that makes sense. The fragile alliance between the US and the UAE has suffered another setback.