Daily Times

It is commonplace that politics is dirty. When a man is devious in his conduct, others may say that he is playing politics. Sceptics feel that a politician is not straightforward in his dealings, that he does not always say what he really intends, and that he does not do what he says he will. This need not be the case to the degree implied in these characterisations. It may be conceded that politics is the competitive pursuit of power and authority to govern a society, determine its direction and goals, decide which of the people’s professed needs and aspirations are legitimate, and devise ways and means of fulfilling them. In actual practice this too is not always fully the case. Practical politics may be closer to one or the other of these two general descriptions, and the mix may vary as we move from one society to another.

It may be asked if the quality of politics and governance is a function of the prevailing political culture. Was he announcing a half-truth when a judge of the Lahore High Court many years ago declared that a people get the government they deserve? I would treat his observation as an exaggeration. It may be that these two elements, prevailing political culture and the quality of governance, interact. The more noteworthy fact in my view is that political rectitude travels from the top down and not from the bottom up. In other words, the values and operational style of the rulers can influence the expectations and practice of the common man.

At the present time the political culture in Pakistan is decrepit. Corruption is pervasive and blatant in all segments of societal interaction. Those in the highest positions of authority and power, such as President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, do not object to corruption and have made no moves to eradicate it. A majority of the members of the National Assembly have either neglected to file tax returns or falsified them. They have also made bogus claims to the attainment of academic diplomas and degrees. These revelations have caused no popular uproar. One may get the impression that the people at large, following the example of the politicians in power, take corruption in its various forms as granted. Not only do they think that it is unavoidable, many of them believe also that there is nothing very wrong with the giving and taking of bribes in one’s dealings with public officials or with a bit of cheating in buying and selling. That is true, but note that the difference between places in this regard is that of degree and not one of kind. Two out of a hundred public officials in Sweden may be amenable to the temptations of unlawful gratification, but more than 90 percent of them in Pakistan or India may be susceptible to them.

It is a safe assumption that there are quite a few men of honour — honest, principled and courageous — even in a society where the great majority are unconcerned with the dictates of morality. This has to be the case in Pakistan as well. Even if it is assumed that politics is dirty, the likelihood is that some of its practitioners are less wicked than others. Looking at the current political scene in Pakistan, we can discern different levels of correctness among politicians. Surely, we will not place Asif Ali Zardari, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Asfandyar Wali Khan, and Altaf Hussain in the same category. The presence of good persons on the political scene, even if they are relatively few, suggests that improvement is possible. In this connection it is noteworthy that politicians in Pakistan were not always as dirty and corrupt as they are now. Seven individuals held the prime minister’s office between 1947 and 1958. None of them or any of their leading associates was accused of corruption. The higher civil servants working under them were also reasonably clean. Corruption increased during General Ayub Khan’s rule after the presidential election in 1964. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was regarded as an authoritarian ruler, intolerant of opponents and dissidents, but there were no allegations of corruption against him or any of his ministers. The professedly democratic governments led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif became notorious for their want of integrity and this has continued to be the case since then. But the history of corruption in government does indicate that things can change for the better. It is not unlikely that the next election will produce a more honest and competent government than the one with which we are afflicted at present.

Democracy is the way to go in most parts of the world. The people almost everywhere seem to be persuaded that they are entitled to say who will govern them and how. It is the same way in Pakistan. Elected governments are in place at the Centre and in the provincial capitals. Politicians in power and those in the opposition have been declaring their unreserved dedication to democracy and insist that nothing must be done to give its opponents an excuse to overthrow it. In saying so they have the military in mind, but their apprehension may be unfounded. At this time the generals have no discernible interest in taking power. But we must also face the fact that democracy is not yet firmly planted in the soil of Pakistan. Sceptics maintain that the democracy we have is more appearance than reality. It is a well known fact that many candidates contesting elections cheat, or allow cheating to happen in the voting process. Electoral rigging is evidently a denial of democracy. Another aspect of this denial should be noted. The same politicians who swear by democracy are actually given to one-man rule. Not all but several of the Pakistani political parties are guided and managed by the man at the top. He may consult with some of his chosen associates but, if having heard them, he overrules them and speaks his mind, his word comes as law and it is not to be disputed. This is pre-eminently the way it is done in the MQM. But even in the case of mainstream parties such the PML-N and PML-Q, issues are probably not put to a vote in their executive committees. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have the last word in their respective organisations. It seems to me that full-scale democracy still has some distance to go in Pakistan.

The writer, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, is a visiting professor at the Lahore School of Economics. He can be reached at anwarsyed@cox.net