Daily Times

After the 2008 elections, PPP formed the government, and in February 2012 about one year before completing its term, its leaders in their statements were cocksure of their triumph in 2013 elections; except in Sindh the party was almost routed from other provinces.

The PML-N had comfortable majority in 2013 elections and formed the government in the centre and coalition government in Balochistan. At the time of sit-in by PTI and PAT, then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders asserted that a few thousands agitators could not override the millions mandate. But the mandate is one thing that is never perennial; it is invariably transient, especially when it comes to a government or a political leadership. Their popularity plummets, depending on their performance, particularly in the service of the people; and the incumbent government has not fared well.

Politicians gang up to enact a law or pass a constitutional amendment self-servingly and claim they have strengthened democracy; and that they have shut the door on any praetorian adventurism. But never ever it occurs to them that the people are yearning despairingly for a bit of relief to their unbearably difficult times and do without democracy even if they could get that bit.

They wouldn’t even know that at these times there are homes after homes where for months the families have not cooked a dish of vegetables; the prices of pulses are also beyond their reach; and it is difficult for the teeming millions to keep their body and soul together. The members of the ruling elite are responsible unexceptionally for this state of affairs. The problem is that major political parties and some other significant parties of Pakistan are fiefdoms of the top leadership or founders of the parties.

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s history has been characterised by periods of military dictators and civilian dictators, as Pakistan has overwhelmingly remained a feudal society where jagirdars, vederas, sardars and pirs still wield enormous power. They enjoy political clout and in cahoots with noveau riche industrial class and bureaucracy control the state. Whenever there is military dispensation, they join the bandwagon.

The members of the ruling elite control all the resources of the country; they can afford to ‘invest’ in elections first to reach the corridors of power to amass wealth

They are master political strategists, who ride the tide and turn the surge to their advantage. But the hearts of patriotic Pakistanis bleed to find the nation divided on various planes destroying the very fabric of national cohesion. Yet they claim to be champions of democracy. Can anybody on the political scene at the present claim that he has not compromised with the military dictator at one time or another? It is hoping against hope that they will wean away from giving overriding consideration to their personal interest over national interest.

Showing utter disregard to the people’s needs and demands, our political ‘eminences’ and leading lights talk about democracy, justice, rule of law and constitutionalism. Today, the members of the ruling elite control all the resources of the country; they can afford to ‘invest’ in elections first to reach the corridors of power to amass wealth. And then again launch lavish election campaign to save that ill-gotten wealth. On the other hand, an ordinary person with middle-class background cannot afford to field himself as a candidate for a provincial or national assembly seat.

Anyhow, the people are losing faith in the system, which does not address their problems. They seem to be fed up with the present electoral process that sends opulent classes in the assemblies. Unless this vast majority of disgruntled citizens are inspired to take interest in national affairs, no change can be brought about in either state of society or in the contours of the national uplift.

In this system, it is only the oligarchy that would come again and again, no matter what method of elections is adopted. In the ultimate analysis, it means that drastic land reforms and equitable redistribution of ownership of national wealth and means of production are fundamental to any just system.

Without this dispensation, any talk of electoral reforms is just meaningless. But neither land reforms nor any kind of egalitarianism are in the plans of any of our oligarchs. They have been scrambling zestfully for amendment to the constitution but what they did was to make a disqualified prime minister as head of the PML-N. In Pakistan, the myriad political and religious parties, intellectuals, pseudo-intellectuals, or government and the opposition parties have variegated stances and perceptions about various issues, but they stand united so far as their perks and privileges are concerned.

There is a consensus among serious politicians, economists and analysts that Pakistan is facing a multifaceted crisis, and it is the result of ruling elite’s lust for power and flawed decisions over a period of six decades.

The fact of the matter is that the landed gentry wield power over the haris. Similarly, in a capitalist society, direct access to private property in the form of the means of production entails control over circumstances in which others are implicated, and therefore have direct social power. Furthermore, the owners of property can borrow by hypothecating the assets and generate more means of production, thus enhancing their power over others. So far as elimination of corruption is concerned, members in the existing assembly would not legislate to indict and punish those who have stashed wealth abroad, and stop amassing of wealth through illegal means.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at mjamil1938@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, November 6^th 2017.