Daily Times

Throughout history, ways and mechanisms have been artfully crafted to perpetuate the power of a chosen few over the sprawling multitudes. Much of this may have started as revolutionary zeal, but it inevitably degenerated to crass exploitation of the plebeians by the ruling mafias. This perpetual social disparity has been satirically encapsulated in the Animal Farm, a quote from which I begin with.

It is also a fascinating phenomenon how the founding zeal, over time, is cunningly replaced by the rationale of all not being equal, and some being more so than others.

But the real disheartening aspect is how easily the hapless millions kowtow to every new script which is written to keep them captive. From species among species to captive classes within classes, history is replete with instances of treacherous exploitation of a vast majority by a tiny, manipulative minority.

There would always be reasons for this exploitation, and there would always be tools to make it happen. And much more importantly, there would always be shameless operators to facilitate it at the lure of a few pennies.

Among the modern-day manipulative mechanisms employed, none is more devious than shifting the power base from institutions to individuals, thus making them more important and relevant. Instead of institutions being empowered to taking decisions, this critical implement is cunningly vested in the corrupt few who, using multiple convenient platforms, play the Machiavellian act they are entrusted with.

It is also humiliating to witness how easily the transition from “four legs good, two legs bad” to “four legs good, two legs better” takes place without any feathers ruffling, or anyone shamed. It is as if the orchestrators are trained consummately in the art of camouflaging the real intent.

Democracy faces no threats and the process of across-the-board accountability will strengthen it further. The fables of any lurking danger are part of the vile machinations to force it back. It must not because, if it retreats under one pretext or the other, it would be tantamount to inflicting a mortal wound to the prospect of democracy taking roots in the country. We’ll lick the dust and there shall be no rising again

Pakistan is witnessing the unfurling of this battle between the cumulative wisdom, which the institutions should be the bastions of, and individual operatives trying to hijack it to benefit their chosen masters. The fact that this is happening in the backdrop of a long and chequered history of some institutions, having repeatedly legitimised the de facto power base, creates an obvious element of disbelief. But, now that the battle for institutional ascendency appears to be gaining ground, the threat comes from a few errant individuals and a host of conspiracy-riddled projections.

The hoisting of the Sharif dynasty on this hapless country was the original tragic flaw reflecting all and more of the sordid phenomenon narrated above. Fed and nurtured in the military nursery, they leapt to stamp their authority over everything that may have survived by way of institutional relevance. They butchered it all and established the writ of a family without precedence. Misuse of the executive authority, feigned humility, unleashing the bullying and buying spree, employing deviousness as state craft — virtually nothing was left unused from the reservoir of the vile and the destructive.

In the process, we have a state that is tottering on the brink against a family empire which lords over stolen riches spread far and wide.

There is a battle waging in Pakistan, and this is what the Sharif rant is all about. The state’s efforts to finally assert itself through residuals of institutions which are still in place are being combated through the outpouring of family venom, employing their traditional and trademark methods encompassing threats and deceit.

In the immediate future, the outcome of this battle may spell the fate of a corrupt family fiefdom. But, it is the long-term which is more relevant to the state: whether it will continue to be dictated by individuals of one ilk or the other, or whether the concept of inviolable supremacy of the institutions will be established to guide it?

If the latter were to be the case, credible ways and methods will have to be put in place to free the institutions of the tentacles of the executive authority as a matter of right so that these can function effectively to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.

The Sharif dynasty is not the only devil in the arena. The country has been ravaged by a vast variety of such criminals hiding behind varying hues and shades of artificial apparels. Some of them appear to being left out of the grasp of accountability. That will not help to establish the authority of the institutions as this transition is rooted in its indiscriminate spread, leaving out no favourites. The state will have to fight this battle to its entirety. If it punishes some by using others, it’ll come back to haunt and the consequent void will be filled by these very criminal elements and outfits which are being left out of the ambit of accountability at this critical juncture. Sustainable edifices are never raised on faulty foundations.

Discords nurtured across religious, sectarian and other such divides have weakened the state. It cannot afford more divisions based on selective accountability. Criminals are nothing but criminals, deserving the same punishment across their existent or future stature and relevance. If the state is to function as a credible entity worthy of imposing its writ, it has to be cleansed of all such elements, no holds barred. Otherwise, the whole process will boomerang with fiercer intensity, thus further weakening the state.

Notwithstanding its dubious performance in the past, now that one institution is leading the charge to establish its credibility, it is paramount that other institutions and civil society organisations rise to support this effort to make the state ascendant over individual interests. It is the collective welfare of the masses that should be reflected in the functioning of the state through its various echelons.

Democracy faces no threats and the process of across-the-board accountability will strengthen it further. The fables of any lurking danger are part of the vile machinations to force it back. It must not because, if it retreats under one pretext or the other, it would be tantamount to inflicting a mortal wound to the prospect of democracy taking roots in the country. We’ll lick the dust and there shall be no rising again.

The fact that we have lingered in the ‘chambers of darkness’ in the past does not mean that we continue to reside in the shadows of despotism. It is time to cast off the yoke.

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan

Published in Daily Times, February 6^th 2018.