Daily Times

The hurly burly is done and the battles are lost and won. Imran Khan is this country’s Prime Minister (PM). After acting as a barnacle attached to the status quo forces, Imran stands at the doorstep of a new era. Imran’s Cri de Coeur against the stygian stables of doom and gloom that our polity and governance had become, resonated well with the dispossessed and the penurious who rallied to his call to the barricades with the alacrity of the of 1789 Paris revolutionaries.

Now its payback time and expectations are sky high. Every time a messiah has arrived to deliver our masses from the tyranny of the ruling oligarchy, the usual sequence of action has followed the jinxed pattern of hope, action, impasse, compromise, retreat, and compromise. The structure of privileged rule had so badly entrenched itself in our social, political, and economic life that efforts by reformers and messiahs foundered on the rocks of those interests. For autocrats like Ayub, Zia, and Musharraf it was an elusive yet futile quest for political legitimacy that forced them to co-opt traditional political oligarchy that derailed their nation building project whereas in case of democrats like Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, and Zardari it was a predilection for personal survival and amassing of political power through means fair and foul that proved to be their undoing. The political cadres and the masses remained powerless in the face of an over-developed state that in the words of Hamza Alavi, had failed to outgrow its colonial flavour.

With time, the nation became a security state status instead of a development state. Socio-political equity, and economic justice withered on the vine of security and political imperatives leaving human security far behind national security as a priority. A false spring of democratic hope starting with the lost decade of the 90s culminated in the winter of discontent after another ten years of democratic interregnum from 2008 to2018. The public despair from being excluded from the economic progress in these years of Kakistocracy was such that the people started rooting for an extra constitutional intervention to break the monopoly of the misruling oligarchs. Judiciary and the armed forces played their part in introducing a “Hybrid Democracy” aimed at good governance, public accountability, and revival of institutions.

PTI has ridden this populist wave of discontent and has the masses, especially the younger generation, charged up and demanding genuine change. The party’s promises -including morejobs and 5 million homes for the homeless- will not be easy to keep. Just multiply 5,000,000 houses with 2,500,000 (assumed cost per house)and you get a figure of Rs12,500,000,000. A public roused to a fever pitch may soon become estranged from the ruling party if these promises are not kept. PTI has acted as a rabble rouser for far too long, hence it will not be easy for it to keep the masses calm.

PTI has acted as a rabble rouser for far too long, hence it will not be easy for it to keep the masses calm

Having introduced the masses to their rights, Imran now needs to point out their obligations to the state. Without discipline and institutions, no state can survive respectfully. Strengthening institutions means diluting the bureaucratic fiat and ending personalised decision making. We need real discipline in every aspect of social and political life, be it fiscal, moral, traffic, administrative, or institutional. Sans institutions the state degenerates into an illiberal democracy which is worse than an autocracy. Would Imran’s tigers and the charged cadres be amenable to a martinet like adherence to the legal code? Will the bevy of electables who jumped on his bandwagon to taste political power be political baggage or assets? Already, the appointment of the Punjab CM and few other appointments have raised eyebrows.

The first challenge is restoration of public faith in institutions. Good governance depends on institutions and the right devolution of political powers. Despite being a democratic government, the PML-N government completely undid the Local Government System of 2002 bequeathed by Musharraf. PTI needs to start with Local Government reforms where the municipal as well as local governance functions such as taxes, policing, revenue collection, education, and health need to be devolved down to cities, towns and municipalities. The provincial governments should retain administrative functions but the provincial legislatures should be solely concentrating on law and policymaking. Bigger provinces need to be carved into smaller and administratively manageable entities. This would counter ethnic particularism besides promoting administrative efficiency.

The next step should be overhauling the present litigation friendly judicial system. Our lower judiciary is where90 percent of the respondents get the rough end of the stick because of a painfully slow and inefficient system. Judges’ selection also needs to be improved, besides imposing a legislative oversight over the selection and disciplinary matters of the higher judiciary. Nowhere in the world has an institution kept internal oversight like in our case. The present Supreme Judicial Council needs to be headed by public representatives with a balanced membership from legislature, judiciary, and experts from public.

The third main step should be completely revamping the civil services. The antediluvian and colonial bureaucratic apparatus that was aimed at revenue extraction and not pubic amelioration needs to be changed. Pervez Musharraf had abolished the office of Deputy Commissioner who in the words of Justice AR Cornelius embodied colonial despotism. The District Management Group in its latest reincarnation as Pakistan Administrative Group managed to undo all of the reforms that separated administrative and judicial powers through close contacts with the Sharif brothers who obliged them in return for services rendered in pursuit of their non-institutionalised governance.

Another area crying out for reforms is the institution of District Revenue Collection, symbolised by the onomatopoeic “Patwari”. If people have to remain at the mercy of the erstwhile Patwaris then there would be no difference between PTI and PML-N. This should not be difficult considering the reforms already carried out by the KP and PTI government during its last tenure. The outmoded land record system should also be done away with so land mafias are effectively checked. Police reforms are also needed. The Pakistani people need a truly efficient and people friendly law enforcement apparatus. Industrial and commerce policies also need reform. For far too long the trader community has benefitted from government policies at the cost of the manufacturing sector, which has been squeezed disproportionately. To boost industrial productivity, corporate taxes need to be reduced along with reduction in the cost of electricity.

There is a dire need for a “National Energy Mix Policy” which should give a clear road map for generation of power through thermal, hydel, nuclear and renewable energy. We need to build more dams to make use of our hydel potential for cheap electricity. Our human resource development is another area of focus that is dependent on quality education. A uniform national curriculum in all institutions and all provinces with minor regional variations should be introduced with technical education linked with foreign universities. A vocational thrust through high quality technology universities is de rigueur for industrial productivity. Lastly, a civil-military balance through strong legislative and cabinet oversight on national security policy making needs to be ensured. The institution of National Security Advisor and Defence Minister needs to be made more puissant on the lines of the Pentagon and the White House National Security Advisory Secretariat. Competent oversight could only be kept on armed forces through awell-resourced National Security Secretariat, and Ministry of Defence.

In days to come Imran will be served by several “How to govern” primers. The above was a short summary of the challenges facing us and how they should be addressed. One thing is certain; there will be no progress without genuine reforms and a relentless push for their implementation.

The writer is a PhD scholar at NUST; e mail rwjanj@hotmil.com

Published in Daily Times, August 25^th 2018.