Daily Times

First, a bit of historical context! At partition, our civilian institutions couldn’t develop as strongly as India’s because they inherited the entire institutional infrastructure of pre partition India, whilst we inherited broken remnants. We had to build everything afresh, except the military! A fundamental differentiating factor.

Our political leadership, came predominantly from the Western part, agrarian, feudal, tribal, jagirdari. Most pre partition public service administrators were Hindu (70%). The number was higher in East Pakistan.

Muslims civil servants, predominantly Urdu speakers, came from UP and CP Provinces in India and not from regions comprising then West Pakistan. Very few from these regions joined the civil services, but dominated the military. These factors were to greatly influence our subsequent politics.

The Pakistan Army was the only institution which, like most professional armies anywhere, had and has an inherent ability and training to quickly reorganize from disparate parts into a whole, rapidly regaining its efficacy. Hence the bits and pieces of those units that were to become the nucleus of our Army, became a whole, homogenous entity very quickly, after partition.

And civilian institutions, weak and nascent to begin with, were dealt the first deathly blow by Ayub’s Martial Law. One can argue that had Ayub not taken over, our civilian institutions would have been stronger. Perhaps! But seeing the vast cultural difference between the military and the civilians it can be deduced that had Ayub not taken over, another Army chief would have done the deed sooner or later. This was quite on the cards since our first failed military coup attempt known as the Rawalpindi conspiracy of 1951.

Despite all its acts of commission and omission, the Army as an institution, has retained its relatively meritocratic ethos and hence saved itself from becoming another failed Pakistani institution

I say this, because a seemingly efficient, disciplined institution, the Army, with strong colonial and elitist ethos, was eyeing, in their minds, a squabbling pack of incompetent, power hungry, corrupt politicians fighting to preserve their status quo. This sentiment has dominated the thinking of our subsequent military leaders, leading to the inevitable Martial Laws!

Thus from 1971 on we witnessed a series of civilian administrations, actively weakening our civilian institutions to preserve their own power and influence, misgovern, loot and plunder and avoid accountability! A system further strengthened by Gen. Zia and Gen. Musharraf, who co-opted, by and large, the same corrupt elements they had overthrown, in their attempt to prolong and legitimize their take overs.

Post 1971, our first big opportunity, for reform came under Bhutto who swept to power on a wave of popular support, his demagoguery and a defeated nation. But he failed because at heart he was a dictator & not a democrat, despite his democratic trappings and pretensions. Very quickly, he dislodged the democrats and socialists in his party, welcoming feudals and traditional corrupt politicians, who as always, joined the rising sun, Military or Civilian!

And that is why Martial Law or a quasi military dispensation will never work as it will result in the same tragic outcomes as the previous attempts!

So what now?

Our only hope and future lies in a system that will break the stranglehold of this strange combination of a status quo political mafia, and ensure strengthening of civilian institutions and supremacy of civilian rule. This is the only path to sustained and long term progress and development for Pakistan.

But till that happens, the political mafia will try its best to recapture power, taking us back again into the quicksand of corruption, misgovernance and exploitation, making us even weaker. Their only fear, as we all know, stems from the Army which has been a constant threat to their loot and plunder. This has been our unfortunate and sad reality.

Having said that, let’s also not forget that despite all its acts of commission and omission, the Army as an institution, has retained its relatively meritocratic ethos and hence saved itself from becoming another failed Pakistani institution.

Imagine a Pakistan Army where Generals, Brigadiers, Lt. Cols, Majors etc were promoted, posted and transferred with the same impunity, as we witnessed in the police and bureaucracy, where IG’s, DIG’S, SSP’S, SP’S, SHO’s and bureaucrats were tossed about on the whims of an Asif Zardari, a Nawaz Sharif or a Shahbaz Sharif. And sadly we see this continue, even today under the present administration, especially in Punjab.

But with one major caveat and difference!

Compromised as PM Imran is with traditional politicians within his own party and coalition partners and inexperience, the lack of genuine options is the other much bigger factor. The quality of people, by and large, in all our destroyed and devastated public sector institutions, is abysmally poor, corrupt and incompetent, which greatly limits the choices of an administration or a leader like Imran, in seeking good people!

One can however argue, that much more could have been done by the current PTI administration in initiating significant police and bureaucratic reform then we’ve seen in these two years.

Developing and reforming civilian institutions weakened and destroyed by decades of misrule and misgovernance, is our biggest challenge and a massive undertaking!

While smaller tactical and operational interventions may have some positive impact, till we do not reform and restructure our entire electoral and governance system from scratch allowing people of integrity and competence to reach powerful policy making roles, the change and reform, we need and require, will not happen. We cannot find new solutions with the same minds who are the source of our problems!

Today, Nawaz Sharif and Zardari with supposedly diametrically opposing political platforms, have joined forces with the ultra right wing obscurantist forces of FazlurRehman and the supposedly secular nationalists like Asfandyar and Achakzai to form a strange new “Urban- Feudal – Religious – Secular” front to recapture political power.

Their objective. To dislodge an administration, which despite all its weaknesses and inexperience, is a major departure from the rampant loot and plunder of the past and their biggest obstacle to regaining political power. In that effort they also want to bring into disrepute the Army, the other barrier in their attempts to regain power.

They hope to do this by creating civil unrest, widespread violence and strangely enough, even hoping to invite extra constitutional interventions, hoping to co-opt the Army, as they did in the past.

In their desperate attempt, under the pretext of “saving democracy” they are targeting both PM Imran and the Army, today our strongest force in keeping our enemies at bay and helping dysfunctional civilian institutions in performing their roles.

This is playing with fire, putting at stake the very existence of our country and playing directly into the hands of our enemies, by targeting the military, dividing people’s loyalties, our national unity and cohesion.

The recent price hike smells of a major conspiracy as well! The sudden increase in terror attacks signals how our enemies are taking advantage of this madness orchestrated by the PDM

It is extremely critical at this juncture for the people of Pakistan to not fall prey to the machinations of this political mafia in creating discord and confusion. It is the people who must not be misled and come out and play their role in ensuring that these corrupt elements do not succeed, and we are able to create sufficient time and space for a cleaner, more effective political system to take root. The People MUST stand and be counted or continue to be exploited and whipped!

So where does this leave us?

Our current governance model has completely failed in delivering good governance. The 1973 Constitution is practically dead, except for the lip service we pay to it.

Today, Pakistan needs a completely new political and social contract which provides for:

1) A new governance model and a new Constitution.

2) More provinces.

3) Empowered local government.

4) Complete revamp of our electoral laws to bring in elements like proportional representation, majority win and not first past the post.

5) A complete restructuring of our police, bureaucracy and judiciary.

6) Perhaps even a Presidential system.

This transformation cannot happen under the current system and requires a recourse to the people through a public referendum. There is no other way to dislodge and remove the corrupt and the powerful from our political process. The stale argument of repeated elections under the same rules will not work but only bring the same corrupt lot back in and compromise the ability of people like PM Imran or others, to initiate major reform. We cannot expect change using the same people who caused our devastation!

Pakistan has a great future under stable, honest, capable, democratic civilian leadership. But this will never happen under the corrupt political mafia status quo, represented by the likes of Nawaz Sharif, Zardari, FazlurRehman, Asfandyar, Achakzai and embarrassingly by biological consequences like BilawalZardari or Maryam Safdar. Nor under military rule!

We must uproot the current system and rebuild! There is no other choice! A recourse to the people, via a referendum is our only choice!

Or, as I always say, its back to the stench and vomit of the Sharifs, Bhuttos, Zardari, FazlurRehmanetc and what they stand for!

Or Military rule.

Both with inevitable tragic consequences!

Haider Mehdi is a Geo political commentator / blogger on National and International affairs. Formerly a media anchor, corporate leader, management consultant, start up entrepreneur and military officer, he tweets @HaiderKonsult and blogs on shrmehdi.com