Daily Times

Reinhold Niebuhr’s 1932 classic Moral Man and Immoral Society states that, “the will for power inevitably dominates the will for good.” Nations crucify their moral rebels with their criminals upon the same Golgotha.

Imran Khan popularly referred as a political maverick faces a somewhat similar fate at the hands of opposition joined under PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement). The coalition formed from eleven political parties is adamant on do or die but to sustain the notorious politics of deceit and corrupt practices.

Though officially PDM’s political slogan is “vote ko Izzat do” (honor the vote) but in reality they intend to withhold supremacy of corrupt money.The recent Senate Election is an open evidence of continuation of their immoral attitudes and horse trading strategies to win a seat in the upper house. Earlier in 2018 Senate elections, PTI expelled its 20 members who violated party voting lines and sold their votes.

Inorder to prevent such electoral corruptions this time, PTI’s government sought a presidential ordinance to conduct Senate voting under open balloting rules. Sadly the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that as per constitution, election must be held under a secret ballot. As a result all corrupt factors united under PDM got carte blanche to shamelessly buy and sell votes before Senate election. A video of Yusuf Raza Gillani’s son Ali Gillani surfaced directing a member of PTI how to waste his vote, but failed to bring any abashment on their part. Neither Election Commission of Pakistan considered it an act worthy of any notice.

The repetition has the power to make things sound true and plausible. His repetitive speeches may act as a panacea for corruption diseased minds

It is ironic though the tenure of democracy exceeds that of dictatorship in Pakistan, yet most political analysts refrain to hold political leadership responsible for prevalent corruption and money laundering. The leadership of popular political parties have left Pakistan in a vicious abyss of moral decline, where elites are proud of their loot and misfesance of power. They have completely torn the social fabric of country’s morality.

Pakistanis who expected democracy to usher in an era of progress and prosperity, experienced this promise as a nightmare, mired with perils and pitfalls. The advent of democracy coincided with a steady decay of political institutions, social conflict and economic stagnation. The rampant corruption stories at highest office helped to weave a false illusion of acceptability toward such crimes. Society began to endorse status quo of corruption as a norm. Media which acts as a watchdog, mostly defended actions of such leaders who held work permits to launder the money abroad.

No wonder a philosopher like Plato held deep contempt and distaste for Democracy and pinned hope in the Republic. Thats the reason he suggested a way out, by picking a few men, philosophers or lovers of wisdom or truth may by study learn at least in outline the proper patterns of true existence. If a powerful ruler should form a state after these patterns, then its regulations could be preserved.

Imran Khan’s changed democracy appears to be a move toward a philosopher king who attempts to reshape the narrative of governance in Pakistan. The past leaderships have endorsed corruption and misuse of entrusted power for private benefits. No structure, no tier and no office of public and private sector stayed immune from it – unfortunately this malaise spreads even beyond executive and the insidious tentacles of corruption have grip inside judiciary and legislature too. This gangrene of people is the biggest enemy of progress in our time. Not only it got institutionalised but also destroyed the moral fibre.

Any nation crafted on the foundation of corruption is doomed to have class differences and inequality of opportunities. The inequalities of social privilege develop in societies and later become the basis of class division and class solidarity. Such inequalities of privilege are due chiefly to disproportions of power and economics play a major part in them. In modern capitalist society the significant social power is the power which inheres in the ownership of the means of production; and it is that power which is able to arrogate special privilege to itself.

The moral attitudes of dominant and privileged groups are characterised by universal self deception and hypocrisy. Ironically they invent a consciousness which applies that universal values spring from and that general interests are served by the special privileges which they hold. The most common form of hypocrisy among the privileged classes is to assume that their privileges are the just payments with which society rewards specially useful or meritorious functions. That is the main reason that Sharif and Zardari family refuse to give sources of their fortune and instead hide behind the veil of democracy in danger.

As long as society regards special reward for important services as ethically just and socially necessary, it is always possible for social priviledge to justify itself, at least in its own eyes. Dominant classes are slowest to yield power because it is the source of priviledge. As long as they hold it, they enjoy the practical advantage of withholding enough to preserve their eminence and superiorty in society.

Some moral theorist and ethical idealist pin hope in the capacity of religious or rational idealism, they persist in hoping that some force of reason and connscience can be created, powerful enough to negate or to transcend the economic interests which are basic to class divisions. Sadly the whole history of humanity is proof of the futility of this hope. The development of rational and moral resources may indeed qualify the social and ethical outlook, but it cannot destroy the selfishness of classes. The imagination of very few men is acute enough to accomplish this herculean task. As the Greek mythical hero Prometheus stole the fire from the powerful gods to lighten the lives of oridanary humans, we need moral leaders who could build a positive narrative for a just and honest nation.

Imran Khan being an idealist seems to have the required charisma to dismantle the illusion of truth created by the elite class of Pakistan. The persistence with which he pleads and invites masses toward nation building shows an unflinching spirit. He seems to be aware of the fact that communication dominate war, it is the single most important element in strategy, political or military. The repetition has the power to make things sound true and plausible. His repetitive speeches may act as a panacea for corruption diseased minds.

Shabbar Zaidi, Ex-Chairman FBR held “Ashrafia” responsible for the failure of his economic reforms, “my suggestion for correction is not any more think tank or committees. it is more and more information to public at large. Society if well informed is always very ruthless whilst dealing with its interest.”

But alongside one also needs to remember that, the age of communication revolution expects an intelligent leadership to refrain from unconditional pledges like; “I call the people who loot money from Pakistan and take it abroad as traitors of the country”, which if fail due to strategic or diplomatic limits, later come to haunt whoever makes them. The burden of such fiery rhetoric ends with allegations of political U-turns.

Special Advisor (PIM), operated under Federal Ministry of Industries and Production, Islamabad) and Foreign Research Associate (Centre of Excellence, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Islamabad)