Daily Times

Of all the resources at the disposal of a nation, the most precious is its human resource and ingenuity. The quality of its people will determine its future: how they have been nurtured, what they have been taught, what environment they have been brought up in, who are their peers, what kind of people are the leaders in their community. Have their nutritional needs and healthcare needs been met? These are all crucial factors in the development of an individual as they are of a people.

When we look around and see the condition of our multitudes it is quite clear that we have neglected them entirely; they are not part of our equation except for performing mostly menial tasks. Around 90 percent of the population is deprived of a dignified existence in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan while Punjab could be around 80 to 85 percent.

In large cities like Karachi and Lahore there are countless cases of misery. Consider this true story of a middle-aged woman working as a domestic servant. Her husband has tuberculosis since many years and cannot work; her elder son is mentally challenged since some quack at a substandard hospital mishandled the delivery causing brain damage, while her second son did not study and became a tailor, but has a drug habit due to which he cannot hold a job. However, he is married and there is a child. They live in horrible and oppressive surroundings where violence and gang wars are a daily affair and filthy open drainage a constant health hazard. Her meagre earnings can hardly feed so many mouths. She was born in an impoverished household and will know no better until her dying day. Why has this poor domestic servant’s life to be so miserable? Because of illiteracy, because she could not get proper healthcare for her husband (such diseases are rampant in these areas); her second son did not have much of a chance to escape the environment of drugs and violence, while the elder was deprived of a normal existence as the poor do not deserve proper medical services. Such and worse are the daily lives of millions of people in big cities. Are the ruling classes and their supporters not responsible for the miserable and undignified existence of such people who account for the vast majority of our population? Why should they be illiterate and why should they not receive healthcare after 65 years of independence in a country blessed with adequate resources?

If anything can be worse, it is the miserable lives of our impoverished peasants on the lands. Modern day slavery is their lot, exploited and oppressed by the age-old feudal system that we so proudly protect. Education is almost nonexistent in the rural areas of certain provinces; schools are a taboo. The landlord is the law, fearsome and feared. For centuries, the peasantry’s lot has remained the same, chained to its misfortune and deprived of its most basic rights. Who, if not the rulers, are responsible for the maintenance of such an exploitative and inhumane system? Our yields in agriculture remain amongst the lowest due to this system, therefore the peasants’ conditions do not improve. All remains frozen in time.

Many years ago, a young doctor’s contingent was sent from Dow Medical College in aid of flood victims in Sindh. They found that disease and food shortage were the main killers. At one place, they found a large warehouse stocked with grains and asked the peasants why they did not use this grain. They were told it was the landlord’s warehouse and they could not touch it. The doctors explained that there was an emergency and people were dying of hunger, therefore they should use the food supply. There was fear on the poor peasants’ faces — fear of the landlord’s wrath — and they did not open the warehouse. The local administration, probably in the pay of the landlord, also dissuaded the doctors. Such is the power and practice of the feudal.

The shanty towns that have sprung up around and in the cities and also the ill-planned townships for the working class are nothing but ghettos. Violence everywhere, open gutters, and filth all around the dwellings rob the people of their dignity and security. These are certainly inhuman surroundings that we have consigned our people to dwell in. Imagine the torture of what they have to endure to eke out a subsistence level existence.

The lot of the vast majority has not improved much; actually, for a large number it probably has deteriorated since Independence. What has independence given them? They remain poor, probably more oppressed and certainly much more exposed to violence and insecurity of all kinds.

For the ruling classes the multiplication of wealth has been astounding, actually dizzying. Most of them do not even pay taxes! Largely ill-gotten wealth through corruption or manipulation of policies is the basis of their ‘honorable reputations’ and raison d’être. Of course, the plunder of the state means the plunder of the people who are being continuously impoverished.

Who after all are the ruling classes in Pakistan? They need to be divided into two groups: the active rulers and the passive rulers. Amongst the active rulers are the politicians, the armed forces, the feudals, the bureaucrats and now also the crime mafia. In the passive group are those who acquiesce and or support the first group; they are the large majority of businessmen, professionals, intellectuals and media moguls. These are the beneficiaries of the existing system. No matter who rules from amongst the active group, all of them benefit as the boat is never rocked to make a wave, the one or two exceptions going to prove the rule.

The ruling classes have robbed the masses of their security and wellbeing, their right to dignity and freedom, the right to contribute in a free and democratic society and the right to education, healthcare and a decent life for their children. Due to this colossal injustice and oppression there have been no gains for the country from the policies followed by the rulers over the last 65 years. The country is mismanaged, bankrupt, lawless, violent, unjust, corrupt and undemocratic. A country prospers when all its people prosper and develop.

The fact that we have been saddled with this Machiavellian system by people whose mindset belongs to the 18th century is rather unfortunate not just for the rest of us but also ultimately for them. The anachronism they have foisted on us is not sustainable in the 21st century and everyone can now see how it is coming apart at the seams.

What is required is a progressive and truly democratic system working for the benefit of all the people, an independent judiciary and international standard of education for all. Rapid economic development must be pursued; foreign investment would be forthcoming once the system is changed and the present violence and terrorism are seriously tackled. Economic development would lead to higher incomes and improvements in people’s condition and a gradual increase in purchasing power. This means a win-win situation for all provided we take the leap.

Failure on the part of all thinking people to see the writing on the wall will surely lead to a disastrous breakdown of whatever remains to qualify us as a coherent state. Vested interests and personal considerations can no longer be pursued; we need to rise above them. We must insist on being heard and must participate in the struggle to save our country, as we cannot stand if the country collapses. Each one of us counts. We should make groupings of likeminded people in our mohallas (neighbourhoods), streets, localities, communities and our towns and cities for peaceful protests against the ruling classes and their representatives and ensure their defeat in the elections. Our rulers, with almost no exceptions, have unfortunately been the worst specimens in our society and the present groupings are no better. Therefore, we shall have to struggle very hard to oust them and oust them we must, as there is just no other choice.

The writer is a businessman and a former chairman of the National Textile Foundation. He can be reached at fsumar@cyber.net.pk