Daily Times

What is it that makes Pakistan popular? Corruption! Who are the most corrupt people? The politicians! That is what implicitly made the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) conduct a sting operation against the candidates aspiring to become the legislators of this country. The questions put to the candidates by the returning officers have now been discussed extensively in the media, without even touching upon the credibility of the returning officers. Did the returning officers have enough credibility to point fingers at others’ faith? Had they ever thought about the ideology of Pakistan beyond what has been taught to them in schools? There is a consensus that the scrutiny process held by the ECP was unbecoming of a country raising its head high in the celebration of completing five years of a democratic tenure for the first time. The debate and the process of grilling the potential parliamentarians over being sadiq and ameen (righteous and honest) had drowned other realities that actually matter in our quest to become a corruption-free country. The latest figures from the Human Development Index (HDI) have placed Pakistan at 146th out of 186 countries. This slot is an indication that people in Pakistan are increasingly getting tangled in the poverty trap. Poverty according to the HDI report is now at 49 percent in Pakistan. Pakistan’s performance in the health and education sectors has deteriorated sharply over the last three years.

With a meagre 0.8 percent of GDP the budget for health and 1.8 percent for education, how could there be any human development? Health and education fall within the purview of the state and only the state has the resources to provide these to everyone in the country. Unfortunately, the state has absolved itself of this responsibility. Over time, all types of schools and hospitals serving the lower, middle, upper-middle and upper classes have proliferated. Small rooms with no ventilation became classrooms and untrained doctors and nurses found enough space to accommodate their quackery at a reasonable rate of return. The airconditioned schools and big hospitals fleeced people in the name of quality. When the state relinquishes its responsibility, unbridled commerce fills the vacuum.

The conundrum created by Article 62 and 63 has morphed into another important phenomenon. During the recent matriculation exams in Sindh, at least 50 examination centres had been declared sensitive and the Sindh Board of Higher Education (SBHE) had requested the interior ministry to assist the board in controlling the situation. The issue at hand was candidates cheating in the examinations across the province. Never had there been such a massive cheating attempt by the students during examinations, that too with impunity. That the students were emboldened to cheat and the invigilators and other SBHE staff proved incapable of stopping the students from the unethical practice shows the power of the cheats, particularly in Karachi, and generally in Sindh. Cheating has never been a rare happening in this country. However, the blatant attitude of the candidates to transgress the rules and law has made the recent incident peculiar and shocking. So, are we talking about having another mafia in Karachi, after the land, water and extortion mafias?

Coming back to Article 62 and 63, if the state falters in its primary responsibility to provide education to its people, then what justification is left for it to inquire from its citizens about being cultured and civilised as suggested in the twin articles? Unfortunately, we have been persuaded to believe over the years that religious education is about getting the sense of certain rituals, rules and guideline that bind one to a typical frame of reference. The matter, however, is not that simple. The person that the Quran endeavours to create is necessarily a civilised and cultured human being raised not in isolation, as we have struggled to do, hence all those Saudi-funded madrassas all over the country. They are to be bred as ordinary people within the emblem of worldly affairs because ultimately it is the world that one has to deal with. Unless of course there is some power struggle that one desires to indulge in, education remains a public good, even in the strict religious framework. It has to be common and for all, with a singular agenda to promote enlightenment. Therefore, neglecting education and dividing it into different categories is a crime that the state has committed against its people in Pakistan. So the question arises: can a state be both an offender and a guardian on a particular issue? Did the returning officers, who have been accusing people of falling short of the characteristics described in Article 62 and 63, have the legitimacy to do that on behalf of the state? That constitutes the case against those who acted irrationally and in an unsophisticated manner in even understanding what were they up to.

It was General Ziaul Haq’s Islamisation that distorted the constitution by the insertion of religious clauses. Interesting, isn’t it! Someone who had usurped the right of others could make piety a rigorous and intrusive experience. Noncommittal as he was, he refused to transfer power to the civilian government within 90 days and it took him11 years to realise that there was a God who would hold him to task for neglecting his duties just as He would have held Umar responsible had he been ignorant of even a thirsty dog wandering on the shores of the River Euphrates (the famous anecdote of Caliph Umar that our leaders relish to quote, and which Zia quoted in his last address to the nation in 1988 on Pakistan Television). Having completed the mission of the US and Saudi Arabia, and after smearing the ideology of Pakistan with the Wahabi-Salafist theology, he departed unceremoniously from this world, leaving behind moth-eaten religious underlings. Therefore, when the 18th Amendment was at the last ladder of completion, and Articles 62 and 63 were suggested to be removed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman resisted the change. As far as the 8th Amendment was concerned, the authors of the 18th Amendment could not gather the guts to even look at it. So Islam in its unique manifestation was left untouched in the constitution of Pakistan.

The horrid part of all this is that we have become confused about Islam and its place in our lives. On the one hand, the ECP scrutinises people on Islamic injunctions, and on the other bars the candidates from seeking votes in the name of Islam. Enough to raise the hackles of the religious political parties. Whosoever is thinking all this is surely taking advantage of the ‘ignorance’ that the country and its people are so fully bestowed with. Keeping illiteracy and poverty at a staggering rate after all has its dividends. Hence, Muzafar Tappi (Asif Ali Zardari’s foster brother) coming out triumphant after giving correct answers to all the ‘Muslim’ questions asked by his RO. It goes in everybody’s interest, doesn’t it, to keep Islam embedded in our constitution!

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Daily Times and can be reached at durdananajam1@gmail.com