Daily Times

No one has seen tomorrow, for it has not yet come out from the womb of time. It will eventually surface and then join the infinity of yesterdays. There is nothing we can do to mend the yesterdays if something had gone wrong with them because they are no longer within our reach. Tomorrow is a continuity of the present and past in some respects, but it is also a break with them. It is amenable to some direction from us. That being the case, what do we want our tomorrows to be like? Needless to say, we want them to make us productive, comfortable, and happy. This state of being may not be possible in all places and circumstances. One may want to know what needs to be done to attain this objective. We could let the existing state of affairs take its own course, which is bound to include a measure of change that may be for the better or worse. Alternatively, we could direct its course.

Who is going to be the change maker, the ones who will direct the tomorrows to make our lives more fulfilling? Older people, those in their 40s and 50s, may have made peace with their circumstances even if they are adverse. They may have assumed that they are caught in a condition that they cannot reverse. They are not going to revolt against the managers of state and society, but that is not the case with the younger generations, men and women who are, let us say, between the ages of 18 and 40. They are aware of the ground realities surrounding them, but moved by a measure of idealism, they feel that these realities should and can be changed.

One may be tempted to say that the young men and women are the nation’s most precious resource. But they are not a homogeneous lot. They are not all liberal, progressive, civil, tolerant of the dissident, and constructive. They have to be guided to inculcate these attitudes. Some of them have already made up their minds as to the nature of a good society. They have graduated from the training camps of the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other extremists who would eradicate, even if that means putting to death, all those whose version of Islam is different from their own. Those who have not yet joined their ranks need as role models leaders who advocate and practice the virtues mentioned above.

Where are these role models to be found? Imran Khan may be such a leader, particularly because he claims to be a change maker and the young people are said to be his main constituency. But Imran Khan alone will not do. This country is not short of talent. We see it at work among our higher judiciary and it may be found among some of our legislators and other politicians. It is said that our people have become politically a lot more aware and mature than they used to be 10 or 15 years earlier. The men and women whom they will return to the assemblies and the halls of power will be more competent and dedicated to duty than their predecessors were. We can be optimistic about our tomorrows but we cannot leave them only to destiny. We must do our part in directing the course of events.

In considering the direction and substance of change, a couple of issues come to mind. There are the gradualists who are for the most part satisfied with the status quo and may make some improvements to suit the temper of the times. The liberals on the other hand favour widespread change. Instead of taking the trouble spots one at a time in this or that sector they would want to replace the existing system as a whole with another that in their expectation will set the entire house in good order. They are looking virtually for a revolution. They do not seem to be cognizant of the fact that revolutions have hardly ever delivered the promised goods. Moreover, they have been bloody. This holds for all of the known revolutions: the French, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cuban.

With reference to Pakistan, it is not functional to examine the system in its entirety, for we cannot get hold of it as a single entity. It would be feasible to focus on sub-systems and their further subdivisions. In each case, we may find that parts of it are receptive to change while others are firmly fixed. Let us turn to the way society is organised. I have heard commentators say that ours is a divided society. It is, and most societies are more or less heterogeneous. Pakistani society is divided into tribes and castes. Mughals and Jats will work together in the same profession or occupation but generally speaking, they will not intermarry. This type of reservation is losing force with the spread of education and modernity but it has not disappeared entirely. In any case, it is not a serious impediment to the country’s political and economic development and the guardians of tomorrow can leave it alone. Other tasks will be more deserving of their attention.

The first order of business in any programme of reform would be the eradication of feudalism whose ethic and ethos have spread out of their base in Sindh and southern Punjab and possessed the minds of the ruling elites in other parts of the country. Feudalism recognises only one level of interaction between persons, that between superiors and subordinates. It is the superior’s privilege to command and the subordinate’s abrogation to obey. Ideas such as that of associating with equals to achieve the common good are foreign to this thinking. Feudalism is thus a formidable obstacle to any progressive movement in this country. The guardians of tomorrow must summon the will and the resources to get rid of it.

There is nothing organically wrong with the other sub-systems such as the legislatures and the bureaucracy. It is the persons who operate them who leave a lot to be desired. In one case, they are not dedicated to their work because they do not regard it as important. In the other case they feel they need not do all that is expected of them because as a collectivity they are indispensable. In both cases, it is the wrong attitudes that pull the institution back from acceptable standards of performance. They can be changed and this would be another challenge for the guardians of tomorrow to meet.

The writer is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and can be reached at anwarsyed@cox.net