Pakistan and the delusion of good governance

The duplicity, turmoil and empty facade which characterise present-day politics in Pakistan reflect the malaise that afflicts society and the mayhem within the state. But above all it is the wildly unravelling downward spiral of the economy that is devastating the whole system and society. Its ramifications are glaringly evident in the decline of art, culture, literature, social behaviour, human relations and the psychological distress that has made life miserable for the vast majority of the population.

This phenomenon is most pronounced among the intellectuals and the media that dominate this society. It also is a manifestation of the recent period of mild reaction where the intelligentsia has stooped to unforeseen lows. Great ideals and audacious thinking are scorned and any notion of serious change or socio-economic transformation of this degenerate and obsolete system is met with condescension and ridicule. In this contraction of thought and limiting of oneself to the confines of capitalism, the so-called ‘modern philosophy’ that is being glorified is in fact merely a relic from a past when there was some room for reforms.

Without an alternative scientific economic model, the mainstream political and ideological positions are bound to be deceptive and specious. An even more erroneous and desperate methodology is being pursued, that of attempting to fix a crumbling economic system through political and administrative means. The ultimate end of this discourse is to become part of the superfluous wrangling and conflicts among the different sections of the ruling elite and imposing these upon the masses while rhetorically bemoaning the plight of the toiling classes. It is a case of trying to run with the rabbits while hunting with the hounds. As the economy further deteriorates, the conflicts between different factions of the ruling classes aggravate even more. The escalation of the crisis blatantly exposes the futility of reforms and charity to salvage society.

Marx dealt with this phenomenon in his epic work, “The Poverty of Philosophy”, where he appositely explains,  “...if all the members of the modern bourgeoisie have the same interests inasmuch as they form a class as against another class, they have opposite, antagonistic interests inasmuch as they stand face-to-face with one another. This opposition of interests results from the economic conditions of their bourgeois life... The more the antagonistic character comes to light, the more the economists, the scientific representatives of bourgeois production, find themselves in conflict with their own theory; and different schools arise... Poverty is in their eyes merely the pang which accompanies every childbirth... without seeing in it the revolutionary, subversive side, which will overthrow the old society.”

Pakistan’s political forces, made up of diverse and antagonistic politicians, from the Islamic fundamentalists to the liberal democrats to the nationalists, in reality have the same economic agenda of free market economics. Even the former Keynesians have abandoned state intervention in the economy. This trickledown economics of privatisation, liberalisation, restructuring, etc., has plunged the already impoverished masses into an abyss of excruciating poverty, misery and disease. With every passing day the agony of the oppressed worsens.

The universal mantra of the media and intelligentsia elites in their harping on as a solution to all the ills of society and as a cure to this malignant tumour is “good governance”. With the economy in a mess, the state in disarray and society suffering in the throes of a decaying system, to talk about “good governance” is absurd to say the least.

Even the most optimistic economists of the ruling classes have a bleak outlook on Pakistan’s economic future. Investment, industry, growth rates, tax revenues and treasury assets are in decline, while deficits have ballooned and the infrastructure is crumbling. The masses are in for a long haul of water shortages, electricity outages, falling gas supplies, a crumbling rail service, cuts in healthcare, education and other basic collective needs.

The economic crisis has also atrophied the administrative wings of the state apparatus. The financial and resource dearth has given rise to corruption. Generalised misery has accentuated it. The complicity of the police and other administrative sections of the state in crime is common knowledge. The wealthy criminals get off scot free while the petty criminals who get caught are used as scapegoats to prove the efficiency of the police and their crime control.

There is a class differentiation even amongst the robbers. While the top brass of the military and other state institutions are amongst the richest in this country, the junior officers and the rank and file have to face the brunt of inflation and deprivation. This is perhaps the most vital cause of seething dissent within the state apparatus.

The judiciary is drenched in corruption. The court houses are swarming with professional witnesses, holders of property papers for renting them to facilitate bails. There is a whole network of judicial pimps and lawyers’ agents selling judicial favours in the premises of these sacred temples of justice. If this is the situation at the lower rungs then the staggering amounts in the higher echelons of justice can be well imagined. The dearth ridden economics eats into the judicial system and makes a mockery of justice with the overwhelming majority of the population unable to afford its exorbitant prices.

Apart from the hierarchy of the state institutions, the main component of this evil nexus is the political elite, now mostly comprising of upstarts. The orgy being played out in the name of democracy is nauseating for the masses. These apolitical politicians who buy their party tickets and parliamentary seats with ill-gotten money and then cash in on political power to amass as much wealth as soon as they can, make today’s politics in Pakistan the most lucrative of businesses. Selling jobs, transfers and postings is a trivial part of this robbery. Contracts and deals are the hefty proceeds of the network that this nexus operates. They are meaner and more lustful than their predecessors. Winston Churchill, one of the most vicious representatives of imperial Britain, commenting on the local elites who had slavishly colluded with the imperialists to derail the revolution in the post-war period and to whom power was transferred after partition to continue to rule and coerce the subjects of the Raj in the subcontinent, said rather cynically, “Power will go into the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters... These are men of straw...” He really knew his toadies well!

To deliver “good governance” with such a disastrous economic condition, a political superstructure whole sole endeavour is to plunder and a state which instead of curbing crime and corruption emanates it from its womb is an insult upon injury for the oppressed masses. These toilers are already suffering the excruciating pain inflicted by this exploitative and brutal system that has rotted to the core. Socio-economic oppression is atrocious. The working classes and the youth may seem to be quiescent, but it is merely the calm before the storm. Let the revolt not surprise us!