Spirit of Independence

Was the purpose of independence to replace the foreign oppressors with local oppressors?

Pakistan’s birth is a matter of great pride and gratitude for every Pakistani. August 14 signifies a day when this country revives its resolve to be the country its founding fathers envisioned. This year the festivity with which the day was celebrated all across the country was a moment of great satisfaction, as it was not marred by any incident that reminded us of the bitter reality that the country is still struggling to fight — the evils against which it has fought from the time of independence. But it only took a couple of days for the bitter reality to register, as the man fighting one of the major evils in the country i.e Shuja Khanzada, the home minister of Punjab, was killed in his village by a vicious attack by terrorists. This was a reminder of how the ability to feel free and independent has gone down over the past many decades.

The very purpose of independence from foreign occupation was to live a life in which we are not subjected to the discrimination and oppression of rulers who denied equal rights and status to Muslims and minorities. Quaid-e-Azam dreamt about a Pakistan that is sovereign and out of the clutches of the foreign powers; a Pakistan that gives equal opportunities and equity in the distribution of resources for all; a Pakistan that enables people to live a peaceful and meaningful life. This was the main purpose of having a separate homeland to live independently. The picture of the British governors living in palaces and treating Muslims like bonded slaves was what brought the Muslims together to demand freedom from this injustice. However, almost seven decades later, the same picture still prevails with the exception that the faces have changed. Instead of the British, it is our own Pakistanis acting on personal and foreign agendas, who have perpetuated the system of injustice to a level that for the first time not only are the poor and jobless people trying every fair and foul means of going overseas, but well placed businessmen and executives are also seeking citizenship in Canada, Australia and the UK etc. Why, if given a choice, are such a large number of Pakistanis willing to live in foreign countries rather than Pakistan? The answer is that this country has consistently failed to provide them with the basic rights of the citizen, i.e. food, education, health, security and opportunity.

The conditions of the masses have become increasingly miserable because they are deprived of these basic rights. They are trapped in the vicious circle of life, in which the bare task of surviving through the day is an exercise of extreme hardship. In the last 10 years, poverty in Pakistan has increased at one of the fastest rates in the world. Almost 60 percent of Pakistan’s population lives under $ two a day, which makes even one meal a day something to toil for. Their lives are in bonded slavery and they are dependent for their livelihood on the landlord or industrialist, who exploits their desperation by paying them pittance and keeping them in debt. Their children are also trapped in the vicious circle of poverty because the government will not abide by its Constitutional duty of providing decent free basic education. The fact that Bangladesh, which was once East Pakistan, has moved ahead of Pakistan in most economic and social indicators is evidence of how suppressed and deprived the people in this country are.

Is Pakistan really a sovereign and independent nation? A country that lives on debt and gets more debt to pay off the earlier debt can never be free. The country has been living off loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. As of March 2015, the total debt liabilities of the country stood at Rs 19,299.2 billion. Every Pakistani now owes a debt of about Rs 101,338. This figure was Rs 90,772 in 2013. It was estimated at Rs 80,894 in 2012 and was only Rs 37,170 in early 2008. If every new child is born with this burden, how can they ever be free to lead their lives the way they want to. Does the government of Pakistan make its economic policies independently? No, it is the World Bank and IMF that determine when the taxes and tariffs are to be imposed, regardless of the crushing burden on the poor masses. That is why, despite the oil prices nosediving in the world, the electricity prices have doubled in two years; that is why GST rates on petroleum products are increased without consulting the parliament; that is why industry, trading and foreign investment are dipping.

Is our foreign policy decided independently? No. The strange mystery behind government’s extreme reluctance to take on India in its constant belligerence is due to the US’s insistence on developing “cordial” relations with India. The World Bank had emphasised the regional trade relations with India. Without a foreign minister or a foreign policy, the US dictates South Asian policy and Saudi Arabia dictates the Middle East’s policy for Pakistan.

A country that is openly classified as being subject to Elite Capture is still governed by the feudal system and the rural masses are treated worse than chattel. The addition of the industrial landlords, developed by PML-N, has extended this system to the cities, where the land mafia has made the life and property of most citizens dependent on the beck and call of the local representatives.

Is independence defined by the line of control? Is it a geographical demarcation that makes us a sovereign state? Was the purpose of independence to replace the foreign oppressors with local oppressors? If not, then we are free just in letter and not in spirit — and when the spirit is caged then the real dependency starts. The British may have left but their plan of breaking the spirit and creating dependency is still being maintained by the leaders who have very obediently carried their agenda forward, which Lord Macaulay's speech in the British Parliament on February 2, 1835 explained:

"I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."

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No country for children

Civil society needs to engage with communities more to create awareness amongst parents on how to create awareness in children

Have we lost all sense of shame? Have we lost the ability to feel and move? Have we lost all hope and aspirations? It seems that the very act of being human is too much to ask from a society where only geographical and emotional earthquakes shake us up. The incident in Kasur is not new but made news only a few days ago. The fact that this act can be traced back to 2006 is a reflection of the social and political mutation of our values, laws and governance; as with every mutation, it does lead to eventual destruction and damage. Young children being sexually abused, videotaped, blackmailed and made to abuse other children, money being extorted to shut them up and carry this psychological cancer inside them at an age where personality development is most vulnerable and crucial is more devastating than murder itself. It is an act that will put animals and barbarians to shame. But the so-called human race is busy debating whether there were 60 children involved or 285, and were the videos 100 in number or 400. The information minister declares it as exaggerated point scoring, the Chief Minister (CM) has not bothered to visit the area as the helipad was not ready for a place that is 30 minutes away from his house and the Prime Minister (PM) finds a tour to Belarus more enchanting than this temporary ruckus. This mindset itself is the root cause of letting the moral and social rot reach levels that defy description.

Being the sixth most populous country in the world with half of people under the age of 15, this country could easily have been classified as a budding market for the future. If India and China with over a billion people can be classified as rising super powers why does Pakistan feel pressed under the burden of the youth bulge? The answer is this uncomfortable reality that we have not planned, protected and educated our children the way these countries have. Look at some horrifying stats: Pakistan has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world and the highest in South Asia, beating Maldives and Bhutan. Of every 1,000 children born, 86 will die due to the abysmal health provisions given to the common man. Every year, 300,000 children die due to water borne diseases. This means that every second a child is dying in Pakistan as we cannot even ensure clean drinking water for them. Of the ones who do survive, 25 percent will never have the chance to be educated. With 25 million children out of school, every fourth child out of school under the age of five in the world is a Pakistani. This is not just shameful; it is criminal.

Those who live and survive these health hardships are then subject to physical and sexual abuse. Sahil’s Cruel Numbers Report 2013 said that 3,002 children (2,017 girls and 985 boys) were victims of sexual abuse or harassment. Punjab had the highest incidence of child sexual abuse at a staggering 68 percent, followed by Sindh (19 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (five percent) and Balochistan (three percent). Due to this taboo topic, the reported figures could be 10 times higher if a more socially acceptable mindset existed to make it part of a discourse. Most children do not even know what constitutes sexual abuse and are not armed with enough information to even understand how to talk about it. Parents themselves have viewed this as the ultimate shame to be hidden and not discussed in families. This avoidance provides opportunities for offenders to take advantage of such ignorance, shame and fear. Even if the social stigma factor is overcome, the police culture is even more frightening. Just recall the incident of the raped girl going to report the rape in the police station a few months ago and, instead of being helped, was raped by a policeman there. Then there is the rural hold of political influentials who use and abuse the police to attack police stations and harass police officers who dare to take action against the bigwigs. Last year, a Kasur MPA from the PML-N, Ahmad Saeed, who currently denies involvement in this case, was also allegedly involved in the gang rape of a 21-year-old girl whose video was made and culprits were caught by police in the same police station. Last year also the same MPA denied and then beat the officer who dared to keep the culprits. This case was shown on the media and, after a few days of hue and cry, was thrown out the window. Thus, if parents are ashamed and tightlipped, police harassed or in cahoots, MPAs and influential beating and breaking laws at will, the abuse will only multiply, and it has.

What do we need to do at every level to stop this flood of filth drowning the morality of humanity? Civil society needs to engage with communities more to create awareness amongst parents on how to create awareness in children and encourage them to raise their voices in time. The media should, keeping the privacy of the families in view, keep on raising this issue to put pressure on the government to stop this crime. Lawmakers in this country should make the law stringent and declare it as heinous as a terrorism crime needing rapid and strict punishment. In Punjab, the Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004 was introduced in June 2004. Similarly, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the Child Protection and Welfare Act was enacted in 2010. Contrary to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Act, the law in Punjab is deficient on different issues. Sexual abuse has not been included as an offence in it and only exposure to seduction is mentioned as a crime. Thus, cases in court will also get away with this laxness of the law. Post-abuse counselling and rehabilitation should be provided immediately to the affected as this is a most destructive virus that either debilitates the personality of the child totally or makes them become sexual offenders themselves.

The problem is that when the offenders are either heartless about the problem and have affinity with influentials why should they solve the problem? While we are talking of lifting the taboo off this topic and making drastic changes, the Speaker National Assembly prohibits resolution against this topic, saying that according to rules it is a provincial subject. It is a national subject; it is a subject that affects every child in this country, it is a subject affecting the core of society, it is a subject cutting at the heart of what has gone wrong with the country.

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False economy

The textile industry is targeted to pay Rs 70 billion higher bills to settle circular debt. APTMA claims that almost 30 percent of textile units have shut down due to these crippling financial costs

The term economic conman is better understood when we look at what is being claimed and what the figures show. According to our finance minister, Pakistan is on its way to becoming an investor’s haven and a progress model. Every media interview and statement highlights how the GDP growth has increased, how the deficit is coming down, how load shedding has been controlled, how inflation has disappeared and how tax collection has improved. Massive full page advertisements in print and electronic media show the miracle the economy is going through due to the master strokes of this government’s economic policy. To back these claims, the IMF, Moody’s and Forbes are quoted. The media runs tickers and headlines, and talk shows quote them frequently to show this economic turnaround.

When we look at the Pakistan Economic Survey and the State Bank reports published by the government itself these claims seem empty and untrue. However, in a country where almost 50 percent people can barely sign their name properly, these reports hold no value compared to the jingles of khushaal (well-to-do) Pakistan that they see on television. That is why we see the public desperately waiting for jobs, textiles and the steel industry association giving SOS appeals to the government, traders going on strike over further taxes and people on the streets against load shedding. The government has formed a very effective strategy of glossing up the economic decline: impose taxes and price hikes without a debate in parliament and in an indirect manner that the common man cannot understand, fudge a few figures and remove a few hefty charges to give this impression of declining deficits and then bombard the media with advertisements showing projects that will bear results near the next elections. To substantiate this let us see a few major economic performance areas.

The government claims that in line with the falling international oil prices it has reduced petrol prices. This they claim with a bang on the media. However, they reduce prices on the one hand and on the other hand cleverly increase sales tax on petroleum products without even debating and discussing it in parliament, which is a violation of the Constitution. The details of this are hushed up and dismissed in press conferences, leaving the common man thinking that it is a matter of no consequence. Even when taxes are imposed they are specifically designed to hit the poor and exempt the rich. Kerosene oil — the poor man’s fuel — was taxed and high octane that is for luxury cars was exempted. The ignorant public would not be able to pick up this economic gimmickry. Similarly, the conflict between traders and the government on withholding tax is another discriminatory act that the trading community is rejecting. The government under IMF instructions wants to broaden the tax net, which is fine. However, instead of putting the burden on small fish the government needs to catch the big fish to give the message that it is a genuine tax reforms drive rather than one that transfers the burden to smaller traders. According to government statistics, Rs 665 billion tax exemptions have been provided to the who’s who. These are the privileges given to the already privileged. Why are they not being taxed to share this burden?

Another economic window dressing used by the government is to quote a couple of foreign business magazines and rating agencies, and claim that Pakistan has been declared an investor’s haven. Bloomberg and Forbes have been quoted as putting their bets on Pakistan’s market. Firstly, most of these agencies rely on what the IMF says about the state of the economy. The IMF relies on how ruthlessly and obediently the Pakistani government is willing to draw blood with heavy price and tariff increases. Energy prices, including electricity and gas tariffs, are increased on their command. Once the IMF is safe with its return of loans it gives the green signal for another tranche and when that signal goes out in the market the other rating agencies follow. On the contrary, never has Pakistan been so bereft of foreign investment as in 2015. According to State Bank figures, the foreign direct investment (FDI) has decreased by a whopping 58 percent to hit a new low. But again the average person is not really interested in this economic deception as he is just not capable of deciphering the rotting reality below the glossy packaging.

One of the biggest examples of the figure fudging done by this government is the unemployment figures’ clash between the ministry of finance and ministry of planning. Ishaq Dar proudly claimed that unemployment dropped to six percent while Ahsan Iqbal claimed that it had risen to 8.3 percent. Again this was hushed up. One just has to look at the state of industries like textiles and manufacturing, and their condition is the biggest evidence of mass unemployment. The All Pakistan Textile Manufacturers Association (APTMA) announced a strike against the government’s news that circular debt would be paid by increasing tariffs on the textile industry. Another empty claim by the government was that budget deficit had been decreased but it was more of an accounting gimmick of placing almost Rs 500 billion under a separate heading of holdings. But just by placing it in a difference category it does not mean that we do not have to pay it. The textile industry is targeted to pay Rs 70 billion higher bills to settle this circular debt. APTMA claims that almost 30 percent of the units have shut down due to these crippling financial costs. However, billions of rupees advertisements are showing the infrastructure development in the country. As much as 67 percent of the economy depends on textile or textile related industries. Exports have not even reached last year’s $ 25 billion, leather exports are down 28 percent and the minister of finance proudly claims that the economy is back on track.

Recently, in Sweden, Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif again very confidently said that education was his top priority and he was making special efforts for it. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey, for the first time in decades literacy rates have decreased by two percent. Education has never been and never will be the top priority. It is only the ignorant who can believe what the government claims and not understand the figure jugglery being done. With an educated populace, their mastery in claiming something else and doing something else will not work for long. An unaware mind is the best breeding ground for selling expired promises.

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Blessings of incompetence

Nearly everything that could go wrong went wrong before, during and after the elections

Does the law make exceptions for follies and crimes committed due to incompetence? Do organisation policies forgive and overlook missed goals and targets due to incapability of their workforce? Do ethical, moral or intellectual standards permit laxness resulting in costly errors? The normal response to these questions is a universal no. However, when it comes to the business of politics in Pakistan the interpretation of law becomes the tricky art of justifying the degree of the legality of laws. The Judicial Commission (JC) report has been accepted by all sides but has raised many questions that need to be answered if the understanding of true justice needs to take place.

There were many positive aspects of this JC. The fact that for the first time the JC proceedings were open to the public and media was unprecedented; the fact that the judges conducted it in a very professional manner was commendable, the fact that timelines were adhered to instead of dragging them was also remarkable. However, the report needs many more clarifications to become a document of complete voluntary acceptance and approval. The major question is that if the elections were marred with gross irregularities due to incompetence does it not merit punishment for people who defaulted on their duty and responsibility? Is the logic that it has always happened like this a justification of continuous flaws in the most important event that affects the governance and performance of the country?

When we start looking at history to verify this statement we do find a reason to question it. Let us take the case of the 1977 elections. Calling elections before time with the intent to give less time to the opposition to prepare, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, through the Election Commission, created loopholes that gave the PPP room to rig and manoeuvre the elections. The PPP won 155 out of 200 seats in the National Assembly. The Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) was only able to win 36 National Assembly seats. Surprisingly, the Alliance could only win eight out of 116 seats of the National Assembly from Punjab, and failed to win even a single seat from Lahore in which they had organised big rallies. The PNA leaders rejected the results and protested that there had been systematic rigging of election results to defeat them. In many places, particularly where the PNA candidates were strong, polling was alleged to have been blocked for hours. There were also reports that the PPP’s armed personnel in police uniform had removed ballot boxes. Marked ballot papers were also found on the streets in Karachi and Lahore. Rumours quickly circulated that the results in key constituencies were issued directly from the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) office. The PNA boycotted the provincial elections that were to be held on March 10. The PPP resorted to bogus voting merely to prove that voters had come to cast their ballot. Overall, the PPP gained 99 percent seats. The voting figures showing the success of the PPP’s candidates often surpassed the actual number that turned up for voting.

Protests started all over the country. The opposition demanded the immediate resignation of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the chief election commissioner. During negotiations the opposition demanded that since clear evidence of rigging in many constituencies was available with them, an inquiry should be conducted in those places. Bhutto issued a notification whereby the Election Commission (ECP) was ordered to carry out a thorough investigation of the rigging charges within two months wherever the opposition had lodged complaints. The election commissioner of Pakistan, Justice Sajjad Ahmad Jan, carried out the investigation and submitted a report to the PM. According to the report, the elections had been rigged and bogus/unverified votes had been polled in 28 alleged constituencies. A failure to act on this report gave space to Ziaul Haq to impose martial law.

From 1977 to 2015, things have changed a lot, some for the better and some for the worse. Democracy has been rightfully accepted as the only answer by the political and military leaderships. However, the process of enforcing individual and institutional accountability has actually reached embarrassing levels. While the inquiry held by the judiciary in 1977 clearly owned up to the problems and performance of the Election Commission, the 2015 report calls it the irregularity and incompetence of the personnel but does not call for accountability for this negligence of duty. Nearly everything that could go wrong went wrong before, during and after the elections.

The judicial report admits that it is incredible that the officials concerned with the election could not even keep themselves abreast of printing of election material and that the action plan may not have been received by the Returning Officers (ROs), that the ballot papers’ demand in Punjab was calculated on the basis of the ROs’ whims, which is a violation of rules, that 35 percent of ballot papers were missing, that provincial ECPs were not being monitored and managed by the central ECP, that there was a huge gap in the testimony of the ECP and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chairman on the utility of magnetic ink, that votes not verified are rejected because they cannot be proved valid or invalid, that the result management system failed, that in 11 years the ECP could not build storage space for these sacred documents and violated the law by storing them in treasuries, and that there was no monitoring wing of the ECP and thus no check on what was happening on the day when the future of the country was at stake.

According to the report, these flaws were due to lack of organising, coordination, monitoring and training of ECP staff rather than any intentional design. The question remains: when accidents happen in institutions due to indifference or negligence of staff like train accidents or robberies, are the people whose irresponsible attitude caused those mishaps not dismissed, suspended or brought to court and punished? How are we going to ensure that the same people who have proved their incompetence and made a mockery of the vote of at least 25 million people are not going to repeat this in the local bodies and other elections? New electoral reforms will not suffice if the people responsible for neglecting the existing reforms and rules are not held accountable. Perhaps the most confusing part of the report is the concluding line that states: “An election could potentially be organised in an unfair manner but may still represent the overall mandate of the electorate and vice versa.” If this sentence is not clarified, like the case of fake degrees, people will keep on asking whether that means “election to election hai fair ho ya unfair ho” (election is election whether fair or unfair).

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