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Quantum note
Friday, June 19, 2009
Dr Muzaffar Iqbal
It can be said with enough justification that all of Pakistan's current troubles stem from the failure of its political leadership. Had there been visionary politicians, Pakistan would not have taken the course it did. It is customary to exclude Mr Jinnah from any criticism of the subsequent failures of the political leadership at the time of Pakistan's establishment (giving him the margin of doubt and considering the short time he had after the establishment of Pakistan), but certainly something was rotten in the very make up of the All India Muslim League that began the political rot on the eve of Pakistan's coming into existence. Had there been a political party rooted in solid principles, had there been a process of training the newcomers, and had there been a sincere attachment to the land and its people, we could have avoided most of the turmoil that began in 1948 and that continues to define the political landscape of Pakistan.
What has been done cannot be undone, but the real question is what is to be done now to ensure the emergence of a new class of politicians who can take charge of the country and take it out of its present state? The answer, of course, is the emergence of a mature political leadership which is deeply entrenched in a certain vision and is personally above all reproach. At the same time, the army and politicians must stop their rotational musical chairs which have so far defined the pattern of rule in Pakistan. There must now emerge a new political landscape. But how?
The two main political parties are hopelessly person-centred. They exist because of the person at the top. After the demise of BB, the future of the Pakistan Peoples Party remains uncertain, but it was more or less a Bhutto party. Nawaz League is just what it is called: Nawaz League. All other political parties are, likewise, person-centred. This includes the Tahrik-e-Insaf, the ANP and of course the MQM. The only exception is Jamaat-e-Islami. It can be said that this gravitation to a person is in the very psyche of our people. Unable to fathom the abstract, they find attachment with the concrete image of a person. At a certain level, it is true of all eastern people. Political landscape of most of the eastern world is defined by persons, rather than principles, institutions, and political parties. This is true of India, Bangladesh, and most of the Arab world.
While it is not possible to change this psychological makeup which has existed for centuries, it is still possible to rearrange the political landscape in order to focus on policies and issues, rather than persons. In order for this to happen, one needs to have a clear understanding of the principles which can govern a polity without relying on persons. Hence, the need to first define, understand, and have a mass-appeal to certain principles. In the case of Pakistan, a new political landscape can only emerge if a major shift is made in making these principles the mainstay of political parties. Because of the myopic leadership, it is not reasonable to expect this to happen in the case of the main political parties, although both the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Tahrik-e-Insaf have the potential to register a significant change in this process of transference of focus from persons to principles.
For a new political landscape to emerge, we need a new generation of Pakistanis to be trained as politicians -- people who have the intellectual resources to analyse the current political order of their country and the world and develop critical tools to affect a major change. Politics need not be a constant show of sorts; it need not be mere deception, greed and blind gravitation towards power; it can be a sincere commitment to a cause. The cause here being the well-being of the country and those who live in this land full of resources.
This new perspective cannot emerge without conscious efforts and training of a new class of politicians. Back in the late 1960s, Z A Bhutto had started such a process of political training of PPP workers on the Chinese model, but he abandoned it as soon as he came to power. The Jamaat-e-Islami has the process of training of its workers as an ongoing effort, but it has not been able to develop a larger base and it does not have a sustained and effective mechanism of involving those who are not already within its fold.
Assuming that the military will not take over once again during the next decade, one can think of a ten-year sustained programme of training which will produce a new breed of politicians. For this to happen there must be a national effort. Since such an effort is not in the self-interest of most politicians now on Pakistan's political landscape, they will not like this effort. But are there not enough individuals in Pakistan to understand the need for a fundamental change in Pakistan's political landscape to start this effort?
The writer is a freelance columnist. Email: quantumnotes@gmail.com
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