Our elected monarchs

We may finally be close to finding the answer to one fundamental question. Leaving aside the period of military rule, the years of democracy spent under the 1973 constitution can be safely described as ‘elected monarchy’.
This revelation was made at a small tea party of ex-mandarins, the type our media likes to call ‘baboos’. This group meets regularly in the capital to reminisce about days gone by and crib about what is happening around them now.
The latest tea party had retired bureaucrats and police officers, a finance man and a diplomat – all retired 15 to 20 years ago. Unlike television talk shows, it is not all doom and gloom. Rather lively polemics often laced with stories of personal experiences with rulers of the republic.
There are disclosures and observations that help to better understand the country and the society. The retired police chief, with a long experience of dealing with the exercise of raw power, insists that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the first elected king of Pakistan, an absolute ruler in the pure local tradition. The proponent of this view explains that the rulers before him, civil and military, lived in the shadow of their colonial political upbringing.
According to him, the British were the first to tell the people of the Subcontinent that they had political rights. Indeed, the All India Congress was launched by an Englishman to help raise greater awareness of political rights and representational government. Before that, power was transferred through inheritance. Even today, this tradition is upheld by the political parties as leadership is passed from father to child rather than through a democratic process.
In light of this pattern of party leadership, Benazir represented the second ruler of the dynasty and Bilawal could be the next, with Zardari as an all-powerful regent till then. Monarchy has been further consolidated with the Sharif and Bhutto dynasties sharing power. There are petit princely entities within the federal empire, ruled by the likes of Altaf Hussain and the Wali Khan family.
There is a new contender aptly named Khan who claims to restore the republic but is likely to revert to monarchy once in power. He has an impressive array of courtiers and a brand new princess who coincidentally also carries the name Khan. If the couple comes to power, the princess would like to have an active role in running the kingdom, a bit like Nur Jehan with Jahangir.
Her foray into electoral politics has backfired but that should not stop her from exercising enormous influence over the prince. According to the judge in disgrace, she is already exerting a sobering influence on some pillars of the court of Insaf.
The new Khan dynasty so far controls only part of the territory but is gradually becoming more powerful which means the older princes and their younger offspring are concerned about their future. Imran claims to have unleashed the tsunami. The only real tsunami was Bhutto’s that took over the Indus valley in a short span of time. The PTI is more like floodwater that rises and spreads over vast areas forcing the occupants to run for cover.
Judge Saab thinks that if the gang of four continues to have sway in the court, then the Bani Gala-based dynasty’s chances of capturing the hacienda in Islamabad are practically over. Look at the results of the by-elections, he says to prove the point. Well, My Lord, you are not known for power games. In fact the last time a general gate-crashed, you called it quits. It may be time to focus on your memoirs or some charity work because the Insaf business is only going to get messier.
We will return to matters pertaining to elected monarchs in the period ahead. For now, I want to share another nugget from the former police chief. The first private house in Islamabad belonged to Lal Mian, an East Pakistani cabinet minister of Ayub Khan, not far from the majestic house built by Ayub Khan in the area called Shalimar 6, popularly known as F-6. Both houses have changed owners as Ayub’s house was purchased by the Hashwani family and Lal Mian’s house by a trader of Rawalpindi. What agitates the former police officer is that the new owner of Lal Mian’s house not only demolished it, but the plaque commemorating “The first house of Islamabad” ended as part of the rubble.
Years later, one of the mighty rulers decided to let an entrepreneur demolish the city’s only covered bazaar to erect a plaza or mall. Concerned citizens went to court to block the construction of a mall in their residential area. Result: no mall and no covered baazar, just an empty lot. Is it too much to expect from the ruling dynasty to have a look and use their building genius to untangle this conundrum?
The House of Sharif is rightly criticised for their penchant for showpiece projects. A motorway that took the wrong direction; rather than linking the largest cities of Karachi and Lahore, it took off on a tangent to Rawalpindi and then Peshawar. Myriad overhead bridges and underpasses where a few hundred traffic cops could have regulated the traffic. Building metro-buses instead of bus lanes.
To be charitable to the Sharif brothers, their showpieces may survive them even though the Pindi metro is hit by non-payment of wages leading to periodic strikes. What have the Bhuttos, the Wali Khan family and Altaf Hussain done that may remain as their legacy? Or for that matter what legacy will the Great Khans leave if they do succeed in ruling the country as another pair of elected monarchs?
Email: saeed.saeedk@gmail.com