In the build-up to Pakistan’s parliamentary elections later this summer, the prosecution of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been no less than a landmark event. A lifetime ban on Sharif from holding political office, has been an extraordinary event in a country that has for long been immune to tainted politicians repeatedly holding high offices.
Though that event in itself has brought a breath of fresh air for Pakistani voters, there’s still an unfulfilled agenda before the country can truly claim to be liberated from a litany of woes. In many ways, Pakistan of 2018 appears to be significantly different from just a decade ago.
The effect of electronic and social media seems to have had a deeper penetration across the country with even smaller villages having regular access to privately run TV channels, while a proliferation of cellular phones has created a bigger platform for free flow of information. Consequently, even illiterate Pakistanis of today may well claim to have access to information than their parental generation. Yet, that alone doesn’t change the hard realities of life as ordinary Pakistanis battle daily challenges.
In spite of Sharif repeatedly citing achievements such as building fancy new bus and road networks, much remains unchanged. The quality of health care or education or access to fundamental needs such as reliable and safe water supply, remains far from adequate. In the midst of such mounting challenges, Sharif continues to moan about the threat to Pakistan’s democracy.
For him, this has been best illustrated with the Supreme Court’s verdict that drove him out of power and with the prospect of remaining in political oblivion for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the ruling party created by Sharif and until recently headed by him, suddenly seems to have jumped on to the bandwagon to document its contribution to Pakistan’s development.
The recent controversy surrounding the newly-opened Islamabad International Airport best illustrates this mad rush. Though still hobbled by many shortcomings, including inadequate water supply, the airport was opened in a hurry for the ruling regime to take credit before it leaves office later this month. On Tuesday, the countdown to political transition will move a step further when the name of an interim prime minister is likely to be made public. That figure is expected to take charge within the next few weeks to oversee the election process.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s main political rivals, including the PML-N, will join the election race and seek to impress ordinary Pakistanis from their achievements. Yet, there will be few convincing answers to an unsolved riddle: Exactly what is required to change Pakistan in a way that the country’s mainstream feels adequately liberated. For ordinary Pakistanis, the disconnect with the ruling structure manifests itself in very obvious forms.
A consistently weakening rule of law during the past few decades essentially means that ordinary Pakistanis without enough political and economic clout are hard-pressed to even protect their basic rights. Across major cities, traffic policemen entrusted with the responsibility of checking the credentials of motorcyclists, serve to reinforce one very telling message. Those with clout — notably motorists who drive around in expensive luxury cars — are left untouched while motorcyclists without influence face extortion at the hands of tainted policemen. That story repeats itself across a large number of police stations all over Pakistan. Past reports from independent human rights organisations have frequently documented multiple cases of defenceless Pakistanis frequently abused by the police.
Likewise, there have been multiple accounts of young job-seekers from impoverished homes often facing one hurdle after another. Time and again, scandals involving allegations of payoffs made by such job-seekers involving government institutions have surfaced.
There are neither easy nor quick solutions to such maladies that surround ordinary Pakistanis. And yet, a failure to tackle these multiple woes keep discouraging the cause of liberating Pakistan from a failed order.
A deeply unfortunate aspect of Sharif’s five year-rule has been the neglect of the most pressing needs of ordinary Pakistanis, as the government is focused on fanciful and exorbitant projects. A cursory glance at the policies pursued by the government during this time as opposed to what the needs of ordinary Pakistanis are, provides ample reason for one to conclude that there has indeed been a disconnect between the rulers and the ruled as never before.
Tragically, a Pakistan of the future, following the general elections, will hardly be different unless the country’s mainstream population rises to change the political discourse.
As for Sharif’s own future, irrespective of whether he is convicted or not, it ill hardly make a difference to the future of the country’s democracy. A difference will come about only if the priorities of a future Pakistan are based on lessons drawn from the mistakes of the past. In the last five years, Pakistan has indeed made significant progress in beating back the Taliban, who once threatened to make deeper inroads into major cities. However, that success must only be seen as the first step towards achieving a target that is central to changing the future of Pakistan.
Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.
