Pakistan
at the Sixtieth Anniversary
Dr. Ghulam M Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Sixty
years ago this August Pakistan emerged in one
of the most tumultuous upheavals of the twentieth
century, the partition of British India. Since
that time good governance, national stability
and a clear sense of direction has eluded the
Islamic Republic. Its twin in the creation, India,
on the other hand has forged ahead into a future
of greatness, emerging as a major industrial democracy
of the twenty-first century.
India was fortunate in having a visionary leader,
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, for almost two
decades right after independence. Pakistan was
not so lucky. Its founder, M.A. Jinnah, whose
goal was to build a modern democratic nation,
succumbed to an early death. Those who succeeded
him were mediocre politicians. They shared neither
the founder’s vision nor his intellect.
At the helm of the government that caliber of
leadership was to continue for the next fifty
years.
Pakistan barely limped along ruled by characters
that included the likes of Ghulam Mohammed, Mohammed
Ali Bogra and Yahya Khan. These leaders made politics
into three-ring circus turning Pakistan into a
laughing stock of the international community.
The three men named above, and others all but
forgotten today, did incalculable damage to the
country. When the regime of Nawaz Sharif, a democratically
elected Prime Minister, ended abruptly Pakistan
was listed by Transparency International as the
most corrupt nation in the world.
None of the leaders had bothered to implement
any of the ideas that the founder of the nation
had articulated. In fact, Quaid-i-Azam’s
dream for Pakistan was not resurrected until Musharraf
assumed power.
Once firmly in control Musharraf set in motion
policies for the advancement of the country. Those
included measures designed to develop political
institutions consistent with the demands of the
modern world and to develop infrastructures for
the industrialization of the country. Pakistan
had been badly left behind in education. Musharraf
faced this shortcoming squarely and instituted
measures to make the country proficient in science
and technology. These are all long-term goals
and may take decades for the transformation to
take place.
Dealing with the National Assembly has not been
easy for an outsider like Musharraf. One of his
hardest tasks has been to pull together unruly
elements, the feudal autocrats, the tribal chiefs
and the religious zealots, to work for the benefit
of the nation. Given the nature of dysfunctional
Pakistani politics numerous political actors had
developed vested interests and were unwilling
to dilute their privileges. However, in the traditional
horse-trading fashion of politics Musharraf was
able to entice them into cooperating.
The feudal landowning class had been a difficult
power elite to deal with given their stranglehold
on the nation’s economy and their disproportionate
representation in the National Assembly. Since
they control the ruling political party, the Pakistan
Muslim League (PML-Q) Musharraf became beholden
to them. He repeatedly cut deals for the support
of his legislation to make the country to move
forward.
One of the great successes that Musharraf achieved
early on was to save the economy from imminent
collapse. The economic performance of the nation
quickly became a top priority for him. By having
the right people in the right positions he turned
the economy around attaining rates of growth at
6.6 percent for each of the past three years.
If poverty is to be eradicated the nation needs
to be made more productive with higher output
of wealth. It also has to generate more revenues
to finance services such as for education, health,
clean water and social welfare needs.
The most dramatic changes have involved making
the economy market-oriented. Through a planned
program of privatization and deregulation a free
market economy has been developed. In a state
where the economy was controlled from the top
this project is still not quite finished. In fact,
the latest major crisis for Musharraf has involved
the issue of privatization. He understands clearly
that the government should not be involved in
running business enterprises. That should be the
responsibility of the entrepreneurs in the private
sector.
Though in power only for seven years Musharraf
has provided the nation with good leadership for
which most Pakistanis are justifiably grateful.
He has instituted political reforms to make the
decision-making bodies more responsive as well
as more representative of the society. The national
parliament was upgraded by requiring its members
to be college graduates. Higher levels of education
are imperative in a world of constant scientific
and technological breakthroughs.
Under a recently introduced program it has been
made mandatory for parliamentarians to undergo
training to learn legislative skills, right protocols
and proper decorum to increase their effectiveness
in the legislative process. In the past shouting
matches were not uncommon in the National Assembly
and on occasions even fisticuffs broke out.
For the first time in the history of the nation
the rights of women have been strongly emphasized.
Special quotas have been established for women
in the legislative bodies to ensure that their
voices are heard in a traditionally male-dominated
culture. The creation of union councils is another
step in the right direction for the broad inclusion
of the citizens in the political process. These
are all attempts to democratize the political
system as well as to provide everyone with a stake
in the welfare of the nation.
Unbowed and unfazed Musharraf sails on into an
uncertain future. He has provided a lot to Pakistan
in just seven short years. He has given the nation
good governance, more so than any other leader.
He has also taken huge steps in implementing democracy.
For democracy to develop, argues David McCullough
in his current bestseller “1776,”
what a country needs is a few good men, and “one
great one.” There is no doubt that Musharraf
is among those few good men. But the more telling
question is whether Musharraf would be the “one
great one” for Pakistan.
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