Inconvenient Truth: Pakistan’s Governance Challenge
Inconvenient Truths
Pakistan’s Governance Challenge
By Tariq Khosa
Lightstone Publishers, Karachi
Publication Year: 2019
ISBN: 9789697160709
Reviewed by Masood H Kizilbash
In the fourteenth century AD, Ibn Khaldun in his three-volume book The Muqaddimah - An Introduction to History - made a poignant observation: “When we discuss royal and government positions it will be something required by the nature of civilization and human existence.” This underscores a scientific investigation of the civilization itself in conjunction with the culture of the society.
Holding key positions in the corridors of power first in the Punjab Provincial Service for a few years and later in the Police Service of Pakistan and undergoing sufferings in the service at the hands of the rulers for upholding the rules of business and law, the author has investigated and analyzed the weaknesses in the structure and culture of our society which have held up its development.
Analyzing the structure and culture of our society, the author very rightly attributes them to elite capture of the state. He declares that “today’s Pakistan is of the elite, by the elite, for the elite. Laws are often made and implemented selectively to benefit the elite. They also control and curtail wealth redistribution.” Thus, the society is divided into two sets of people - one that of the elite members and the other of deprived and marginalized citizens. The state exists for the elite whom the author calls “sacred cows” such as politicians, military rulers, judiciary and the police.”
Building his argument on this divide by citing examples of their misdeeds and corruption, besides several others, he identifies four major governance challenges that Pakistan faces. These include self-serving, incompetent and corrupt political leadership, the patronage of extremism by the leadership, the civil- military tussle and breakdown of the criminal justice system.
As regards the first challenge, amongst several instances he cites the example of a 21-point action plan, envisaging the Prime Minister to lead the war against terrorists. However, this provision was dropped, and a 20-point action plan was adopted on 27th December by the civil-military leadership to stem terrorism following a terrorist attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar on 16th December 2014. The author laments shirking of responsibility by the civilian leadership stating that “the political and civilian leadership allowed their authority to be eroded. They chose to aid the work of the military authorities rather than the other way around.” As regards corruption of the politicians, a letter that the author wrote to the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in July, 2016 is worth quoting:
“Mr Prime Minister, during the time of convalescence, kindly take a moment to think about some key governance issues. First is the matter of corruption in our polity. Do you agree with the Army Chief when he states that the crime and corruption are a nexus and pose a serious national security threat? Are the Panama Papers a non-issue for the ruling elite, something to be brushed under the carpet? You have addressed the nation twice and presented your family’s case before the Pakistan National Assembly ... But isn’t `the nation justified in seeking probes into matters of alleged tax evasion and avoidance, laundering, kickbacks, and corruption? If so, should you not ask for an independent commission of inquiry- starting with your family? As a public office holder, are you not morally bound to demonstrate that you and your kin are the first to be held accountable? If the family’s accounts and investments are clean and transparent, there is nothing to fear. It takes courage to lead by example.”
The second governance challenge, that of patronage of extremist elements by the rulers, came to Tariq Khosa right early in service when he was posted as Sub-Divisional Officer in Jhang City in 1982. He arrested Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, a Deobandi cleric on 7th Muharram from the mosque when he was delivering a hate-speech while the procession of Shia community, duly licensed, was passing. The Deputy Commissioner communicated the orders of General Zia-ul-Haque, the then President, to the young SDPO to release the cleric. Standing by the law and anticipating a possible clash between the two communities, the young officer did not release the cleric till the end of the procession in the evening. Experiencing outright patronage of such extremist and non-state Jihadi groups, Tariq Khosa succinctly observes in the book: “Terrorism, organized crime, vigilante groups and hired assassins, in addition to covert intelligence operations - all assisted by technology and social media - have disrupted and dominated the national scene, creating a mafia-like governance paradigm. To top it all, religious extremism has added to the witch’s brew of social and economic discontent.”
The third challenge is the civil-military tussle in the governance of the state. The author ascribes it to two factors. The first factor, as described by him in the book, is relinquishment of the responsibilities by the civilian government to the Army instead of leading the country from front. In this context he cites examples of the failure of Nawaz Sharif to appoint a full time Foreign Minister, thereby providing an opportunity to the Army for the formulation and responses to regional and global challenges; assignment of the portfolio of Defense as an additional charge to the Minister for Power, rendering him an ineffective participant in defense-related matters; refusal of the then Prime Minister to command implementation of National Action Plan; and non-convening of the meetings and presiding over them by the Prime Minister during three years since the inception of National Counter-Terrorism Authority. As regards the second factor, the author ascribes it to military coups which systematically weakened the civil institutions. This opened the gate for ascendancy of the Army in the key areas of governance, including the criminal justice system.
The author vehemently argues that in the long run induction of the army in the criminal justice system could neither be a panacea to fight violence, terrorism, extremism, and militancy nor administration of justice through military courts. This underscores the necessity to make investment in these two areas. He points out that “one of the key points of the National Action Plan was to reform the criminal justice system, including policing, prosecution services, judiciary, and prisons.”
Turning to the reforms in the police which is the main focus of his book, he ruefully recalls that it took 25 police commissions and committees to finally arrive at the realization that politically neutral, operationally autonomous, highly accountable, and professionally sound police services are vital for democracy and rule of law. That resulted in the promulgation of the Police Order 2002. But the forces of the status quo and vested interests have never allowed the implementation of that progressive law. Falling in line with the Police Order 2002, the author suggests de-politicization through institutional safeguards in the form of public safety commissions, grant of operational, administrative and financial autonomy, creation of specialized investigative cadres, substitution of the structure of the police station with a Division headed by a Superintendent of Police, standardization of policing legal framework, extension of police jurisdiction to ‘B’ areas of Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and acceptance of the recommendations contained in the final report of the Police Reforms Committee, submitted to the Chief Justice of Pakistan in August and September, 2018.
In his analysis of the structure of our society, Tariq Khosa puts the blame of patronage of extremism on the rulers. This may not be entirely true if it is viewed in the larger perspective of the polity that we inherited at the time of our independence. The traditional and customary local power centers such as those of chieftains, landlords, Pirs and clerics enjoyed and exercised authority under the colonial law of the land. Unfortunately, the very same coterie of the power centers turned out to be rulers who continued to patronize, what Lawrence Ziring in his book “Pakistan at the Crosscurrent of History” calls “medieval rule, patriarchy and monarchy.” The present governance problems mainly emanate from these forces struggling to maintain the status quo.
The author places major blame on the establishment for lack of reforms in the Police. As a consultant in the National Construction Bureau I am a personal witness to the personal support by the then Chairman Lt. General ® Syed Tanwir H. Naqvi to the think-tank comprising three Inspectors General Police, namely, DrShoabSuddle, Afzal Ali Shigri and Zulfiqar A Qureshi to formulate the Police Order 2002 which the author vociferously supports in his book. Its non-implementation lay entirely on the civil governments which happen to be the champions of the status quo. With Imran Khan in the saddle as the Prime Minister and ‘Bajwa Doctrine’ in the bag, let us wait if the people of Pakistan will see the light at the end of the tunnel.
(The reviewer is a former Government servant and the author of several monographs and books including his latest book “Pakistan under Siege.” E-mail: masood_ Kizilbash@ hotmail.com)
