- Breaking the status quo
By: Mohib Asad
The term which is the title of this piece is defined as a position in which a person or group receives excessive and unjustified money or advantages with little or no effort. One does not have to look far to identify suchlike entities in Pakistan. So kindly consider the following;
At the time of the partition of the sub-continent, there also was a large transfer of population across the for-the-first-time-created borders. Large numbers left their hearths and homes, by compulsion or choice and resettled. In the areas which became Pakistan vast land and properties were owned by the Sikh and Hindus. Most migrated to Bharat. Properties left vacant were occupied by locals. Later the government brought a system whereby occupiers were conferred ownership though a document called “Permanent Transfer Deed” (PTD)
By 1950, Pakistan had a class of urban nouveau riche, and new additions to the existing feudal classes. So Pakistan’s gravy train journey took off. Bharat, on the other hand, abolished large land holdings through the Zamindari Abolition Act in 1950. They destroyed the Princely states and the feudal classes by one master-stroke.
The PTD was the passport to the get-rich-overnight syndrome which got under the skin of the Pakistani and now seems to be part of their psyche. Any short cut– ethical or immoral, licit or criminal, decent or vulgar, straight or bent does not matter as long as it makes an easy buck. The banker who launders billions, or my grocer who knowingly sells me a rotten apple come from the same place—share the same elation at having duped the system—and me! How droll!
This national obsession for making a quick buck was well and truly systematized by the urban elite and the feudal classes in the 1973 Constitution which is now the engine of the gravy train. This clever document was dreamt up by a group of civil and military elite who had recently presided over the dismemberment of the country. It solidifies and cements the so called “elite capture” of this country by the feudal classes. It created a bicameral legislature, a judiciary not accountable to the people, and a bureaucracy subservient to politicians.
A majority of members of the national assembly did not secure the majority of votes in their seat, but are first across the line kinds. They do not represent the popular will. In a multi-party system legislature as on ground, the national assembly is an imbroglio of conflicting ideologies. The judiciary in the name of judicial independence acts as a sealed-from-the-public entity and by now there is a cynical disconnect between the two. The bureaucracy through imposition of various laws and rules is reduced to being a hand-maiden of the politicians.
The 1973 Law, amended twenty-two times is more scissor-and-paste than a clearly enunciated document now. The leadership generated by this document has bankrupted the country fifteen times since 1980. The ongoing Covid-19 disaster has the potential to push Pakistan into a failed state.
The 1973 Law, amended twenty-two times is more scissor-and-paste than a clearly enunciated document now. The leadership generated by this document has bankrupted the country fifteen times since 1980. The ongoing Covid-19 disaster has the potential to push Pakistan into a failed state.
The oligarchy which took control of the country courtesy the 1973 Law acted quickly to create a large gravy bucket for themselves and their cronies by nationalizing banks, industry, education, and the taxation system. Pakistan became a one-man show thence on. With the judiciary in their sway, the bureaucracy destroyed by the take-away of security of tenure, and a legislature which was window dressing at best ( one amendment to the Constitution was passed in three minutes) the stage was firmly set for appropriation of pelf and privilege by the rulers. The ‘elite capture’ was set to gallop. The get-rich-overnight dream was given reality for a small coterie of individuals who took over the top of the corruption pyramid.
In all fairness, though, it’s not only the ruling oligarchy which benefited. The break-down of institutional controls over criminal behavior gave rise to various mafias, among them the energy, sugar, cement, food-grain, water supply, and land sectors. So today, the thousands of employees of the ‘state owned enterprises’ are also riding the gravy train.
As stated earlier, Pakistan has had to go to the IMF fifteen times since 1980, hat in hand as a bankrupt nation, while many of the oligarchs have become exceedingly wealthy. The show goes on.
But, three new factors are changing the equation in the last few years.
Firstly, the electronic media, peopled by bright men with roots in the middle class, who have seen their parents struggle to make ends meet while the upper class of the time wallowed in stolen luxury, are angry. They have influence with public opinion and passionately wish to change the status quo. They have set out to slaughter all the hitherto holy cows.
Secondly, the populist activism of the higher courts is now non-negotiable. Top judges are vigilant and much empathic to the public weal. Their interventions are swift and irresistible. For the first time in the social history of the country the elite are being put in their place wherever they break the law. Differential application of law between social classes is weakening.
Thirdly it is the personal chemistry of Imran Khan.
Top cricketing captains have the most analytical and swiftly reactive minds. They have the ability to process data quickly, use their resources optimally, and put the opposition into a losing mindset. Pakistani cricket has had only two really world-class skippers, Abdul Hafeez Kardar was the first, and Imran Khan is the second. So Imran Khan has brought to the job of Prime Minister a top strategist’s brain honed over many matches.
He was dealt a weak hand by the country, and has not had much good news since, but he is attempting to put as many holes in the gravy bucket as he can, despite roadblocks after barriers erected by investigators, prosecutors, and the courts. The resistance is wondrous. No closure ever happens in this blighted land –all issues hang on and on.
The PM plods on, and the only support he has in the public is a portion of the media. Surrounded by carpetbaggers of all styles, who attempt to frustrate him intermittently, he has still managed to set the ball rolling. His tenacity is not at all a surprise as he is most unlikely to be interested in the gravy himself; his sons belong to the 1% club which owns 50% of the planet’s wealth; as heirs to one of Europe’s richest ‘old money’ fortunes.
These three factors, if they continue to work on the same page, have the potential to take the bottom out of the gravy-bucket. Let’s see.
Right-thinking people sometimes wonder why many of the gravy-eaters forget three basic homilies. One, that the shroud has no pockets; two, that no fortune, however great, knows a third generation; and three, that the mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceeding small.
One final thought. The opposition to Imran Khan may like to recall an old rule of cricket. The skipper can declare an ongoing innings closed at any time. That is his exclusive power; once exercised, cannot be over-ruled even by the umpires. Top cricketing captains are also brilliant tacticians.
