ON THE VERGE OF A NEW YEAR

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/12/29/on-the-verge-of-a-new-year/

According to research in the USA, the political system– as in democracy– has failed in that country. Results show that the preferences of the average citizen have a ‘near zero’, statistically non-significant impact on public policy. Jennifer Lawrence in her talk says that once they are in office politicians spend 70 per cent of their time raising funds to ensure that they get back into that office.

As 2019 draws to a close and we stand on the verge of a new year, the situation appears to be much the same in Pakistan where the average citizen is nowhere taken into consideration.

Karachi, the capital of Sindh is still the commercial hub of the country with the most industries. It is responsible for a sizeable chunk of the country’s tax collection, over a third of the total. Almost all of Pakistan’s international trade takes off from Karachi’s ports, and most foreign companies are stationed in that city. With its ethnically diverse population Karachi is endlessly vibrant, one of the world’s fastest growing cities. Yet sadly, it is also one of the filthiest cities in the world and ranks high on the crime scale, although that has come down from the highest in the world since the Rangers were brought in a few years ago. It is very obvious that the city of Karachi and the province of Sindh lack governance, much less effective governance.

The governing party of the province, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is holding a rally in Rawalpindi today on the anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Coinciding with this event is a heightened criticism of the Benazir Income Support Programme. The BISP was set up as a support fund in 2008 for the very poor, women in particular. It has come under fire over the years for various reasons, for instance because of its name since the funds are not taken from Benazir’s personal money. And now the programme has been accused of using the pay-outs as a means of rewarding support for the political party. More than 800,000 beneficiaries have been removed from its list because they were not among the very poor for whom the fund was originally intended.

Politicians have never been honest fighters in the ring, shamelessly using slogans, ideologies and whatever they can lay their hands on to gain support. To its credit the PPP has not hidden behind the religious card like most of the other players and has been a largely secular party. In the past many years, this has been its only plus point.

What started out as a lion has been reduced to a something like a rat with the passing of time and its original leadership. The PPP, once a nationwide movement has completely lost support in the Punjab where it was once powerful. It is now holed up in Sindh at the helm of the most incompetent government that province has ever seen. And yet it finds itself justified in criticising governance in the rest of the country.

If the federal government’s assessment is correct and the Benazir Income Support Programme is being used as it says, then Jennifer Lawrence’s observation regarding politicians in office spending most of their time ensuring that they get back into that office is as valid here. There is also the fact that the PPP leadership has used the Bhutto name in a way that is nothing if not nauseating.

As for Lahore, the capital of Punjab and the country’s second largest city, it is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The atmosphere in this city that all citizens breathe ranks every day at hazardous, yet nothing, but nothing, is being done to stem the pollution at its source. Factories continue to spew out noxious fumes and pour polluting chemicals into the waterways. The PML-N and PTI governments, much as they aim to stem the flow of PPP criticism, have achieved nothing in their turns. And all of them together are unjustified in criticising the Indian government for its new and discriminatory citizenship laws, when nothing is being done to change the condition of minorities in this country, where the blasphemy law remains in effect and Junaid Hafeez remains imprisoned because of it.

At the end of the day, the people of this country are as tired of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s immature rants, the current Prime Minister’s U-turns and fiery bouncers, and the PML-N’s angry retorts. It is a depressing note on which to end the year, and one can only pray for some improvement in 2020. What little one could hope for though appears to have been ground into the earth by the last few lines of Justice Seth’s verdict regarding General Musharraf.

What hope is there for a country where a high court judge can pen such sentiments?