A tale of two worlds

An ex-prime minister and a leader of one of country’s largest political party is shot at during a rally. At least 13 people among the crowd receive bullet injuries. A person dies in the attempt to catch one of the shooters. All of this happened on November 3, 2022. However, those shot at are still unable to get an FIR registered.

Fast forward, the press conference addressed by PTI chairman Imran Khan after the incident is not shown on TV. But the press conference of the shooter’s lawyer is shown live on Pakistan Television (PTV). The man confessed to shooting at the former premier. The government termed him a random religious fanatic. A look into the man’s background reveals he is an addict. The state media acted as a facilitator by allowing the opinion of an addict, murderer and liar to be expressed on live television. While his victims, among whom is a prominent leader, are denied the right to freedom of expression by government channels. Must I say more?

This is a tale of two worlds. The first world is small, and belongs to the exclusive and powerful elite. The other world is massive, extensive, and yet, powerless. Both exist in several countries, but vary in terms of how power is distributed within. In Pakistan, the exclusive club has become all powerful. It includes those who make the law, wield it, enforce it, decide, influence and advise over it, mould it, as well as those who use it. This club’s membership criteria is stringent and difficult to measure up to. You have to be a person of high influence either due to your position, money, or connections. Those seeking membership must be willing to bend and bow, and change and eliminate laws, people and processes to further the club members’ purpose and mission. This facilitates the club in controlling policymaking, media, civil society, judiciary, and creating a legal environment that is club-specific only. This is why our country, regardless of the global environment, regional development and political philosophy, keeps finding itself at a “critical juncture” time and again. This “criticality” is caused by greed for power, facilitation of corruption and a deficit of values.

The greed for power. Let the rule of law, rule. The word repeated in this sentence is rule. The desire to rule and control is ingrained in human nature. The base instinct to prevail over all is what drives many humans. To prevail they need extraordinary money, power and access. A combination of these is what converts a simple clerk into a real estate mogul, and an unknown cousin of a politician into a minister. Power is thus, addictive. The desire to wish for something and make it happen, the urge to sign a mega deal, have access to the highest echelons of policymaking, are all lures that possess the minds of many a men and women. We are at present witnessing many of these desires at play. The amount of money spent in the last year on buying and selling votes of lawmakers is staggering.

Like all other addictions, power is also an incessant desire. The Panama Leaks were symbolic of the greed of these traders of power. They had so much money that that they needed offshore accounts to hide it. The leaks also revealed the names of members from the current premier’s family – the Sharif family. Similarly, former president Asif Zardari earned the name Mr 10 per cent after the infamous SGS and Cotecna cases. To them, the word “rule” means to have ease in committing corruption, amending accountability laws, and making quid pro quo laws to also let others enjoy the perks and benefits of extensions.

Facilitation of corruption is another problem. A man caught for stealing pigeons and being sentenced to three years in jail is no news. However, the police’s alertness and the enthusiasm for catching petty thieves is. Because it is the thieves who matter the most who end up escaping the law due to their cosy network of colluders. Imagine that a finance minister escaped the country when he had cases of assets beyond means registered against him. He was in the UK, and remained absent from the Senate for four years on a medical leave. The law allowed an absconder to be a Senator without attending a single session of the upper house. He returned to the country only after the lawmakers amended accountability rules. He was provided access to his assets, which had earlier been frozen, while his Senate seat salary and perks were also restored. The two-world phenomenon is visible everywhere.

The people are faced with a dire shortage of basic necessities. Flour prices have doubled. The government has ordered to conserve dollars by disallowing LCs to be opened for imports. There is a serious shortage of life-saving medicines in the market due to the embargo on import. But the government, according to reports, has allowed for luxury Mercedes Benz cars to be imported, for which a large amount of dollars will be required.

A society will always have two kinds of people, those who break the rules and those who adhere to them. The proportion of their presence is what matters. If those who break the rules are more then things get dangerous. ‘Might is right’ makes a mockery of human values and universal principles on which a society is built. This country needs role models who the people can follow.

There are more consultants who teach you how to evade taxes, than how to pay them. The result is that only a miniscule percentage of people pay taxes. Those who mostly don’t pay are given incentives in the form of tax amnesty schemes. Why should an honest person pay tax if the one not paying is being rewarded rather than being punished? This has created a culture of distrust, non-accountability, and consequently non-development. With the tolerance for breaking rules, discipline and laws going up, the intolerance for peace, talent and innovation will also rise. A country devoid of equitable accountability is a playground for gangsters to loot and plunder, and easily escape. This is why our economy is in shambles.

A mere change of names at the helm of the government will not solve anything. The only solution is to have laws that are more powerful than the most powerful. We need a system that is above individuals, where both the powerful and powerless are dealt with under the same law and system.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach and an analyst