Judiciary and military

It is becoming increasingly difficult for Pakistan to maintain its status of being the only nuclear power in the world with a dysfunctional political system. Pakistanis are talented and capable. They excel in academia, music, sports and business.
But a failed political system won’t allow them to rise through the ranks. Pakistani democracy is now a cautionary tale, a shameful example of failure. And the longer it goes on without major forced corrections, chances grow for Pakistan to cross the point of no return.
The ruling coalition’s choice for prime minister is the latest sign of a bankrupt political system at the end of its rope. This is preview for what awaits us after next elections: more of the same.
The existing parties are ‘mini-dictatorships’, stagnant and incapable of producing fresh blood and fresh ideas. The only way left for Pakistanis to bring their best and brightest to the top is to migrate abroad. This is happening now at an unprecedented scale.
Now even Pakistani businesses, which took decades to establish, are moving to Dubai and Singapore. It will take a miracle to bring them back. Bright Pakistanis like Sayeeda Warsi, for example, a daughter of a mill worker, could never rise through the ranks if she belonged to a Pakistani political party.
Today she’s the co-chairman of the Conservative Party in Britain. In Pakistan, to become co-chairman of a party, you either have to marry the chairman or should be one of his children. And you stay in that job forever. They still call this democracy.
If Pakistan’s political elite falls as expected and takes the nation along, it will be up to the judiciary and the military to do something.
The best thing they can do is to take a historic decision of siding with the Pakistani nation, to break the stifling grip of armed and violent political and criminal mafias, and help shape a new system and new rules for parties and government, designed to help our best and brightest contest elections and enter public service.
Correcting a failed political system is our top priority after extricating ourselves from the American mess in the region. In fact, our existing political instability is neatly linked to permanently ending foreign meddling in our politics.
The discredited politicians in power today are a result of a 2006-07 secret deal brokered between the governments of the United States and Britain. That deal imposed incompetence and corruption on our nation. It is also proving to be our worst economic and national security problem.
We have seen how the executive has been used to hatch conspiracies against the judiciary and against the military. These conspiracies will continue in future. The existing system is also unaccountable for glaring wrongdoings.
A politician who beat an election worker and continues to threaten federal representatives is yet to be prosecuted. A plane banned from transporting passengers worldwide was given a license allegedly after political bribes, killing 130 Pakistanis.
Some 70 Pakistanis died because someone in the government sold them fake medicines. And we have politicians who have taken oath of allegiance to foreign governments and lied under oath to become legislators in our parliament.
The purpose of all laws, elections, and democracy is to improve Pakistan, protect Pakistanis and create opportunities. If this doesn’t happen, it is time for correction. Continuity is good provided there is a system in place that produces new blood, new faces and new ideas.
There are strong signs that the next elections are going to be more violent than ever and will produce more instability and stalemate. We should introduce a system that vets candidates and streamlines the political process and the role of parties and politicians. Pakistan desperately needs a break from politics and a shift to education, prosperity and development in the coming years.
Both the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the military have shown admirable caution and patience in dealing with a failing political system. But patience won’t bring better days. Only action will.
Email: aq@paknationalists.com