Democracy, government and consultancy

Pakistan is going through critical situation. It is common sentence which we are hearing for decades. It was first used in 1950s to justify the illegal activities of power brokers. Bureaucracy, after the martyrdom of Liaquat Ali Khan, took the driving seat and compelled politicians to fall in line if they want a share in power. Politicians accepted the dominance of bureaucracy. Ghulam Muhammad and Sikandar Mirza played havoc with the country. In late 1950s, bureaucracy was replaced by military as it captured the supporting seat. Since 1960s, military is a dominant player of power.

Military kept on changing its role. Sometimes, it came to power directly like martial laws, while rest of the time they played from behind the scene. Political parties played their roles to keep the politics alive but extremely focused on the interests of powerful elite. For the last three decades, Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) kept on amusing the public in the name of democracy and politics.

They ruled Pakistanis by empty slogans of well-being and bright future. They exploited Pakistan in the name of democracy and rule of people. Corruption became talk of the town and both the parties kept on blaming each other.

PPPP and PMLN cultivated their own cult and means of dominance. They hired consultants and spin doctors from think tanks and consulting firms to develop fancy narratives. Both the parties engaged media persons to propagate their narrative. Religion was another card which they played to its limits and exploited the innocent people. But the worst part of the story was that intellectual class played a role of facilitator and sold their souls. They created justification for rule of powerful elite.

In these circumstances, PTI pitched itself as an alternative and promised a corruption-free Pakistan. The party assured that it will punish the corrupt and create a new Pakistan which will follow the principles of fairness and welfare state. Riyasat Medina will be the goal.

People, who were fed up of political circus of PPPP and PMLN, started to look at PTI as an alternative. PTI ignited flames of hope. Unfortunately, the party started to back off from its promises to gain power even before the elections of 2018. It welcomed corrupt people. People, who struggled for decades were sidelined. When PTI came into power, it used the slogan of “best person for the job” to compromise to accommodate the cronies.

PTI also introduced doctrine of overseas Pakistanis and their superhero abilities. Prime Minister himself advocated for overseas talent. It was a deliberate attempt to undermine domestic talent. People working in the country for decades by compromising on bright opportunities in the world, felt insecure and insulted.

It greatly de-motivated domestic talent and workers. They started to question, “we were running the country when these so-called talented abandoned country and lived a luxurious life in the West”. Many started to believe that it was an attempt to accommodate the cronies and financiers, not the overseas talent.

The most unfortunate part of the story is that majority of the inductees have consultant background or approach. They are applying their consultant mentality to run the ministries and departments. Although, the western democracy has all the ingredients of consultancy but PTI government took it to next level.

It is built on the mode of contract, which can be gained after winning elections. Once the contract to govern has awarded, the ruling party has all power to decide and dictate the policy and implementation framework.

PTI government by applying consultant mentality adopted media campaigns and fancy slogans to govern, and there was less focus on groundwork. We can analyse the statement by running a quick analysis of media to check the facts.

Although, PTI always opposed the advertisement at the expense of government resources, the party itself is running campaigns at the expense of government’s resources. It is entirely opposite to the ideology which PTI was selling during campaign.

The consultant mentality is hurting country deeply while ruling party not comprehending it. PTI seems satisfied they are dominating media campaigns and not allowing anyone to differ. Now, the consultants are devising policy to play with religious sentiments of people and sell the narrative of Riyasat Medina in a new packing.

They are trying to portray PTI as an ultimate defender of Islam but unable to present any example of implementation of Islamic laws like abolition of Riba (interest) etc. If PTI thinks that it can play with religious sentiments of people, they must realise the presence of TLP, JI, JUIF etc. which have better religious credentials.

Simultaneously, consultants are also trying to build narrative of anti-West and are busy to present PTI as an ultimate warrior against the western influence. But, facts tell a different story. The influential advisors of government have lived, served and have deep economic and political interest in the West.

Thus, PTI needs to come out of fancy world of consultants. The party must be aware of the fact that in a few months they will have to face people in elections and consultants will not help them to win.

People will not be satisfied by social media trends or advertisements. They will ask for solutions of their problems. So, it will be good if PTI comes out of consultant mentality and adopt a statesman mentality. Regrettably, consultants and consultant mentality have strong grip over PTI hampering the interests of Pakistan and PTI.