The general elections are going to be held in time for the first time in the country’s troubled history. People will definitely cast their votes on January 8 but the results are known before hand: nothing is going to affect their lives for better. The politics will continue to be dominated by the landed aristocracy; mullahs have found a strong constituency in the polity; the middle and lower sections of the country, burdened with heavy taxes but meager sources of income, have none to represent them in the decision-making process of the state.
The mainstream political parties have been in race to get the fuedals on their side. The traditional authority they command in the society is the reason the political parties look for their support. The fact that they are related with each other through blood makes them an undeniable fact in politics. The realities of power politics make dictators dependent on them for running the show. No civilian government can aspire stability if feudals decide to stay away.
Pakistan People’s Party, led by Benazir Bhutto, like her counterparts in Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) and PML-F, has allotted at least half the number of their tickets to feudals. The ANP and Jamaat-e-Islami have also been successful to muster the support of the landed aristocracy. MQM, identified as the party of Urdu-speaking immigrants, could not find a feudal candidate. While the urban areas of Sindh have escaped the dominance of the feudal-led parties, the mountainous regions are best controlled with iron grip by the Center -- no party needed at all.
Pakistan Muslim League has treated fuedals ‘quite exceptionally’. Premier Jamali made it clear that his government was duly interested in changing the lot of the people but it had no plans to introduce land reforms. All the government thrust has been on the restructuring of the economy to improve its efficiency but agricultural sector was not even touched slightly.
For the last five years various subsidies were extended to the agricultural sectors. The effects of high energy and fertilizer costs were mitigated while no taxes were levied on this sector. The food prices have been raised consistently instead. The mismanagement of scarce resources remains a reality to the benefit of the big landlords while their performance vis-à-vis per acre yield remains as minimum as ever.
‘Haris’, the farm labourers, remain out of the net of labour laws. They are hired and fired by fuedals at their sweet will. They are treated as cattle. No state stands behind them to defend their rights. They are treated like property. They are bought and sold like serfs of the Middle Ages. They prove a ‘valuable asset’ to the politicians during the elections.
Whatever the democratic world may say or the sympathisers of the country of 160 million people may want, the fate of the country hinges on the way landed aristocracy in Pakistan articulates and pursues its interest in the country. What they think and how they act reflects a mindset -- they want to do things their own and they tolerate no opposition.
It is the social mode of organisations that limits Pakistan’s chance to tread the path to democracy. The highly authoritarian structure of the society is duly reflected in the fact that Pakistan has enjoyed democratic rule for a brief period in its history. Either there have been no parliament in the country or it did not have a chance to work efficiently. Late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, ironically regarded now as the father of democracy, represented the feudal caste of the country in a very clever manner. When there were martial laws, he used to campaign for democracy. When there was democracy, he used to lead long marches against the civilian regimes.
The religious right in Pakistan has a history of backing the feudals and their interest that, in return, supported them financially to run seminaries and take care of mosques. Since Muslim League campaign for the 1946 elections, mullahs have always tried to give politics a desired direction. Keeping class lines intact, religion has been favoured to serve as a bound between the upper and lower sections of the society, while social inequalities have been justified as something serving the purpose of the Almighty.
Historically too feudals probably occupy the most fertile lands in South Asia; they had unquestionably ruled the Indus Valley. No government dared to interfere in their affairs. No law entered their domains. The feudals never wanted social change to take place. State stands guard against any encroachment on their temporal authority while mullahs pray for them a high position in paradise after they die.
Going by the feudal mindset, the country should stay poor, illiterate and unhealthy. People should not have the right to vote. This right should be denied to them either through martial laws or launching military operations against them on one or the other pretext.
Pakistan should have democracy, as per the logic of the socio-economic structure of the society but all privileges should be reserved for the traditional elite alone. Crime should be curtailed through better equipping the police and increasing the defense budget. The landed aristocracy should pay no taxes but have a prominent seat in the ruling camp. The country should serve the cause of Kashmiris and the Ummah but not the poor Punjabis, Saraikis, Sindhis, Brahvis, Balochs etc. This thinking prevails politics now and it has been the case for long. Elections having nothing to do with it no matter what they stand for. You may call it democracy but it is more an opportunity to ride on people’s neck.
Postscript
Benazir is back after getting rid of corruption charges against her through a presidential ordinance. She has been waiting for her turn for last years when Musharraf ruled the country with his army stick. She is running an election campaign but threatening boycott as well. She will praise the government for fair polls, if she wins. She and her clan will be on roads if she loses. Whether she wins or lose, nothing turns good for the people -- the landed aristocracy, she represents, wants to take the country nowhere.
