The recent polls envisage a hung parliament. Not a single party has achieved majority enough to bring some meaningful change in the society. Be it energy crisis, illiteracy, health, worsening law and order situation or the ever-rising cost of essentials, the new parliament, going by records, will offer little vis-à-vis resolving these problems that hinder state's prospect to survive honorably in this global age.
Elections, whenever held in last half-a-century in Pakistan, have offered little change in the lives of the common people. The recent ones are no exception not for the reason of their being held in the age of information revolution, but because they have brought ahead the same lot as representatives of the people who have been interested only in the promotion of their factional interest, flouting the very logic the democracy stands for.
The feudal, ethnocentric and agro-business political alliances have dominated the political landscape since 1947. They have sold dreams to people that their fate (formed through centuries of occupations and conquests from the foreign rulers) would change for the better. Nothing has happened as such. Rather, the political parties have defended, consolidated and enhanced the interests of the feudals, tribal, religious and spiritual chiefs.
The tall claims of the (interim) government and the promises of President Musharraf to hold free and fair polls apart, the electoral exercise remain void of substance. The fact of the matter is that majority — lower and middle-income groups — has only marginally been represented in the legislative houses through elections. The decision-making process stands unrepresentative; the burden of taxes remain high on the middle and lower income groups of the society; peasantry, laborers, fishermen and professionals keep on living with malnourishment, disease and illiteracy.
The fate of democracy was doomed much earlier than the creation of Pakistan. Since the middle of the 19th century, the English, after capturing Sindh, subjugating Balochistan and wrestling power from Sikhs (who had extended boundaries of Punjab up to Multan, Derajat and Peshawar Valley) instituted a social system in the areas now part of Pakistan that highly favors the strong and powerful over the weak and fragile. Applying the right of conquest, they allotted millions of acres to the social groups of Eastern Punjab who had rendered military services to the British Raj and taken part in thwarting the Afghan influence from the area as well as suppressing the 1857 uprisings.
The canal colonies, as they are known, were built on crown lands excluding the local population engaged in the professions other than agriculture. The feudals of the area were encouraged to add more lands to their existing ones. Tiwana, Noons, Quereshis, Sayeds and Balochs were the main beneficiaries from this part of the world. Janglis and Hitharies of Sargodha, Jhang and Multan were excluded from this arrangement, for they were not martial races and also they had not rendered military services to the British India. People were brought from Sialkot, Ambala, Amartasar, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar in large numbers to till the 'crown lands'.
The colonization of the Indus Basin, from mid-1880s to 1940s, had consolidated the centuries old caste-based system (jajmani) that had divided people on the basis of their professions. Now the difference was that the people could not change their castes as the British ensured the dominance of agriculturalists through law. Not only the vast tracts of lands, available to herding communities since centuries, were transferred to agriculturalists, but also sealed the new arrangement through Land Alienation Act of 1900. By the time Pakistan came into existence, the Janglis and Hitharies eventually had become tenants, sharecroppers and kamis.
Besides securing additional revenues, the British policy of colonization of North-western India was rooted consolidating the defense of India that had been historical threatened by invasion from the Central Asia and Afghanistan. The well-known "Forward Policy" had instituted the disciplined and loyal subjects in the areas upside the Sutlej River besides constructing military cantonments, forts, hanging bridges and highly developed communication network. Besides this arrangement, tribal Khans were bought up with limited sovereignty to exercise in their prescribed areas.
In Punjab, which now accommodates more than half of country's population, a significant share of land had gone to Sikhs. The Muslim settlers as well as the locals eying the lands of Akalis in canal colonies, readily bought the slogan of an Islamic state. However, the expulsion of Sikhs brought the people from Eastern Punjab to take their place in canal colonies. Those coming from other provinces of India settled in the urban areas of Punjab while the majority headed to Karachi, the then capital of Pakistan.
History took another turn when India stopped canal water from Feorozepur headworks and claimed complete rights to three eastern rivers. A sovereign and independent nation would have fought to its last drop of blood for such an unjustified demand, but the vested interests prevailed and a compromise was struck through Indus Basin Treaty of 1960 against the payment of huge sums to be used for construction of dams and link canals.
If the British colonization of western Punjab had released the population pressure of the eastern parts of the province, the Central Punjab needed more lands after creation of Pakistan for the same reason. One Unit plan was chalked out to avail more 'crown lands". The eyes fell on Cholistan, Thal and Tharparker and elsewhere across Pakistan as the canal system underwent expansion. The local elite also joined the race but Central Punjab made the heart of story, till now. This was the same race land that had brought Pakistan People's Party into power in 1970 elections.
The trick that the British have played with the North-west India, spelled the fate of Pakistan to survive as a garrison state not as a democratic entity. It lacks sustainable means to run its economic cycle while the polity has got powerful clients to be patronized. The eco-balance has been disturbed to the extent that the loss can't be recovered. Agriculture sector is in dire straits simply for the reason that the rivers the country has been left with are seasonal rivers. The 10-15 year drought-flood cycle has become a well-known story of country's existence.
Agriculture, promoted at the cost of the rest of the sectors of economy, is obviously a dead sector now. The future of the communities associated with it hangs in balance. Those who have been excluded from the colonization of land process have lost hope since long. Industry did not flourish because democracy has never been given a chance. The political culture did not ensure stability among different social forces vying for power and privilege in the society. Energy resources could not be exploited to their maximum potential.
Some political quarters have genuinely vowed to form consensus government after elections. This is certainly a way out. There have also been talks about political reconciliation by the office holders of the ex-ruling party. Let Pakistan be a practical state not the one upholding the illusions weaved by the colonialists or traditional elite. All the vestiges of the past that stand in the way of country's progress need to be removed. Pakistan can't afford the luxury to large and unmanageable provinces. Also the role of the armed forces needs to be redefined.
The scientific and rational approach will do wonders as far as resolving the long-festering problems of the polity are concerned. Pakistan is a pluralist society and it should wear the identity as such. Yes, it is the constitution that needs proper attention of the political parties now after they have passed the test of elections; it should be written a new as per the requirements of the global age.
