Behind the Fence of Lies

By Amir Zia
October 2016
Monthly magazine Hilal

One obvious explanation of this increased rhetoric is that the domestic compulsions of Indian politics is forcing Modi government to heighten tensions, which suits Modi ahead of elections in a couple of crucial states. The Indian premier will be able to rally behind his party the conservative Hindu vote bank to whom he promised that he would get tough with Pakistan in response to the alleged terrorism fomented from its soil.

Plain, simple logic says that if the Indian troops carried out ‘surgical strikes’ in Azad Kashmir as claimed, Pakistan would have retaliated and immediately raised the issue internationally.

After all, how can silence over any cross-border intrusion suit Pakistan? Taking an Indian aggression lying down means encouraging an already belligerent Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act more belligerently. It would be opening gates for other such future assaults and accepting Indian hegemony. Absence of a pro-active military, political or diplomatic stance from Pakistan in the face of Indian aggression would also damage the struggle of Kashmiris against New Delhi’s rule in the occupied valley. It is tantamount to foregoing the right to defend ourselves and surrendering the country’s sovereignty.

In a nutshell, staying silent could never be an option for Pakistan had the Indians breached the international or the disputed border as New Delhi claims that its forces did on the night of September 28-29 in four sectors of Azad Kashmir – Bhimbar, Hot Spring, Lipa and Kel. If the Indian claim had been true, Pakistan would have responded with all its might – come what may – even when its ruling elite appears fractured and divided.

Skirmishes along the Line of Control in the form of an exchange of small arms, mortar or artillery fire cannot be described as surgical strikes under any military or non-military definition. On September 29, Indians violated the ceasefire and resorted to unprovoked firing, which the Pakistani troops matched blow by blow. According to the Director General ISPR, Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, Indian troops opened fire at 2 a.m. at four locations over an area spanning 155 miles. The exchange of gunfire lasted about five hours, but the Indian troops did not cross the Line of Control,he told a group of local and foreign journalists in Baghsar, Azad Kashmir – a couple of days after the incident.

Pakistan remains justified in asking why have not the Indians produced any evidence of their much-trumpeted surgical strikes, including bodies if they took them back? Why the Indian leadership has not been able to pinpoint the places where the damage was done or the targets that were destroyed or killed?

Pakistan, according to General Bajwa, welcomes an independent inquiry to verify the authenticity of the Indian claims. “Our side remains open to the United Nations observers and journalists,” he said. This position is in contrast to that of Indians, who have barred independent journalists and observers from visiting the troubled occupied Kashmir region.

Pakistan, on its part, has so far stuck to the Ceasefire Agreement between the South Asian nuclear armed rivals 2003. Pakistan Army responds only when Indians fire on its positions. Such ceasefire violations from the Indian side have increased since Modi assumed power in May, 2014.

Many Indians may find it ironic that despite all the chest-thumping and claims of executing punishing surgical strikes on the alleged training camps of militants, Pakistan Army is asking a simple question “where did these occur and how come they have remained ignorant of the fact?”

And Pakistan is not the only one challenging the false Indian narrative. The United Nations’ Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) also failed to find any evidence to verify the Indian claim, while no other independent source has yet managed to confirm it either.

Even India’s half-baked version is enough to torpedo its own claims. Firstly, the term ‘surgical strikes’ is generally associated with airstrikes. They are carried out with precision weapons, delivered through aircraft, helicopter, armed drones or cruise missiles. Any such strike is difficult to defend because of its speed and element of surprise. According to India’s own claim it was a ground assault.

Secondly, if it was a ground intrusion, as claimed, it is impossible for any force – small or large – to penetrate even a couple of kilometers inside Azad Kashmir, hit the targets and return undetected on foot in a matter of four to five hours in one of the world’s most sensitive and heavily deployed frontiers.

The fact is that Indians targeted Pakistani posts, as they always do, from across the border in which two Pakistani soldiers were martyred and that resulted in an exchange of fire. Nothing less and nothing more.

Perhaps it’s not even the matter of debate now whether Indians really carried out their much propagated ‘surgical strikes’ in Azad Kashmir or not.

The pertinent question, however, is then why is the Indian leadership making such false claims? Is there any design behind this madness of taking the credit of executing surgical strikes that never happened?

One obvious explanation of this increased rhetoric is that the domestic compulsions of Indian politics is forcing Modi government to heighten tensions, which suits Modi ahead of elections in a couple of crucial states. The Indian premier will be able to rally behind his party the conservative Hindu vote bank to whom he promised that he would get tough with Pakistan in response to the alleged terrorism fomented from its soil.

The second reason behind India’s white lies is that even without conducting any “surgical” or “non-surgical strikes,” it lowered the threshold for any possible conflict between the two countries. This is a dangerous development in this nuclear-armed region as New Delhi has practically war-gamed the possibility of such a strike and underlined to the world that it would like to take such a step.
Therefore, Pakistan’s Armed Forces cannot remain contended with the fact that such intrusion did not occur. The enemy has revealed its intentions in big, bold letters.

Indian security officials describe New Delhi’s aggressive posture as “defensive-offensive”, which is a stark departure from the past “defensive” one. Under this policy, being dubbed as the Doval Doctrine, New Delhi plans to build pressure on Pakistan on several fronts. And the LoC is just one of the many. Hurting Pakistan’s economy, sponsoring and fomenting terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi and pushing a diplomatic offensive to portray the country as a breeding ground of regional and international terrorism remain some of the other announced and unannounced components of this strategy.

The Indian leadership believes that their country’s growing economic clout and strategic partnership with the United States would allow them to get away with brinkmanship in order to throw Pakistan on the back foot, equate Kashmir’s indigenous freedom struggle with terrorism and even scrap the World Bank-brokered water sharing agreement between the two countries. But this is their wishful thinking as Pakistan Army troops are fully alert on Eastern borders to respond to any aggression by India.

This Indian strategy has made South Asia as the world’s most unsafe nuclear flash-point.

It would be wrong to assume that Indians started their overt diplomatic offensive and the covert efforts to destabilize Pakistan through terrorism after the September 18 attack on their Brigade Headquarters in Uri or because of the ongoing popular anti-India uprising in the occupied Kashmir following the killing of 22-year-old Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8. They have been working on this strategy and executing it in parts since Modi assumed power. Remember the arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav in March 2016 from Balochistan. Yadav had been operating a network involved in terrorist activities in parts of Balochistan and Karachi.

In our case while the masses have rallied around the Pakistani Armed Forces, the political leadership has to take the initiative, show vision and go beyond offering lip-service in tackling and countering the Indian threat.

Pakistan needs a sustained multi-pronged approach on a war-footing to secure its national interests and ensure continued diplomatic and political support to Kashmir’s freedom struggle.

Firstly, it involves putting your own house in order and taking some basic steps like appointing a fulltime foreign minister to spearhead the country’s diplomatic efforts and counter the Indian moves to internationally isolate Islamabad. It also requires rejuvenating and restructuring the dormant Kashmir Committee and appointing as its head a person of diplomatic background.

Pakistan also needs to support the Kashmiri diaspora in the western countries by giving them the lead and ownership of efforts aimed at highlighting the Indian atrocities and human rights violations as well as underlining the need for a plebiscite in line with the UN resolution.

Pakistan also has to unapologetically spell out through a sustained international campaign that a genuine freedom struggle cannot be equated with terrorism. The central contradiction in Pakistan-India relations is not terrorism, but the unresolved Kashmir dispute. There should be no compromise on this position.

Experience shows that bilateralism has miserably failed between Pakistan and India in resolving the Kashmir conflict. While Pakistan should remain open to direct talks, but these should not bar it from internationalizing this issue at every available forum.

Islamabad also must reconsider its foreign policy particularly towards Afghanistan, which has joined hands with India to destabilize Pakistan. The United States and its NATO allies have been using Pakistan as a scapegoat for their policy failures in Afghanistan. They are building pressure on Islamabad by giving a free-hand to India in the war-ravaged state. Pakistan must refuse to bow to the pressure and demands of “Do More” and ask Washington to address its concerns regarding the use of Afghan soil against the country.

Resolving Pakistan’s internal challenges – no matter how small they are – should also be a priority to deny Indians from exploiting our internal vulnerabilities. This requires smart politics, some give and take and precise operations in some of the volatile parts of the country.

Pakistan Armed Forces have the capacity and ability to counter any Indian aggression, but the fourth generation warfare cannot be won until all the state institutions, including the media, are supporting this effort. Pakistan can only ensure regional peace if it is politically stable and united, economically vibrant and militarily strong.

In Comes Imran...

By Amir Zia

Monthly Narratives'

November 2016

Challenging the status quo

Khan continues to breathe down the prime minister’s neck with vengeance as the most formidable opponent of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

Critics call him hungry for power, others criticize him for harbouring a soft spot for the local Taliban and fascination for an archaic tribal system. But even his bitterest rivals cannot accuse him of stealing public money or of corruption – charges that haunt many top leaders of other mainstream political parties.
After spending over two decades in politics, Imran Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), feels that he finally stands close to getting the most prized wicket of his political career – the scalp of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Khan may have lost the grand push to oust Sharif from power in 2014, after a prolonged sit-in in front the Parliament, but he continues to breathe down the prime minister’s neck with vengeance as the most formidable opponent of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.

If two years ago, the PTI chairman was targeting Sharif with allegations of stealing the 2013 general election, today he is also armed with the revelations made in the Panama Papers, which charge the prime minister’s family of operating and owning undeclared off-shore companies and properties worth billions of rupees amassed through shadowy means.

nd the tenacious Khan is back on the streets, saying that this remains the only way to force national institutions – such as the judiciary, the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Board of Revenue — to act against the Sharifs, whom he accuses of mega-corruption and monopolizing power.

However, Sharif family loyalists and some liberals see Khan as a destabilizing force for democracy. They maintain that the PTI leader should wait for the next elections — due in 2018 — to hold Sharif accountable through the peoples’ verdict. They also accuse him of trying to pave the way for a military intervention in an attempt to wrap up the system.

But Khan and his aides deny these allegations. Khan believes Pakistan doesn’t have the luxury of time given the grave challenges it faces on both the internal and external fronts. He asserts that institutions are being destroyed by Sharif, who appears possessed by the desire to control them. He sees the ‘undemocratic and dictatorial’ behavior of Sharif and his family as the biggest threat to democracy and the country.

One can argue and differ on many points with Khan, but he makes sense when he objects to dynastic politics and calls for greater accountability of the rulers, demands reforms and granting independence and autonomy to institutions by freeing them from political interference.

To many political analysts and commentators, Khan may sound immature and simplistic, but these apparent flaws hold the PTI leader apart from conventional politicians. The PTI chairman comes across as a leader who seems serious and sincere in shaking up and overhauling the system.

Will he be able to walk the talk, if and when his moment of glory comes? It remains a question which only time will tell. But indeed, Pakistan’s political scene would be grimmer and sadder if we visualise it without Imran Khan and his constant war cries, challenging and baffling the Sharifs and other conventional politicians and their ruling families.

Imran Khan talks to the monthly ‘Narratives’ at his Banigala residence, Islamabad, explaining and justifying the need to shake the system through street power.

Narratives: You frequently say that Nawaz Sharif’s government is worse than the previous PPP government. What are your key objections?
Imran Khan: Number one remains the mismanagement of the energy sector. The price of oil came down from almost 120 dollars a barrel to between 40 and 50. That’s one of the biggest bonanzas a government could have had. Almost 40 percent of electricity is produced from oil. The price of oil has been almost halved, but they have doubled the price of electricity.

The circular debt has again gone upto Rs. 350 billion, after paying Rs. 480 billion (when Nawaz Sharif came to power). Load shedding has increased…That’s one factor.

Investment is below the levels that prevailed during Zardari’s tenure. Exports have fallen. Cotton production has fallen and the textile industry is in crisis. Agriculture is worse off than before. And there are mega-corruption cases, for example Nandipur, and this metro, which is double the price than anywhere else. The Orange Train is being bulldozed through, not protecting our heritage sites or caring about people being displaced. The focus is to show a big ticket programme for the 2018 election. And there are big commissions on all these projects. There are mega-corruption cases, including the new airport scam. The LNG deal is completely shrouded in mystery and almost all their big projects have overshot the allocated budgets. Not in one field, have they been better than Zardari.
I think this is the worst ever government. Never before have I seen Pakistan hit rock bottom. The only business which is flourishing is that of the Sharif Empire. Each time Nawaz Sharif comes to power, the Sharif Empire flourishes and the rest of the country goes down.

Narratives: Is the Panama scandal a bigger challenge for Nawaz Sharif as compared to the allegations of electoral rigging? Why haven’t there been spontaneous protests in Pakistan, like in other countries where leaders had to resign because of public pressure?

Imran Khan: I think people would have come out on the streets, but our civil society is not that well organized. It’s still developing. The size of civil society — which is politicized — is very small. Basically people are used to accepting injustice, corruption and things like rigging. That’s one of the reasons why people have not come out. But the magnitude of the rigging scandal is as huge as Panama. Twenty-two political parties in Pakistan claimed that the elections were rigged. Twenty-five million ballots were missing. In no civilized country would such elections be considered legitimate. But they survived it because the whole opposition in the Parliament was with Nawaz Sharif. The majority of the media was supporting Nawaz Sharif. The difference now is that the entire opposition in the Parliament wants Nawaz Sharif to be tried according to the TORs. The majority of the media, especially the credible journalists, are all convinced that Nawaz Sharif should have to answer for his children owning billions of rupees worth of property and businesses abroad with no source of income. And most of all, the contradictory statements of the children on the issue of the Mayfair flats. So the difference now is that the entire opposition, majority of the media and most of the intelligentsia in Pakistan, are all convinced that Nawaz Sharif is guilty in this situation.

Narratives: Do you think all the opposition parties are serious in holding Nawaz Sharif and his family accountable in the Panama scandal?

Imran Khan: It is the defining moment in Pakistan. If, for the first time, the prime minister of a country is tried by an institution, which applies the rule of law equally — I mean like the FBR, the Election Commission and the Supreme Court… if the laws that are applied to a common citizen or a weaker person, are also applied to the strongest, which in this case is the prime minister, (it will be a defining moment). The prime minister is extremely strong because he has captured all the national institutions except the army which he is scared of. That’s the reason he is offering the Army Chief (the option) to become Field Marshal and get an extension. The prime minister basically controls all institutions. Now, we can force the institutions to act and bring him under the rule of law. This will be a huge change in Pakistan’s political history. That’s why it is the defining moment. Whether other political parties are serious or not, the fact is that anyone who moves towards Nawaz Sharif is politically doomed.

The magnitude of the rigging scandal is as huge as Panama. Twenty-two political parties in Pakistan claimed that the elections were rigged. Twenty-five million ballots were missing. In no civilized country would such elections be considered legitimate.

Narratives: Do you think the political system has the capacity and ability to hold the top people accountable? Do we need new legislation?

Imran Khan: You don’t need to bring in any new laws. If the existing laws are applied properly as they are applied to the weak, then for the prime minister it’s an open and shut case. This is the case in which all the probe has been done. There is nothing left (to investigate further) now. The prime minister’s children own Panama companies, which have assets worth billions of rupees. And the prime minister has lied on the floor of the Parliament that these were bought in 2005 whereas we have all the proof that they were bought 10 years earlier. It was money gained from corruption, which was laundered. That is why he is stuck. I don’t think that he will be able to get out of this.

Narratives: Despite strong perception about poor governance and allegations of massive corruption, how have traditional political forces such as the PML N and the PPP managed to hold on to their vote bank? What magic wand do they have?

Imran Khan: Actually their vote-bank is falling. The problem is that the elections are massively rigged. Recently, we had the Azad Kashmir elections, which were literally bought. They have multiple ways to rig elections. Had the judicial commission gone all the way and not worried about the consequences of its decision… they should have gone all the way and proved that the elections were not just rigged massively but rigged in different ways. If those ways were exposed, at least the next elections would have been free and fair.

Narratives: The traditional political parties are entrenched. The system favours them. Why would this ruling elite want any reforms which would erode their power?

Imran Khan: There is only one way; street power. You have to come out on the streets and protest. There is no other way. In Pakistan, eventually it has to be peoples’ power. What we aim to do is show that people are going to stand up to this and force the institutions to act.

Narratives: If elections are held tomorrow, without electoral and political reforms, do you think there is a chance for the PTI? Are you demanding any electoral reforms?

Since the 2013 elections, we have done a lot of introspection. We have analyzed the different ways the elections were rigged. This time we will be much better prepared. We were not prepared in 2013. At least 80 percent of our candidates had never contested elections before. This time we will be going in prepared.
If there are EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines), biometric system, it would help. But until people who rig elections are punished, it is not going to make any difference. Laws are only important if they are implemented. But if laws are openly flouted, like they were in 2013, then what’s their use. The Judicial Commission made 40 observations the way elections were stolen. Yet not one person was taken to task which shows that the Election Commission was complicit in the rigging of the 2013 elections.

Narratives: Do you feel the need for a constitutional amendment to establish checks and balances on the prime minister, who has emerged as a mini-dictator and cannot be held accountable by his party, the ceremonial president or even the system?

Imran Khan: Actually, all we need is for a democracy to function. Political parties need to hold intra-party elections. The PML-N is basically a form of kingship. The children are taking over. Hamza Sharif is ruling the roost in Punjab and Maryam Nawaz held the fort when Nawaz was away. These parties are decaying and degenerating. The cabinets of 1988 and 1990 were better than the cabinets of today because now they have become family limited companies. They behave like kings. Nawaz Sharif hardly held any cabinet meetings. He is one man who takes decisions or his relatives do. Like Ishaq Dar and his daughter.

The prime minister is extremely strong because he has captured all the national institutions except the army which he is scared of. 

 Narratives: There are some forces which advocate the presidential form of government. What are your views?

Imran Khan: In a way, the presidential form is much better for one main reason that the leader is directly elected and then he finds the best people who understand the art of governance. The problem with our system right now is that those who understand governance do not know the science of contesting elections. Those who can contest the elections, don’t know governance. That’s the big problem. If you look at the quality of ministers, they are of very low standard. But the problem we face is that Punjab is 60 percent of Pakistan and there is no way that the smaller provinces will accept the presidential form of government because they would have no chance of getting (someone) elected. For the presidential system, you have to have more provinces.

Narratives: Do you think the creation of new provinces will help erase provincialism and regionalism?

Imran Khan: It is complex because there are problem in Balochistan. There are certainly problems in Sindh. If Karachi is separated from Sindh there will be a complete revolt. What needs to be divided is Punjab. It is too huge. You can’t have almost 110 or 120 million people in one province. And then the way Punjab is being ruled… around 56 percent funds of Punjab are being spent in Lahore.

You have to come out on the streets and protest. There is no other way. In Pakistan, eventually it has to be peoples’ power. What we aim to do is show that people are going to stand up to this and force the institutions to act.

Narratives: Why do major parties — the PML-N and the PPP — bitterly oppose local government? They made it toothless through controversial reforms. What’s your take on it?

Imran Khan: It is simply because they have access to all the funds. The chief minister uses these funds — which should be spent by the local governments — to buy members of the parliament. Those funds are given to the members of the parliament basically to bribe them. KP is the only province, where 30 percent of the funds go directly to the local governments.

Narratives: What two steps would you like to take to fix Pakistan?

Imran Khan: The first most important step is to strengthen the institutions. For instance in the KP, we have made the biggest impact on the lives of the people by strengthening the police system. We have depoliticized it by law. Politicians cannot control transfers and posting of police officers anymore. Only the IG Police can do it. Then, public safety commissions have been set up at district and provincial level where the people hold the police accountable. So there can no longer be any political victimization by the police. Similar steps have been taken for the bureaucracy. Countries prosper, when you institutionalize them and fix the governance system.
The second step is human resource development. There are only two ways that countries have moved forward; by developing their human resource and building institutions.

Narratives: Why do you think the government wasted time in the implementation of the National Action Plan?

Imran Khan: I don’t think Nawaz Sharif has time for all this. He has conducted so many foreign tours. Almost Rs. 70 crore has been spent on these tours. What investment has he brought into Pakistan? When the country is ablaze, when there are so many crises, when the Bacha Khan University terrorist attack took place, Nawaz Sharif was shopping at Harrods. And he didn’t come back. I don’t think he is particularly pushed about what’s happening in Pakistan. That’s why you should never have a head of state whose interests are not in Pakistan. His business interest, properties, all the billions are outside the country.

Narratives: Can Nawaz Sharif be given credit for operation Zarb-e-Azb?

Imran Khan: Just look at what has been the response from the people of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan give credit to General Raheel Sharif for the operation. If you ask the Army, they will say that there is no political side. The Army is doing its side (of the work), but where is the political settlement? In the tribal areas, the Army completed the operation, but where are the FATA reforms? What will happen to these 3.5 million refugees? Look at the state of FATA right now. They have nothing to come back to. We are looking at a huge potential crisis. The moment the Army leaves, you can have the same explosive situation again.

The government has not done anything about FATA. And that is where Nawaz Sharif has failed as a leader. He should have taken the lead and gone side by side with the military solution.

I don’t think he has either the vision or the interest. I think someone who could go to India and take his son to the inauguration of Modi as prime minister and then go and visit the business partner of his son… that sums up his leadership.

Narratives: Nawaz Sharif drew a lot of criticism about the way he tried to reach out to Indian PM Narender Modi. How will you describe this policy?

Imran Khan: As far as reaching out to the Indians — the dialogue and the peace talks — that’s a positive thing. There is no harm in having a good personal relationship with the head of another country, but that has to be institutionalized. It has to be done through the Foreign Office which has an institutional history behind it. This Nawaz Sharif-type of foreign policy has failed everywhere because whatever his personal relationships are, look at Pakistan which stands isolated. The Foreign Office has again been degraded because Nawaz Sharif has no foreign minister.

If he was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was a foreign minister initially and had an exceptional mind, one could understand Nawaz Sharif running the show without a minister. But Nawaz Sharif is clueless about foreign policy. His idea of foreign relations is having personal relations with someone. Therefore, when the crunch came, Modi turned around and managed to isolate Pakistan internationally. When the Indian oppression took place in Indian occupied Kashmir, look at the way Modi lashed out at Pakistan and Nawaz Sharif has not even uttered a word against him.

Remember he wanted to be Ameer-ul Momineen through the 15th amendment in 1997-98. Basically Nawaz Sharif wants to be a king. And anyone who is in the way, he either tries to buy them or remove them from the way.

Narratives: And perhaps the most important of all questions pertains to his relations with the army. Why is there so much tension in civil-military relations under Nawaz Sharif?

Imran Khan: The issue between Nawaz Sharif and the Army is simple. Nawaz Sharif has a desire to control every institution. He does not begin a press conference until a lifafa (envelope with money) is given to all journalists so that they don’t ask awkward questions. He bribed judges, stormed the Supreme Court… he bought politicians – the famous Changa Manga Case — and then the famous episode when he tried to gift a BMW to General Asif Nawaz in the Governor House Murree, which the general refused. He wants to control every institution. He has a history behind him. He wants every institution to be controlled. Remember he wanted to be Ameer-ul Momineen through the 15th amendment in 1997-98. Basically Nawaz Sharif wants to be a king. And anyone who is in the way, he either tries to buy them or remove them from the way. 

Narratives: Do you think Nawaz Sharif and his family have a future in Pakistani politics?

Imran Khan: I think it is over for them. I don’t think they will be able to recover from this. If they want to recover from it, it means they have to succeed in destroying every state institution including the judiciary and the Supreme Court. Unless they destroy all of them to get a reprieve, they are finished. Pakistan is already suffering because he has destroyed every state institution through cronyism and corruption. I remember Mahathir Mohamad telling me that if a prime minister is corrupt, he can only make money by destroying institutions below him. If the NAB is functioning properly, he will be caught, so he has to destroy NAB. If the FBR is functioning properly, he will be caught, so he has to destroy and control the FBR. If the judiciary gets in the way, he will literally have to attack the Supreme Court physically. This never happens in any democratic country. Nawaz Sharif will not allow any institution to work. If he has to make big bucks, which he has already made, he and his family all are billionaires, they have to destroy institutions. All the state institutions have been subdued and destroyed.

Narratives: You staged the longest sit-in in 2014? What has been its gain?

Imran Khan: The gain was the judicial commission. The demand was first to open four constituencies; subsequently it was found that massive fraud was done in all the four. That was just a sample. But sadly, the verdict was totally different to the findings. The 40 findings should have made the election completely unlawful. But they came up with the most bizarre verdict of largely lawful.

Narratives: Do you feel tired? Do you sometimes lose hope given the state of politics and corruption in Pakistan?

Imran Khan: It is true that it has been 20 years. But the point is that I am not doing it for myself. If I was doing it like most politicians, to come to power for personal benefits, then maybe I would have been tired. But the whole idea is that if you want to live in a decent society, in a Pakistan that has respect in the international comity of nations, where your green passport is respected, where there is rule of law and where there is compassion… If you want this, then the only way is to struggle for it. The answer to this is no, I am not tired. I feel closest to my goal now after 20 years of struggle.

Narratives: Your prediction for the coming months?

Imran Khan: Fasten your seat belts… it is going to be an interesting time. I think it will be very difficult for Nawaz Sharif and his mafia to wriggle out of it.

Narratives: Where do you see Pakistan over the next two to three years?

Imran Khan: I am quite optimistic about Pakistan because we have a massive youth population. Nearly 60 percent of our population is under the age of 25 years. This is a politically and socially aware population. The social media has created tremendous awareness. I don’t see this young population accepting injustice and these political mafias. In the coming months, you will see the momentum for change growing. I don’t see how anybody can stop this process of change.

Resetting the system

By Amir Zia

July 2016

Monthly ‘Narratives’

Pakistan lacks a mechanism to hold the corrupt accountable and prevent their rise to the top

Pakistan’s fragile and flawed democracy again seems to be struggling for survival. There are questions not just over the efficiency of the entire system, but its credibility and moral authority remains at stake in the wake of the Panama Scandal that has exposed the offshore companies, wealth and properties owned by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and family.

In a way, this scandal has become a living metaphor for the corruption, greed and lawlessness in our highest echelons of power. It is also a perfect epitaph for this dysfunctional system, which lacks a mechanism to hold the corrupt accountable and prevent their rise to the top. The sooner this system is declared dead and buried, the better it is for Pakistan and Pakistanis.

Sharif’s crony media, however, has been trying hard to dilute the issue and undermine the severity of the scandal, ignoring the flaws of the system altogether. It is attempting to do this by dragging secondary and irrelevant names into the scandal, and by giving the impression that it was not the prime minister but his three ‘talented’ children who established their vast offshore business and real-estate empire.

And now these youngsters own and operate all the flagship businesses of the Sharif family.

Can we really believe this sham story line?

The Sharifs — and the world — know that this technical fig-leaf about the ownership of businesses cannot conceal the ugliness of corruption and illegal funds used by the ruling family (read: its patriarch) to lay the foundations of his foreign money-making empire.

Those who have followed this saga of relentless loot, plunder and corruption are well aware that the Panama Scandal offers nothing new. It only reconfirms what has been public knowledge for more than two decades — the existence of shadowy offshore companies, hidden wealth and properties of the Sharif family. And this scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. The magnitude and scale of the corruption in the corridors of power is mindboggling. Therefore, the ruling PML-N, its allied parties and even some names in the opposition are attempting to drag the issue so that it fades away from public memory — as always happens in Pakistan.

On one hand, the PML-N is engaging the opposition parties into meaningless talks on the terms of references (ToRs) for an enquiry into the scandal. On the other, it is planning legislation aimed at making kosher all the ill-gotten wealth stacked abroad by Pakistan’s most corrupt and dishonest people, including the ruling family.

Yes, in Pakistan’s flawed system, it is overwhelmingly the corrupt versus the corrupt in a friendly — and fixed — game of chess. The corrupt are defending and bailing out their own – as in the case of the Sharifs now — because their selfish interests converge. Even many in the opposition are afraid to set the wheel of justice into motion, knowing well that a genuine, free, fair and autonomous accountability process won’t stop at just a few individuals, but will eventually come after them too. They know that while today it is the Sharifs who are in the eye of the storm, tomorrow it could be their turn. The bottom-line that doesn’t change is that the existing system allows corruption and misrule to thrive and go unpunished.

This state of affairs signifies all that is rotten in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Let’s first focus on the system’s inability and lack of capacity to correct itself and purge the corrupt out, especially those who have executive authority and political clout. If this system had any legal, constitutional and institutional powers to do this, we would not have been witnessing fruitless and time-wasting discussions on ToRs for the Panama Scandal investigations? The charges of corruption against the prime minister would have automatically set into motion an accountability process and forced him to resign, as happens – and has happened — in civilised and democratic countries.

But the Pakistani version of a corrupt democratic order does not have any provision for this kind of accountability. Pakistani democracy has scandalously become synonymous with corruption, misrule and dictates of the minority rather than as an accountable, responsible and inclusive system. And this ruling elite — comprising feudal lords, tribal chiefs and super-rich urban industrialists, who have interests in the agricultural sector just as the rural elite has stakes in the industry — will not frame laws to make their own lives miserable. That is why we either see selective justice of those who are on the wrong side of the political order or criminal cover-ups of corruption, wrongdoings and misrule, which is being attempted today. Pakistan’s successive civil and military rulers have so far failed to break this pattern.

The National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency and other anti-corruption bodies are subservient to the government of the day. They cannot proceed against a sitting minister let alone the prime minister. The police have become a handmaiden of politicians and lost all operational autonomy and independence to fight day-to-day crime and tackle law and order issues.

The superior judiciary — despite good intentions — is also not in a position to play its due role when the executive authorities remain non-cooperative or become the target of a probe themselves. The ToRs, the government initially submitted to the Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali for the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the Panama Scandal, and the way it was rejected by the honourable court because the ambit of probe was too vague and broad, highlight the limitations of the judiciary.

The parliamentary system also lacks the power and capacity to hold the prime minister or the ruling party accountable for any wrongdoing, corruption and misrule against the interest of the federation and the state.

After the passage of the 18th constitutional amendment in April 2010, which stripped the president of the power to dissolve parliament, the prime minister emerged as a dictator. The system was left without any constitutional checks and balances and accountability process. The anti-defection law — framed to prevent horse-trading — also cemented the position of the prime minister, making lawmakers hostage to the dictates of the party leader. Now a lawmaker cannot challenge or vote against the party-line in parliament as per conscience, which basically means submitting before the wishes of the party head.

All these undemocratic safeguards have made self-correction within the system next to impossible. The defenders of this corrupt system usually say that only the people of the country can oust any government from power and that cannot be done before the government completes its five-year term. On principle this may appear to be a sound argument, but in the Pakistani context — or of any other third world country — it is a highly flawed statement because the corrupt democratic order and the ruling elite perpetuate themselves using ill-gotten wealth and political clout. And they marginalise the genuine representatives of the country’s oppressed communities and classes.

The rule of the corrupt super-rich minority in the name of democracy is a destabilising factor for the state, triggering political instability, violence, lawlessness and extrem- ism. This is what is happening in Pakistan now.

The country and its future prospects are being choked by a corrupt, self-serving, incompetent minority led by a business family. The system offers no remedy to fix this. The delay in the administration of justice to individuals involved in the Panama Scandal may prolong and strengthen the corrupt system and the ruling elite, but it will further weaken the state, which can implode if it fails to resolve its internal contradictions.

This is a dangerous situation and calls for immediate corrective measures. The choice cannot be simpler — a corrupt democratic order or Pakistan. The two cannot exist together.

Pakistan cannot be secured without resetting the system to empower people at the grassroots level through effective local governments and sweeping reforms aimed at democratising the political parties. Any future reforms must put in place an effective and institutionalised accountability mechanism that bars for good loan-defaulters, tax evaders and the corrupt from contesting elections or holding public office. It should also ensure that parliamentarians and their immediate dependent family members do not have any business and financial stakes in foreign lands. If any of their independent family members are settled abroad, then the money trail of their wealth and property should be provided in black and white.

Pakistan also needs laws to end dynastic politics and ensure that political parties do not remain family fiefdoms. This means that they must have proper membership and internal elections to select office bearers at all levels and their leadership must also change after one or two terms.

Reintroducing the minimum educational qualification criteria for candidates running for parliament and the law preventing public officeholders from bidding for the same slot more than two times are also crucial for resetting the system and cleaning up the political stables. While the self-serving leaders of some political parties and their cronies will resist attempts to reset the system, there are politicians both inside and outside parliament who can join hands to bring about meaningful reforms. The state institutions also cannot remain oblivious of the flaws of the current order and must support a change that allows accountability and clean and competent representation in parliament.

It is time to make tough choices — and that too on a fast-track basis. Neutrality and silence are not an option at this juncture. Inaction will only strengthen the corrupt and weaken the country, something we just cannot afford.

The First - Generation Pakistanis

By Amir Zia

August 2016

Monthly Hilal

As the nation marks its 70th Independence Day, Pakistan continues to swing between despair and hope. Yet, the grand idea of a stable, peaceful, prosperous and strong Pakistan still throbs and vibrates in the hearts of majority of Pakistanis. Despite many challenges and ups and downs in its history, Pakistan has come a long way, but the country has yet to achieve its full potential. Can we and the generation next be able to take the country to the next level?

First-generation Pakistanis are now a fast-dwindling minuscule group. Almost 69 years after the creation of Pakistan, elders, who witnessed the Freedom Movement, the Partition, its aftermath and the country’s formative years, are hard to find. Those of us born post-Independence – between ‘50s and the early ‘80s – may have learnt their first lessons of history not from Pakistan Studies’ textbooks but from these very elders, most of whom shared a few common traits.

For instance, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammed Ali Jinnah ruled their hearts and minds. Those, who had the honour of meeting or even shaking hands with him, considered it the biggest event of their lives. Many others took pride in catching a mere glimpse of the ‘Great Leader’ in a rally, or a public meeting, at a railway platform or his visit to their educational institution. Those, who never saw Quaid-i-Azam in person – from near or from far – still lived under his spell because it was only he, who articulated their dreams and aspirations, and had the iron-will to transform them into reality.

Jinnah’s cold aloofness during political, social and public interactions, his overtly westernized demeanour and limitations in communicating with the masses in Urdu-language did not prevent him from being the undisputed leader of the majority of Muslims of the sub-continent. The reason; people had blind faith in his integrity, honesty, political acumen and sagacity. His followers knew that their ‘Great Leader’ could not betray them or compromise on principles. For Jinnah represented the ethos of a modern Muslim – current, forward-looking, yet rooted in history and tradition.

All of today’s corruption-tainted politicians need to learn and emulate the basics of leadership from Quaid-i-Azam, though it’s an altogether different debate whether they possess the capacity, ability or will to appreciate and absorb his politics, leadership qualities and principles.

Another collective love of those, who witnessed Pakistan Movement, remains Allama Muhammed Iqbal – the philosopher and the poet of the East. It was Iqbal, who first gave the outline of Pakistan. It was Iqbal who inspired Muslims to dream big to explore the world and to regain their lost position. It was Iqbal who challenged the orthodoxy, conservatism and narrow-mindedness of the clerics of his days. It was he, who questioned the slumbering Muslim mind and forced them to critically think on all issues – from religion to politics and from the eternal paradox of being to that of vastness of the universe. Iqbal was larger than life for his contemporaries. The passage of time only added to his stature. Children sang Iqbal’s works in schools and their elders punctuated discussions with his couplets. Iqbal and his thoughts were the idiom and diction of the educated-Pakistan all through the initial decades of its Independence.

But the organized and systematic degradation of Urdu – the national-language – by the country’s ruling elite, the mainstream media, centrifugal regional forces and private educational institutions have sidelined Iqbal. The national poet, his poetry and the message has been reduced to some of its sprinkling in textbooks. Barring the superfluous official lip-service given to Iqbal, he is no longer in the cultural mainstream. A vast number of Pakistan’s so-called elite schools do not focus on teaching the basics of the national language, let alone Iqbal and his poetry. The successive governments, rather than improving and modernizing Pakistan’s education system, allowed imported curriculum and examination system to hijack and capture the young Pakistani-mind. Students churned out of this borrowed system are often rootless. Pakistan’s muddled provincial governments’ run education, which allows rival systems to co-exist – from seminaries to substandard government education institutions and various types and layers of private systems – in itself has become a dividing force rather than help in building national cohesion.

Compare today’s rudderless educational system with that of the 19th century reformist and educationist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s, who single-handedly brought a sea-change in the thinking and social and economic uplift of the Muslims through his educational movement. Sir Syed’s Aligarh Muslim University and its affiliated schools inspired the establishment of similar educational institutions for Muslims in the sub-continent and became the founding stone of Pakistan. The Aligarh University and its founder held a special place in the hearts of many first-generation Pakistanis whether they studied there or not. In his bid to educate Muslims, Sir Syed had to launch a crusade against myopic and narrow-minded mullahs as well as the feudal mindset, who wanted to cling to the old ways that brought the downfall of the Muslims. He promoted modern education, including science – long abandoned by the Muslims. Sir Syed’s ideas were rooted in tradition and he did not merrily ape the west. Students of Aligarh played a crucial role in advancing the idea of Pakistan. They fanned all across the sub-continent – from Muslim-minority to majority provinces creating awareness for a separate homeland. Wave after wave of ‘Aligarhians’ responded to their Quaid’s call in the freedom struggle and the formative years of Pakistan.

Almost all the elders could share the first-person impressions and accounts of the great historical events unfolding at the rapid pace in 1947. If some of them would endlessly lament on how the Muslim-majority districts of Gurdaspur and Ferozepur – where All India Muslim League flags fluttered – were handed over to India by the unjust Boundary Commission, other would give a blow-by-blow account the way Muslim-majority state of Kashmir was forcibly occupied by the Indian Army. The strong British bias favouring Congress and the annexation of the princely States of Hyderabad and Junagadh were also subjects of emotional debates and discussions as well as the way Indians tried to stifle Pakistan by blocking its share of funds after the Partition.

They articulated perhaps in much better terms than many so-called scholarly and biased books of history the fear in the hearts and minds of Muslims of permanently living under the rule of a hostile, vindictive and narrow-minded majority. They faced discrimination at every step – from separate water taps at railway stations to that of denial of jobs and economic and social uplift opportunities. The Hindu-majority Congress did not want to give any constitutional guarantees to Muslims to prevent the Partition. Those who question the justification of Pakistan need to look at the present day political and social landscape of India, where a vast number of Muslims remain oppressed, denied of basic social, political and economic rights. The continued occupation of the disputed region of Kashmir and atrocities committed by Indian forces there, is yet another manifestation of the extremist Hindu mindset.

The dawn of Independence on August 14, 1947 was soaked in blood and tears. There were organized massacres of Muslims in India, resulting into similar attacks on Hindus in Pakistan. An elder would tell you that he doesn’t know to-date the whereabouts of his sister kidnapped in some village near Jalandhar. Another one would narrate the hair-raising tale of the escape of his or her family from the slaughter grounds of Ludhiana. How the entire trains entered Lahore filled with blood and bodies. How Muslims were hounded, hunted and killed in cities including Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay and Calcutta. How Muslim women were abducted and raped. Those who saw Pakistan emerging on the world map have had countless of such sad and tragic stories, which oceans of ink cannot fully narrate.
The first-generation Pakistanis have played their innings. They had their share of triumphs and failures. And like them, Pakistan as a state had its high and many low points, which stemmed mainly from the poor-quality of leadership. A challenge that mars the country even today.

As the nation marks its 70th Independence Day, Pakistan continues to swing between despair and hope. Yet, the grand idea of a stable, peaceful, prosperous and strong Pakistan still throbs and vibrates in the hearts of majority of Pakistanis. Despite many challenges and ups and downs in its history, Pakistan has come a long way, but the country has yet to achieve its full potential. Can we and the generation next be able to take the country to the next level? Yes, given Pakistan’s enormous natural wealth and resources and resilient people, we can and we should. The starting point, however, remains empowering the people, cleaning the stables and ensuring that only the capable and honest get to the top slots. Doing this is not a tall order at all.