WHAT CAN BE DONE?

There is no denying the fact that  a democratic, politically stable, and moderate Pakistan will serve its own interests. The democracy in Pakistan has not worked to its full potential not because something is inherently wrong with it or with the country as such but simply because the ruling elite resisted it in a bid  to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, like the previous military regimes, the policies of the present military government are seen working in the same direction.

The military has ruled the country for a large part of its existence and, both by default and intention, promoted specific policies and personalities. It presided over the national destiny in the 1960s, during the East Pakistan crisis and all through the late 1970s and 1980s and cannot absolve itself of several crucial as well debilitating developments in the past. It is this very institution which has encouraged and in many cases fostered and nurtured forces of violence, reaction and discrimination in society.

Given the present situation, the fundamental task remains the de-colonization and democratization of the state. For that we need basic restructuring of the political, economic and social set up. Pakistan has evolved into a highly centralized, unitary and oligarchic instrument  which continues to operate in a neo-colonial framework. We need to introduce radical constitutional and administrative reforms. The multinational character of the Pakistani state must be recognized  and the political and economic rights and powers of the constituent nationalities must be conceded. There must be total decentralization of power up to the lowest tiers, so that development programs embody the local needs and aspirations, and the people at all levels are involved in their implementation, and benefit from them.

The federal structure, confronts the same dilemma that it had before the separation of East Pakistan. Just as East Pakistan has a larger population than the other four provinces of West Pakistan put together, Punjab today outnumbers (according to official census result that has been challenged by the smaller provinces) the combined strength of the remaining three provinces. Unfortunately, narrow parochial considerations, political exploitation and decades of authoritarian rule have further increased the mistrust and misunderstandings between provinces.

A repetition of the unfortunate events of the past be avoided by accordingly the demands of the smaller provinces for real federalism. The federal government should be entrusted only  with responsibility for foreign affairs, defense, currency, inter-provincial trade and communications and foreign trade. This is a popular demand of a number of  political parties from the NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan.

Strengthening of the federation, removal of inter-provincial disharmony and restoration of national cohesion was one of the seven-point agenda announced by General Musharraf  on October 17, 1999. However, the military government was unable to take any significant move in this direction in the first twelve months.

Criminalization of politics in Pakistan is a real issue because the electoral  process has legitimized the power of, what may be called, crime syndicates and has granted  popular acceptability to individuals who used high public offices for criminal plunder of national resources. There is a general consensus in  Pakistan that democracy must be restored but without a due process of  law and checks on the power of the executive, it would remain a sham  democracy. It appears that the people of Pakistan are losing faith in the present political system. The  turnout in the February 1998 elections was only 26 per cent of which the Muslim League  received about 15 per cent of the votes. Not more than 5 per cent of the adult population of the country turned out to vote.

Our experience since the 1985 non-party elections of General Zia has proved beyond any doubt that the same interest groups (feudal-capitalist-army) would return to the national and provincial assemblies whenever elections would be held under the present system  Therefore, basic changes are required in the electoral system in order to make it possible for the ordinary people to be represented in the national and provincial assemblies. Population of the country has doubled since  1973 when the constitution was framed, this increase should be reflected in the assemblies strength.

Doctoring of election results has become an established norm with our ruling elite. To ensure free and fair elections, the election  commission should be made completely independent of government control. It cannot be denied that the Inter-Services Intelligence,  which since 1976 has been directly under the prime minister, has been  used to finance candidates and political parties in order to influence the results of the elections. The ISI's political cell should be abolished and it should not have any political role.

Elections should be held on joint electorate and  proportional representation basis. Voters should be asked to vote for a party candidates  and its  program rather than for individuals. Political parties, in order to  qualify for participation in national elections, should be required to hold  elections within the party.  Besides, those who elect a person must have the right to recall him whenever he renegades on his election  promises and commitments or sells his loyalty. The voting age, that was reduced during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's regime from 18 to 21 years should be restored to 18 years.

We need to introduce and strictly implement basic land reforms so that the feudal grip on our political and economic process is broken once and for all. Landless peasants and below-subsistence farmers may receive land, thus raising the level and quality of life of the rural masses and enabling them to enjoy basic human rights and freedom. Meaningful rural development projects, involving the rural masses can be initiated and implemented, only when the feudal hold is broken. Unfortunately, introduction of any land reforms was not on the agenda of the present regime because any meaningful land reforms are likely to alienate a powerful feudal community against the regime.

General Musharraf has announced to levy income tax on farm income from the next financial year that begins in July 2000. However, the feudal lords are resisting even a nominal farm tax imposed by the provincial governments. On Jan. 13, 2000, disposing a petition by land lords against the imposition of provincial income tax on agriculture income, the Peshawar High Court declared agriculture levy as "illegal" and "unconstitutional."

Meanwhile, on January 31, 2000, a number of senior and junior officers of the Pakistan Army,  through separate writ petitions, has challenged the imposition of  Agricultural Income Tax on their lands. Major Geneneral M Shafiqullah, Brigadier Muhammad Aslam and Lal Zumarad, Lt Col  Manzoor Ahmad Waheed, Major Muhammad Yousaf, Irshad Ali and  Muhammad Abdul Wahid, Cap Masudul Haq, Lt Muhammad Jamil and  Havaldar Muhammad Anwar in their separate writ petitions have  challenged the imposition of agricultural income tax on their lands.

The army officers are allottees of agricultural land under the Remount  Breeding Scheme prepared under Section 10 of the Colonization of  Government Lands Act, 1912. They were asked to pay Agricultural Income Tax under Act 1 of 1997  and coercive measures were under process against them for recovery.  They contended that under the terms and conditions of the allotment of  their lands, a tenant under the Colonization of Government Lands Act,  1912 neither fell within the ambit of Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1947  nor within the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1967 and as such could not be  deemed the owner of the land.

This confirms the fact that the forces of the status quo are too well-entrenched to allow any meaningful change possible through drastic reforms in the present setup, while the new world environment is raising the expectations of the people. Hence, no meaningful change is possible unless our ruling elite responds to the international and regional realities of the post-cold war era.  It has to  take a painful decision to loosen its grip over the society and surrender its privileged position otherwise, the economic, social as well as political compulsions may trigger unforeseen events and force some catastrophic changes.