The Rise of State Aristocracy in Pakistan – Reviews

This book was published by Alternate Solutions Institute in February this year. Originally it is in Urdu, Pakistan Mein Riyasti Ashrafiya Ka Urooj.

After the Media Release announcing the publication of the book was made, I sent its copies to prominent newspapers, journals, and eminent intellectuals and writers for the purpose of review. However, no one bothered even to acknowledge the receipt of the book except Dr. Tariq Rahman, who called me and told that he had received the book.

Here are the reviews done:

The day (February 21) the Media Release was issued, I received a call from Business Recorder. Its senior reporter, Mohammad Rafique Goraya asked me to send copies of the book; he wanted to review it in the Business Review. On March 3, a review was published.

In The Express Tribune, on April 23, Ali Salman in his article, Rental Power Saga – Court gives an economic paper instead of a legal order, makes the following mention:

“In private sector firms are able to function, profit and even steal, the blame should really be on the state for failing to arrest corruption. As the libertarian thinker Khalil Ahmad argues in his latest book on the rise of state aristocracy in Pakistan, responsibility of our crisis should be fixed on the watchmen, and not on thieves. A society which declares its businessmen thieves, and spares the watchmen, can deserve only perpetual darkness.”  

Another mention was made by Huzaima Bukhari & Dr. Ikramul Haq, in their article, Budget for the Ashrafia, in Business Recorder on June 8.

“In his book Pakistan: Economy of Elitist State, Dr Ishrat Husain has observed that in sharp contrast to the East Asian model of 'shared growth', based on rapid economic development coupled with a rapid reduction in poverty and more equitable distribution of the benefits of development in Pakistan, the elitist model confers political and economic powers to a small coterie of elite (parasites). While commenting upon Dr Ishrat's work, Dr Khalil Ahmad of Alternate Solutions Institute, in his recent book, Pakistan Main Riasti Ashrafia ka Urooj (Rise of State Elitism in Pakistan), published in February 2012, has also concluded that Pakistan is presently owned and exploited by 'state elites' whereas it should belong to all.”

On July 31^st, Saadullah Jan Barq, the famous columnist, in his Urdu column, Zair-e-Lab, talked about the book in laudatory terms, while the correct title of the book was missing; the column was titled as Paksitan Mein Siyasi Ashrafiya Ka Urooj. In it, intellectual and philosophical content of the book found a specific mention.

In an Urdu weekly, Hum Shehri (August 10-16), Liaqat Ali Advocate reviewed the book. This review highlights various important theses of the book, such as philosophical substantiation of the institution of rule of law in Pakistan as an instrument of dismantling the State Aristocracy’s network. Here is the scanned image of the review:

On August 13, Shakil Ahmad reviewed the book in detail in Daily Mashriq Peshawar, and talked about the potential of the book to bring change in the Pakistani society. Here is the scanned image of the review:

On October 7, a short and mutilated introduction (copy-paste of the review by Liaqat Ali Advocate) appeared in the Urdu daily, Waqt. Here is the image:

Recently a friend informed that there has appeared a short introduction of the book on www.bbc.com/urdu. Yeah, under October 10 listings, a good tantalizing introduction appeared on the BBC website.

My thanks are due to all these reviewers!

However, I still crave for a worth-while review of the book!

Let me mention one episode there; it reflects on the intellectual state of our society. One of my good acquaintances, an artist most of the Urdu book titles published from Lahore are designed by him, asked: whether the book has been reviewed in this, or in that paper, etc. I told: No! He told, “They won’t. Get prepared a few reviews of the book, and give me along with some copies of the book. When someone visits me, I’ll give that to him and hope they will publish it. Otherwise, no one would do it.” I don't believe in such tactics, I apologized!

Here is a recap of the previous post about the book:

Some of the important points discussed in the book, The Rise of State Aristocracy in Pakistan:

First, the book tries to argue that rule of this or that class, such as rule of the proletariat, puts one class in conflict with the other classes, and does not resolve the problem.  Also that it’s not the issue who should rule; rather the issue is: how to rule. So, what is needed are “just rules” (or say “just laws”) which favor none, and are based on inalienable individual rights, and protect these rights. That may bring the whole society to a harmonious state: where there exists no rule of person or persons, or any class.

Second, in addition to rules (laws), the book considers the emergence of the institution of the state as a great step ahead in the progress of humankind, and that the foremost purpose of the state is to protect the individuals’ person and property and his rights or freedoms. This it does by formulating just rules and just laws, and by implementation them indiscriminately. Which is not the case in Pakistan!

Third, I have built my thesis of Riyasti Ashrafiya on the important work of Dr. Ishrat Hussain. His book, Pakistan: the Economy of an Elitist State, first published in 1999, analyzes the workings of Pakistan’s economy and comes out with the thesis: “The capture of the institutions of the state and the market by the elite is complete.”  In his subsequent articles, Dr. Ishrat has endorsed this thesis. But as far as his solution or the “reform agenda” is concerned, the book suggests it is Ashrafi (Aristocrtic, elitist), i.e. it does keep the Ashrafi capture of the state intact.

Fourth, that pre-modern Ashrafiya used to derive its power and authority from various distinctions, such as racial superiority, divine sanction; while the Riyasti Ashrafiya or State Aristocracy (or Pakistani Ashrafiya) derives its power and authority from the State. Be it wealth or clout, privileges or subsidies, the Ashrafiya through the State, appropriates everything for itself.

Fifth, thus this book holds Pakistani Ashrafiya as the biggest obstacle in the way of the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law in Pakistan; and also a hurdle in the creation of wealth in Pakistan since it favors special interests. The book demonstrates that the Pakistani Ashrafiya lives via its capture of the state, state institutions, and the resources of the state. The heart of the Pakistani Ashrafiya, i.e. Politicians, the Establishment, and the Bureaucracy, have made the constitution subservient to their interests; resources of the state and the wealth created by the citizens of Pakistan their relish; whereas security of fundamental rights, i.e. security of person and property and rights to the ordinary citizens is almost an impossibility. What comes to the lot of the ordinary citizens is endless sufferings at the doors of government offices, the courts, and the polling stations.

Sixth, the book also takes notice of the existence of Two Pakistans, a necessary consequence of Ashrafi capture of the state and its resources. In most of the big cities, in terms of social services, such as potable water, sanitation, public transport, paved roads, street lights, library, parks, playing grounds, two cities may be seen existing: one with no services at all, or with very low standard of services; and one with good quality services.  The book makes a case for an amendment in the constitution so that these social services with a standard of quality may be guaranteed to all the citizens wherever they live in Pakistan. That does not amount to burdening the public sector, but essentially bringing in the private sector to produce these services with government playing the supervisory and regulatory role.

Seventh, the book puts the blame for this formation of the Riyasti Ashrafiya, and then capture of the state and market by this Ashrafiya, on the shoulders of the politicians and political parties. I have written in detail about this crime of the politicians and the political parties in my Urdu blog as well, and in my forthcoming book, Siyasi Partian Ya Siyasi Bandobast: Pakistani Siyasat Ke Pech-o-Kham Ka Falsafiyana Muhakma (Political Parties or Political Arrangements: A Philosophical Analysis of Politics in Pakistan). But nobody seems to buy the point. The dominant view incriminates the Pakistan Army for all the ills facing Pakistani citizens.

The book dwells on its explanation also: it is politicians and political parties which make constitution and make amendments in the constitution; it is they who contest elections, and come to rule and make economic policies. In short, it is they who are constitutionally responsible to rule. Not the Army. If they submit their political and constitutional will to the Army, it is their fault. When they are pressured, for instance, by the Army, they never resign and come back to the citizens, who empower them to rule. The day they realize the source of their power are the citizens of Pakistan, they will be empowered.

Eighth, the book also shows a way to transform the Ashrafi Pakistan into Everyone's Pakistan by ensuring personal freedom and along with it economic freedom to all the citizens without any discrimination. It invites all the classes and groupings of Pakistan to the cause of rule of the constitution and the law; and exhorts them to stay on a singular achievement of human civilization, i.e. law.

Finally, the author thinks that humanity is entering a new Age of Rules, superseding the Age of Ideologies, and the present book derives its inspiration from the same enlightenment.

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Mamlukat-e-Ashrafiya Pakistan - Aik Aur Mubarakbaad

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Mamlukat-e-Ashrafiya Pakistan - Aik Aur Mubarakbaad

What’s your qualification, Mr. Prime Minister?

How vacuous the speeches and statements of state dignitaries look!

But it is for them to inaugurate this or that thing, to make speeches! It seems that’s the only thing they can do, at least in Pakistan!  Maybe since they have nothing else to do, they like to be the chief guests at many an occasion so diverse in nature that they would never be able to go to were they not in that position.

The difficult part of this exercise requires them to deliver speeches. However, they are privileged – they have speech-writers. That makes their speeches all Greek to understand as the speeches delivered by their very persons. Almost as a rule they are all, again at least in Pakistan, not as qualified and cultivated, or in short so learned that they would naturally be delivering speeches as the occasions require.

So, as far as their speech-writers are concerned, no doubt they are there to prove their intellectual mettle, and prepare such speeches which may be ranked as the best speeches in any contests, however, the speeches such written do not match their speakers’ intellectual credentials. The moment these speeches are delivered by the dignitaries for whom they are written they lose their substance, their content, and their tenor also. At best, they turn out to be fake. The moment state dignitaries deliver them, these speeches stand stripped of their context, and thus any relevance, but in a negative sense.

Here is the latest example:

The Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was chief guest at the 12^th Convocation of the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, held at the Convention Centre, Islamabad on November 30. While addressing the ceremony, the Prime Minister uttered the following words:

“Higher education opens unlimited vistas and possibilities of success and growth. The foremost responsibility of the university is to produce well-informed, motivated and cultured citizens of the nation. However, the universities in our country have to play a positive role in tapping the intellect and creating awareness among the students and scholars to help translate our potential for growth and development into reality. We have to work together to take our state forward along the path of inclusive growth and development through intellectual and scientific knowhow.”

[The News International, Lahore Print Edition, December 1^st, 2012]

Link to the news: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-145929-Higher-education-opens-unlimited-vistas-of-success-growth-says-PM

What do these words mean?

Mr. Prime Minister, does higher education open any vistas of possibilities of success and growth in Pakistan? You must be knowing how your government is attacking the HEC (Higher Education Commission) these days, to deprive it of its autonomous status, and make it subservient to the personal interests of politicians!

Mr. Prime Minister, you must be knowing how your party’s boss and the incumbent President, and the former prime minister, ministers and advisers, and party leaders had been / are appointing their favorites to such positions for which they were / are not qualified, and a number of cases of such appointments made in violation of merit and all the relevant rules and regulations are in the courts!

Mr. Prime Minister, you must be knowing in various government departments jobs are being given to the workers and associates loyal to the party and its leaders, and no merit is being observed anywhere!

What has become of PIA and Pakistan Steel, you must be knowing well! Newspapers of December 5, report that according to its own management, the PIA hired only 3 % (600) of employees on merit out of a total of 20, 000. So, who are the remaining 97 % (19, 400), you must be knowing, Mr. Prime Minister!

What is there your party’s government did through these 5 years to promote these things about which you delivered this speech? Or it was a meaningless speech delivered there because you were there to honor the occasion as the chief guest!

Mr. Prime Minister, in your speech you talk about ‘inclusive growth and development through intellectual and scientific knowhow,’ do you know meaning of these words! What is intellectual knowhow; what is scientific knowhow, Mr. Prime Minister, and how these help inclusive growth and development?

Mr. Prime Minister, would you mind telling us the citizens of this state what qualifications Mr. Pervaiz Elhai possessed to be appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan? And what about your own qualifications!

Mr. Prime Minister, of course, you would relax in the “theory of people’s mandate,” but you know well that it’s all a manipulated mandate? Wasn’t it the sweet-will of your party’s boss which picked you out as the Prime Minister of this hapless country?

Mr. Prime Minister, while nepotism, favoritism, cronyism, and corruption are rampant, what does your speech stand for? What did you talk about in your speech? Was there anything in your speech which may qualify to be translated into reality?

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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.

Saqaafati Munaafqat

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Saqaafati Munaafqat

Echoing Lal Masjid

Lal Masjid is once again making headlines. This time it has been resurrected by the Supreme Court. As a result of a hearing of a suo moto case of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa along with a contempt petition filed by Maulana Abdul Aziz, and after the federal police failed to file a satisfactory report on the matter, a three member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry constituted a one-man judicial commission comprising Justice Shehzad Al-Shaikh, Senior Judge of Federal Shariat Court.

The judicial commission will ascertain: whether the State had paid compensation to the heirs of killed people; whether the bodies were identified and handed over to their heirs; whether the action has been taken against the people who are responsible for the tragedy; and whether the people who are responsible for the tragedy could be marked with the available evidences and facts. The commission will submit its findings within 45 days.

It was after the announcement of 2008 general elections, that the defeated politicians used the Lal Masjid operation as a cause of their defeat. And, I was of the opinion that this issue, if not resolved judiciously and once and for all, will continue making waves now and then and various quarters would be exploiting it to accrue unceremonious benefits.

Here are my thoughts how this issue needs to be resolved:

Echoing Lal Masjid

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

[Martin Luther King, Jr.]

It was just when the results of the February 18 elections started pouring in that the allies of the military government, who were in the throes of an impending defeat, and its apologists concocted the excuse of Lal Masjid army action for their losing elections on such a scale. Their excuse may be worded thus: It was our army action on the Lal Masjid that got us unpopular with the electorate of Pakistan and threw us out of the new assemblies. In other words, it meant: had we not resorted to the army action on Lal Masjid, we would have won 115 seats as we had claimed before the elections.

One of the stalwarts of General Musharraf’s PML (Pakistan Muslim League) and its government, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, when asked in a TV talk show: how in your view the new coalition government would fare vis-à-vis people’s expectations, was furious enough to ignore his own political opportunism and unleashed a tirade against the PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz Sharif) leadership, and said: These are the same landlords and capitalists who have been exploiting the poor people, and they are once again together to fool them, and that the lot of the poor will never improve, they will remain in the same miserly condition. When questioned that with such good ideas, how come that he could not win his seat from Rawalpindi? He put the blame on the Lal Masjid action.      

Nothing could be farther from truth than this theory.

First, it is the lamest excuse that has been devised in a fit of rage in the face of an unexpected landslide defeat.

Second, it works as a double edged ploy. On the one hand, it says that by resorting to Lal Masjid action in fact we did a thankless job; on the other, it implies that we were wrong in that and that hints at a streak of sympathy for the Lal Masjid Brothers.

Third, it ignores the resentment of various quarters over the logistics of the Lal Masjid operation. Of course, there were different opinions as to the timing and methodology of that operation. It has been argued that were it not for the gravity of the judicial crisis, no Lal Masjid action would have taken place. However, it does not mean the whole electorate took it to their heart not to vote for the General’s hirelings on this pretext alone.

Fourth, it negates Ggeneralissimo and his chosen party’s another theory that was in vogue before the elections on the basis of which they were dead sure to win at least 115 and at most 180 national assembly seats. It was the development theory: we managed to achieve an average growth rate of 7 %; we spent so much via Public Sector Development Program; we initiated so many development schemes in various sectors such as education, etc. etc. What is fact and what is fiction that forms the foundation of this theory does not concern us here. However, it must be mentioned that the post-election theory of Lal Masjid action derides a very important development: that the people of Pakistan cannot be toyed by slogans of economic security. The seats that General’s PML won if they be analyzed in the light of this new development prove the same point.

Fifth, it was also argued that just on the verge of February 18 elections, the caretaker government could not manage the rising prices of wheat/flour and other food items, thereby causing the emergence of an unfavorable wave of reaction vote. It is the same Lal Masjid army action theory in a different guise. In a like manner, it also aims at hiding the true causes of General’s party’s defeat, and thus creating a false impression of the situation on the ground. All such attempts try to downplay the Chief Justice of Pakistan factor. It is no new thing. Right after the Lal Masjid army action, various writs re the Lal Masjid army action were filed in the Supreme Court and, it may be conjectured, such judgments were secured which may be said to have provided the conspirators with an excuse to question the impartiality and sanctity of the Supreme Court’s judgments. So, in this fray they did try to malign the Supreme Court.   

As is being argued and debated that the surge in the acts of terrorism and targeting of security and police forces especially is a direct result of army action on the Lal Masjid, it may safely be assumed that it is not so at least in the case of February 18 elections. Or we shall have to assume that every voter was a suicide bomber but his target was the ballot box, and he in a very scientific manner destroyed the General’s party’s votes only.

Clearly that’s not the case in any case. A patient and careful analysis of the General’s party’s defeat would, among other things, reveal that eight year long General Musharraf’s military dictatorship seemed to have exhausted not only its own existential justification but all the possibilities for future military takeovers and dictators also. He uprooted every institution upon which both government and society stand, sustain and prosper. Last in a series of worst military dictators, one of the greatest damages he did was the destruction of the value system of our society. He deprived us of all good values, and ruled us by might is right.

But as he in his ‘omnipotent’ mood tried to subdue an already conquered judiciary, to his utter dismay he came across that unknown soul which is known as ‘someone somewhere fights back.’ Were it possible for the Pharaoh to fore-locate his enemy, Moses would never survive!

It’s largely this CJP (Chief Justice of Pakistan) factor which infused the nation with a new revolutionary spirit, and qualitatively changed the ethos of the civil society. It’s this factor that made the miracle. It acted as a touchstone for the humiliated and the insulted of Pakistan, and helped them separate the gold from the dust in the February 18 elections. It proved to be the Philosopher’s stone for the politicians and turned those who happen to touch it into gold.

Thus, in fact it’s the CJP factor which is the target of so many conspirators who are constantly trying to nullify its snowballing effect. We need to be fully aware of all such attempts, and beware of all such conspirators. They are all in a frenzy to prove that people of Pakistan do not want justice. It must be clarified here that people of Pakistan do not want “social justice,” because it again implies the same development theory that in ultimate terms means economic security. People of Pakistan do not want doles, subsidies, ration cards, utility cards, torture-camps like public sector schools and health centers, and poverty alleviation funds that resultantly make them poorer. They want justice and rule of law. They want their fundamental rights ensured to them. It is for this reason that they want an independent judiciary, supremacy of the constitution, and a constitutional, responsible government. They know it is natural for them to earn their livelihood, what they want from the government is protection of their life and property, and ensuring of their rights and freedoms to them so that they could live in peace and prosperity.

Hence, obviously it is not the Lal Masjid army action that detracted the electorate from voting the General’s party. It’s their complicity in dismantling the Supreme Court and other institutions of the state, in subverting the constitution of the country, in supporting anti-people, anti-democratic, anti-meritocratic policies of a military dictator that earned them wrath of the people.

In the end, it needs to be mentioned that whatever the differences over the timing and methodology of the Lal Masjid army operation may have been, one can always put forward a number of alternate ways of dealing with such phenomena. However, what left the Lal Masjid operation unfinished is the absence of a thorough judicial probe into

i) how an ordinary mosque transformed into Lal Masjid in the very heart of the capital of the country where an army operation had to be carried out;

ii) how two employees of the Auqaf Department managed to command such a powerful position that they started challenging both writ of the law and state and violating the rights, freedoms and privacy of their fellow citizens, and who were their patronizers.

This is what raises doubts about the whole case of Lal Masjid from its A to Z. If the previous government could not dare to take up this job for certain reasons, whether the new government would mind such a probe and let the law of the land take its course is yet to be seen. Without this probe and as a result without bringing the responsible officials and dignitaries to book whoever they are, the case of the Lal Masjid will never be considered closed, and will keep on echoing in ever newer contexts. It is the only way that somehow may help pacify those disgruntled elements who take inspiration from the Lal Masjid army operation.   

[This article was completed on March 24, 2008.]

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Aik Aur Zakhmi Saanp

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Aik Aur Zakhmi Saanp

Do we need secularism?

Secularism is an old song that keeps reverberating in the liberal, enlightened, progressive, leftist, and socialist circles of Pakistan. Earlier this January news from Bangladesh that its supreme court banned use of religion by political parties provided a fresh impetus to the choir. Since then a plethora of op-ed appreciating and envying this progressive step of Bangladesh continues appearing in the newspapers. They all regret Pakistan’s lagging behind in this important improvement.

In Pakistan, secularists have always been understood to mean something that is, harshly to mildly, against religion. However, their position is quite different: they hold that the state ought to be acting in an areligious manner instead of playing religious. They aim at neutralizing the state’s role vis-à-vis religion.

But has the Pakistani left built its position philosophically? Or is it just a political ploy? An act of postponing it for a convenient future date to confront? Whatever the Pakistani leftists have intellectualized seems to ignore the tenacity of the religious factor! That makes their approach an idealistic one.

Another entity in Pakistan, Classical Liberals or Libertarians, believe otherwise. Their position though not based on the constitution of 1973 is akin to many of the fundamental rights ensured in it. The articles that relate to the issue under discussion here are freedom of speech (19), freedom of association (17), freedom of assembly (16) generally; and freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions (20), safeguard against taxation for purposes of any particular religion (21), and safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion (22) especially.

In essence, these constitutional articles presume individual citizens of Pakistan as independent thinking beings. They consider them as believing many a different views, opinions, philosophies, and professing various religious systems of thought as well. That is why the constitution secures the above-mentioned rights (16, 17 and 19) as fundamental to them. More than that, by way of association and assembly it provides the individual citizens with the rights (20, 21 and 22) to practice their views, opinions, philosophies and religious thoughts as well. Obviously rights 20, 21 and 22 are integral to rights 16, 17 and 19. One group of rights is just meaningless without the other.  

Likewise the Libertarians too consider individual persons as free and independent thinking beings naturally endowed with certain inalienable rights that include right to life and property (Articles 9, and 23 and 24), and to a life of their choice as all the rights (Articles 4, and 8 to 28) in unison aim at ensuring. That is why the Libertarians in Pakistan do not favor secularism as a viable political philosophy. They hold personal freedom as supreme and see the constitution of 1973 truly embodying this spirit in the form of fundamental rights and unequivocally declaring all the laws inconsistent or in derogation of these rights to be void (Article 8).

For Libertarians, religious freedom is an inseparable part of this natural personal freedom that the constitution of 1973 so purposefully protects. This position is also tenable with the larger scheme of fundamental rights of individual citizens enumerated in the constitution. Thus protecting religious freedom as a fundamental right is not only morally, spiritually, and intellectually of greater merit but is socially harmonious also.

In contrast to this, the Pakistani secularists expect and somehow demand from the state and via it from the individual citizens to act in an ariligious manner. On the one hand, this amounts to denying individual persons their due fundamental right to religious freedom, and on the other, this invalidates the constitution of 1973 and especially its articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, and 22. Instead the liberals, progressives, leftists, and socialists of Pakistan should be putting their energies to pressurize the government to strictly implement fundamental rights generally; and to secure especially the fundamental right to religious freedom to all the individual citizens of Pakistan without any discrimination. That’s the urgent need of the times!   

[This article was completed on March 8, 2010.]

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