The Joke that is Poll Scrutiny

On 2nd April, I was reading Dawn Newspaper when my eyes fell upon this headline:

“Poll Scrutiny turns into an Islamic Studies Test”

And then of course we all heard about how veteran and brilliant columnist, Ayaz Amir's application was turned down by the returning officer because in the past his articles have been accused of being against the "ideology of Pakistan".

Word is that ECP officials are employing “ruthless scrutiny” measures for properly screening the candidates. Candidates from different parties are being asked questions about Islamic injunctions, and upon failure to properly answer; the returning officers are rejecting  candidates applications thus enjoying their five minutes of media fame.

In order to grasp the sheer foolishness of such a process, let us run through this small mental exercise:

Suppose a candidate from an XYZ political party having degrees in civil engineering, town planning etc from prestigious universities around the globe, and who plans to introduce many changes in his constituency if elected as an MNA, presents his credentials to the ECP returning officer, who checks the documents. The returning officer , let’s assume, asks him to recite ‘Ayat-ul-Qursi’ , and let us suppose that the candidate doesn’t know it, and just on that basis the returning officer dismisses  the candidate’s  application. Degrees, aims and objectives, plans and policies be damned.

So now, those degrees, credentials and professional experiences are irrelevant, because the ECP official has to be satisfied that the candidate has necessary knowledge of Islam rather than governance to become Member of Parliament according to Articles 62 and 63.

After such a ‘Zia-esque’ demonstration of electoral scrutiny, I am guessing that the said ECP officials somehow time traveled from the good old’ Islamist 80s into 2013.

Thankfully, the political parties also have taken issue with these practices and ANP’s Mr. Bashir Jan was quite right in saying that “One can’t reject an honest and upright candidate just because he has not learnt any Quranic verse by heart”.

In the recent years, much has been written over the utter pointlessness of articles 62 and 63 and to summarize various commentaries, the contents of these articles are mostly vague and terms like “good character” ,“abstains from sins” etc can be easily slanted to serve one’s own purpose.  It would be highly irrational to even presume that 90% of parliamentarians have never indulged in major sins and I have not even begun commenting on 63-G (defaming judiciary) as politicians in the past and present have been guilty of indulging in it with relish.

The main point that can be gleaned from such articles in our constitution is that though the political parties are proposing to launch many projects and reform initiatives, one key reform that all parties have overlooked is the constitutional reform. It is irrational to build a tall building if the structure on which you plan to erect the building is corroded and fragile.  No reform, no policies in Pakistan can succeed unless and until structural changes in our constitution are made. Abnormalities like the Blasphemy laws, parallel judicial system (Federal Shariat Court), Articles 62-63, 203, are glaring examples. 

Thus before attempting to screen candidates, the ECP, respected lawmakers and upholders of those laws should revisit Quaid-eAzam’s oft quoted (and oft forgotten) excerpt from his 11th August 1947 speech:

“… You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the State...”

Sadly, we have mixed religion with the business of the state and evolved into the exact anti-thesis of what the Quaid preached on 11th August 1947. Hence, now it has become more important to remember Quranic verses then to have proper educational and professional credentials. This has to end.

PS: On Ayaz Amir's case I shall just say  as  epigrammaticaly as possible:

There never was an Ideology of Pakistan. The  closest thing that we had near to an ideology died on the streets of Dhaka on December 1971, so don't kid us.

The Blame Lies with Us.

I thought that this was it.

The brave Hazara protestors by sitting silently on Alamdar road, without firing a single shot, without burning a single building had brought down one of the most corrupt and inept governments in  six decades  of Pakistan’s existence.

I thought that a new day has begun, the overwhelming support for the Hazara community and the rejection of all forms of sectarian violence was heartwarming.  We Are All Hazara, Justice For Hazara and Quetta Sit-in hash tags flooded twitter, in the end, the government decided that ignoring the issue was no longer an option and caved in.

Peaceful struggle had won.

But then, on the evening of this Tuesday, another tragedy struck. This time in Alam Gudar, KPK,  where  15 tribesmen were reported, shot dead by ‘unknown’ persons, which tribesmen claim were security forces and which the security forces claim were the militants of Mangal Bagh.They rose up in protest, bodies were lain down in front of KPK Governor, Syed Masood Kausar’s house, a delegation sent to present demands, negotiations were reported to be successful, the delegation returned to the protestors, but they did not accept the offer. Their demand was that the government should end operation in the tribal area.

The delegation had failed them.

They protested on,  Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi, attempted to speak with the tribesmen, but the enraged tribesmen hurled shoes and stones at him, police came in, tear gas shells were fired, protestors were beaten, dispersed and the dead bodies hauled over trucks and moved to cold storage.

This happened in the province of a democratically elected government of Awami National Party.Regardless of who killed the tribes people, whether it were Mangal Bagh henchmen in FC disguise or whether it was the security forces  who shot the civilians, in the end it mattered how a democratic government who’s steeped in the ethos of non-violence promulgated by Bacha Khan, ended up dealing with the protestors.

It was a sensitive issue dealt with all the sensitivity of a blunt knife. If that’s the way the KPK government chooses to end protests of Tribesmen, then their reconciliation approaches in the war-ravaged areas of FATA must be questioned.

I ask the KPK government, did the protestors set fire to any government building?

Did they destroy any public property?

Were they a threat to the security of KPK?

Were their hurled shoes similar in threat to rockets and shells?

The protest was overall peaceful; the 12-member delegation that was sent couldn’t effectively fight the tribesmen case and hence enraged the tribesmen. However, the tribesmen didn’t go on a rampage, they chose to sit in. If they chose a peaceful method of protest in the hope of being given the same justice as the Hazara community and have their grievances addressed, then it was the government’s responsibility to reply in a similar manner.

Another important thing that strikes me in this tragedy is the deafening media silence on the issue. How many channels covered the sit in? But perhaps the important question here is how many Pakistanis actually chose to give an ear and an eye to the sit in?

Let’s ask ourselves truthfully; weren’t we looking for more entertainment provided by a Canadian national hiding behind bulletproof glass?Let us answer honestly; aren’t we desensitized over daily killings in FATA?

The details of the massacre are wooly and the nation needs to ask questions. Who did the killings? Why is it so that those killings come days after Lashkar e Islam Chief Mangal Baghthreatened violence against Khasadars, and for the first time in three years, Tribal Militia was redeployed in Bara to counter that threat. Who were those people that were gunned down? Were they related to the Khasadars? Answers must be given, perpetrators must be brought to book. The KPK government must be made to apologize for using force against the protestors !But no, perhaps the answers to these questions, the solution to our problems lies in the hollow  harangues of a certain Shaikh Ul Islam. I blame you Pakistanis. 

The Great Speech

In this blog post, I am not going to say much, but present to you the text from Mr. Jinnah's speech of 11th August 1947, which in my view is one of the greatest speeches ever in the history of Pakistan's existence and probably of the world. Before reading it just keep in mind that by the time Mr. Jinnah stood up to deliver the speech, almost 1 million people had died on both sides of the border. Many Pakistanis died because they believed in an idea, an idea that was Pakistan, a tolerant, safe and just Pakistan. And as Mr. Jinnah delivered his speech, imagine how much it would have meant to him and all those in the assembly that had devoted their lives to a great cause. This is a landmark speech that espoused the principles of democracy, tolerance and long forgotten Islamic values. This speech presented the idea of a Pakistan that Mr. Jinnah and all those who had died in the struggle had imagined. It is therefore very important to us to read and re read this speech and  try to re construct a Pakistan based on the guidelines that Mr. Jinnah presented to us. Here's the speech:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I cordially thank you, with the utmost sincerity, for the honour you have conferred upon me – the greatest honour that is possible to confer – by electing me as your first President. I also thank those leaders who have spoken in appreciation of my services and their personal references to me. I sincerely hope that with your support and your co-operation we shall make this Constituent Assembly an example to the world. The Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is the very onerous and responsible task of framing the future constitution of Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete sovereign body as the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. We have to do the best we can in adopting a provisional constitution for the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. You know really that not only we ourselves are wondering but, I think, the whole world is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the clan of creating and establishing two independent sovereign Dominions in this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel in the history of the world. This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled. And what is very important with regards to it is that we have achieved it peacefully and by means of an evolution of the greatest possible character.

Dealing with our first function in this Assembly, I cannot make any well-considered pronouncement at this moment, but I shall say a few things as they occur to me. The first and the foremost thing that I would like to emphasize is this: remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first observation that I would like to make is this: You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State.

The second thing that occurs to me is this: One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering – I do not say that other countries are free from it, but, I think our condition is much worse – is bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must put that down with an iron hand and I hope that you will take adequate measures as soon as it is possible for this Assembly to do so.

Black-marketing is another curse. Well, I know that blackmarketeers are frequently caught and punished. Judicial sentences are passed or sometimes fines only are imposed. Now you have to tackle this monster, which today is a colossal crime against society, in our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food and other essential commodities of life. A citizen who does black-marketing commits, I think, a greater crime than the biggest and most grievous of crimes. These blackmarketeers are really knowing, intelligent and ordinarily responsible people, and when they indulge in black-marketing, I think they ought to be very severely punished, because the entire system of control and regulation of foodstuffs and essential commodities, and cause wholesale starvation and want and even death.

The next thing that strikes me is this: Here again it is a legacy which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any any influence directly of indirectly brought to bear upon me. Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.

I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division of India and the partition of the Punjab and Bengal. Much has been said against it, but now that it has been accepted, it is the duty of everyone of us to loyally abide by it and honourably act according to the agreement which is now final and binding on all. But you must remember, as I have said, that this mighty revolution that has taken place is unprecedented. One can quite understand the feeling that exists between the two communities wherever one community is in majority and the other is in minority. But the question is, whether it was possible or practicable to act otherwise than what has been done, A division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgement there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record is verdict in favour of it. And what is more, it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India’s constitutional problem. Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen. All the same, in this division it was impossible to avoid the question of minorities being in one Dominion or the other. Now that was unavoidable. There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be on end to the progress you will make.

I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation.

Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.

Well, gentlemen, I do not wish to take up any more of your time and thank you again for the honour you have done to me. I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fairplay without any, as is put in the political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.

I have received a message from the United States of America addressed to me. It reads:I have the honour to communicate to you, in Your Excellency’s capacity as President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, the following message which I have just received from the Secretary of State of the United States:On the occasion of of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly for Pakistan, I extend to you and to the members of the Assembly, the best wishes of the Government and the people of the United States for the successful conclusion of the great work you are about to undertake.

14th August Rant

It is a mad bad world. It really is. There is nothing wrong and nothing right in this world. It is only so if we think of it as something good or bad. Similarly, nations are neither good nor bad. They strive to achieve some objectives, which may or may not be in the interests of other nations. Certainly, their actions might raise humanitarian alarm bells but nations do what other nations do; act out of national interests.

The Seljuks conquered Constantinople not because of some ancient prophecy but due to the power and prestige attached to city and how its subjugation could bring prosperity to the nomadic Seljuks and Turks. USA attacked Iraq and Afghanistan only out of national interests. It’s nothing personal or religious.  The same goes for the Israeli settlers on the west bank who backed by apartheid laws can encroach on Palestinian lands with impunity. And the same goes for the Palestinians who shoot and bomb those same settlers so that they can keep their lands safe. National Interest.

History is often murky and dark with facts that are often distorted, but that’s the reality. History is always written by the victor.

In the same way, Pakistan may have had its share of dark secrets, secrets that are better left untouched, disguised and classified. It is up to us that we build upon them and raise a Pakistan that can stand high in the comity of nations.

I find many people criticizing Pakistan, but critique of Pakistan must be allowed to some extent, not like the criticism hurled by our liberals and feminists. And, why this criticism should be curtailed? Because if the criticism reaches a level that is damaging to the national interests, then yes, it should be stopped. There is nothing wrong nor anything bad in putting curbs on free media. National Interests.

I said it earlier somewhere and I am going to say it again. Peace is nothing but a half time in the games of war that have been played ever since Abel and Cain’s fight and have been continuing ever since.  Yes, war is a good thing but not against fellow citizens. When it comes to your fellow citizens, engage in dialogue, dialogue, dialogue and only dialogue. Only if the citizen is anti-Pakistan then you might kick him in the jail for 30 years but don’t kill, he is still a fellow citizen. We should strive to make holding this state’s ID card a privilege. We really should.

Do you know why liberal always lose in this country? Because they are always smug, obnoxious, aloof from national affairs and highly unlike the normal populace. They are always arguing about bringing peace with India and neighboring countries but they always forget that nations always require an ‘evil’ entity that is against a nation’s existence. The presence of that evil ‘nation’ helps us to continue and give meaning to our survival in this large conglomeration of nations on the planet.

 These liberals always talk about concepts, which are very alien to an average Pakistani. Hence, I don’t think that liberals and feminists can bring a great change to this country. Change will be brought by moderates and conservatives, as traditionally, these two camps have always written history of this world, I don’t ever recount reading about a liberal changing the course of history.

Hence, we should learn to respect this great nation of ours. Be proud of it. It might have faults in it, but do remember that before America became a world power, it too was a land of robbers, had a great civil war in which more than 650000 people died, and its greatest city, New York, was more politically divided than Karachi and had more presidents shot before 1945 than Pakistan during its entire existence. So be proud of who you are. Doesn’t matter what you stand for or from where you belong, as long as you stand by what you say. And you say, with me that you are nothing else but a Pakistani. A Pakistani who is free to go to his/her temples, mosques or any place of worship.  Who believes in the rule of law and not political dictatorship!  The time to bring a change to this morbid status quo is upon us now. It is now or NEVER.

Creating a Knowledge Sharing Environment in Pakistan

George Bernard Shaw once said:

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas”

Knowledge sharing is one of those concepts in action today that are changing the traditional structures of firms and organizations. Gone are the days when accumulating bundles of knowledge was enough to increase a person’s value in an organization. The world economy is now driven by increased communication and collaboration. The rapid rise of social media is an indicator of this global cultural shift. Knowledge Sharing and consequently the effective management of accumulated knowledge is now necessary in global companies.  The concept of a junior and a senior employee is now dependent on how much knowledge a person has and how “effectively” a person is communicating this knowledge. Also, the growth of this knowledge sharing culture has given rise to a new form of capital called Knowledge Capital. It is an intangible asset, which now carries more value than other commonly recognized tangible assets.

Pakistan is an interesting country with regards to knowledge management. Traditionally, we have not been a knowledge sharing culture. The teacher-disciple concept is still prevalent and new employees are generally discouraged from sharing knowledge and opinion. Although this does not imply that these traditional structures are not changing at all, but the need for change has to be highlighted. In a paper written by Peter Mikulecky and Mohammed Saeed Lodhi, the authors emphasized the need for our burgeoning private educational sector especially the universities to take a lead in promoting knowledge management in Pakistan since these universities are developing the managers and leaders of tomorrow therefore to instill knowledge management principles in them is vital to a productive and efficient Pakistani economy. Also the role of information technology in disseminating knowledge is an important one and Pakistan’s software industry is more than capable of meeting this challenge but unless knowledge sharing and its management  is not appreciated by our companies then we will consequently lag behind other developing nations.

Pakistan can take a leaf out of Japan’s economic concept which promotes the idea of strong corporate networks i.e. keiretsu. Companies can work together to achieve common goals. This concept apart from being applied in Japan also has been applied in west as well where AOL has been known to work very closely with SUN Micro. This effective concept can be applied in Pakistan too under the supervision of government; the industries can collaborate with each other and share knowledge through knowledge portals or other mechanisms but that requires the heads of our institutions to take the matter seriously. Nepotism, ineffective economic planning, an environment of distrust and resistance to change the traditional power structures has led to an inefficient Pakistani economy that is finding hard to catch up with the pace of other growing economies. This inefficient economy then leads to a brain drain in which its professionals leave the country for greener pastures.

The problem with Pakistan is that no one is serious in taking steps to improve our economy, an economy that is anything but built on collaboration and knowledge sharing. The problem lies not only with its institutional heads but it is intrinsic to our culture. Let us call spade a spade and accept the fact that there are aspects of our culture that are hampering our growth.  Educational institutions might have increased tenfold in number, the number of PhD’s might have mushroomed but has that resulted in an efficient economy?   In order to keep pace with the global changes we have to shed certain aspects of our culture. The repressive environment and colonial ethics must now be thrown out of the window. In that regards knowledge sharing can only thrive if the hanging swords of unemployment, demotion and ridicule are removed from an employee’s mind. Change has to happen and it should start from the top.