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.

Time to Re-Evaluate Relations with Saudi Arabia

"We in Saudi Arabia are not observers in Pakistan, we are participants."

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have enjoyed strong bi-lateral ties for decades and Pakistani citizens mostly regard Saudi Arab rulers with reverence, as Saudi rulers are the self-proclaimed guardians of the Holy Shrines in Mecca and Medina. 

That being said, it is worth noting that the influence of Saudi Arabia in Pakistani affairs has been –for want of a better word- unhealthy. When it comes to making decisions on regional policies, solving energy issues or even parliamentary affairs, somehow Saudi Arabia will be involved in them. Thus, such an unhealthy interest in our national affairs by a foreign country should be a cause of concern for us a nation and more so for our policy planners, but are they even concerned?

Recently when Ex-Dictator cum Ex-President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Pakistan after four years of self imposed exile, it was reported that he did so after Saudis played a key role in sealing a deal with Nawaz Sharif to keep clear off Musharraf and turned the keys here and there in the corridors of power in Islamabad to ensure Pervez Muharraf’s safe arrival.

In wiki leaks cables it was found that though Saudis clearly favor Nawaz Sharif in Pakistani politics, and it has been shown a number of times, but they also have a certain likeness for Musharraf and view the Army “as their winning horse” Pakistan.  

In addition, it is common knowledge that many of our religious parties –dare I say all of them?-are on Saudi payroll, and the Saudis have funneled huge sums of money in creation of religious institutions throughout Pakistan. It strikes me as singularly amusing when I see religious parties in Pakistan indulging in anti-US tirades but conveniently forgetting that their biggest financier is USA’s main enforcer in this region.

Also, the Saudi petro-dollar being dished out to religious parties and seminaries is becoming a headache for Pakistan. In South Punjab, for instance, it has been reported that Saudis are funding almost 100 million dollars each year to Deobandi and Ahl-e Hadith clerics, who are using those funds to establish extremist networks in those areas and from where terrorists can fan out in Pakistan to attack religious minorities and security officials.

 The PMLN led government in Punjab has never been interested in dismantling those networks and putting restrictions on such financing. But they can be forgiven for  their lack of action in this regards, since Mian Nawaz Sharif himself is Saudi Arabia’s favorite politician in Pakistan, who is heavily indebted to them for their ‘generous help’ in election campaigns and providing ‘special development loans’ to him during his exile there.

Besides financing terrorist outfits in Punjab, Saudis are also ‘allegedly ‘involved in Baluchistan crisis (aren’t they already too much involved?). Reason being the Pak Iran Gas pipeline which is critical for addressing the nation’s crisis, but which is being sabotaged by the nexus of USA and Saudi Arabia because they do not want to see the spread of Iranian influence in the region and also because Saudis consider Iranian enemies based on differences in sects. Indeed, it has been revealed that this nexus of Saudi Arabia and USA has been involved in fomenting separatism in Baluchistan, which is resulting in numerous deaths in the province and is a cause of concern for both Pakistan and Iran because if the separatist strife keeps on increasing in Baluchistan, it would put the gas pipe line in jeopardy ( much to the satisfaction of Saudis and Americans).

Thus with all the trouble that Saudis are responsible for creating in Pakistan, it is time for our government and political/politico-religious parties to reevaluate their relations with KSA,  as its constant interference in our affairs is giving us more harm rather than the benefits it purports to provide. For that, our leaders will have to take tough decisions as Saudis still provide us with much needed crude oil and aid assistance. It is a tricky balancing act, but one that has to performed, as too much damage has already been done by our love affair with the ‘brotherly Muslim country’.

Not every revolutionary situation leads to a Revolution

Elections 2013 are coming closer, most probably in April, as the current Assembly will be dissolved after completing its five-year term in March 2013 (hopefully).  If it does, we might as well have the first democratically elected government to have survived its full five-year term. Strangely, it is a proud and yet an embarrassing feeling to have finally achieved the holy grail of surviving a full term without any army intervention (so to speak) in our 65 years of existence on the world map.

Politics is in the air and not a single day passes when my Twitter and Facebook timelines are not swamped by political debates. Though I do not purport to be an elections expert as there are already enough out there without me stepping into the fray, I will make an effort to present my thoughts about the elections from a layman voter’s perspective.

Lenin once said that a revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation. So is there such a situation in Pakistan. These elections are being heralded as harbingers of change-positive change i.e. But are they really?

PTI, PMLN, PPP, MQM, ANP are all, promising to usher Pakistan into a new era of prosperity. To me, after the nightmare 2008-2013 period nothing that comes from PPP should be taken at face value, well at least I will not take it. But despite all its failings – and those are some pretty gigantic failings- PPP still has support in Southern Punjab and  Sind, even though its popularity in interior Sind is waning, courtesy bad governance. While PMLN, ANP and MQM are squabbling over their respective regions, what Pakistan truly wants right now is a national party. Supporters of PTI will disagree with me as they will cite successful rallies in the four provincial capitals of Pakistan as proof of support, but rallies do not automatically translate into votes and despite claims, PTI is focusing to get seats in Punjab as it does not have enough “electables” to be a serious contender in three other provinces.  We can call PPP, the ghost of a national party it once was but now it cannot form a government without coalition support in Baluchistan, KPK, Karachi and Southern Punjab.

Since no party right now can claim to be a truly national party, what they are doing is squabbling over and exploiting, biradri, sectarian and ethnic votes. Policies and plans have been left over to be argued on social media and Talk shows, none of which, in all sincerity, will affect the opinion of the general voter populace much. The main body of voters resides in rural areas and is too hard pressed in their daily struggle of lives to really give a thought to the various economic and educational plans put forth by the political parties.

Hence, hunting for electables in constituencies is the main strategy of parties right now, policies and issues be damned.  This is the sad reality of Pakistani politics. Every election in this country has been called as a change but has the change ever come? Every single government in this country’s 65-year existence is a case study in bad governance and indecisive character. And, expect this trend to continue unless one thing happens. Spread of Education.

In my opinion, it all comes down to education when we are choosing which political party will be leading our country for the next five years. Like I said before, we are still quagmired in ethnic, biradri, sectarian and favor asking politics and all this is because our general ‘awam’ is not educated enough to really question the manifestos and economic recovery plans of political parties nor are they really empowered to vote freely.

Talking about published plans by political parties, they really haven’t evolved from being simple idealistic statements to implementable objective plans with checks and balances because quite honestly they don’t need to.

When 70% of our prodigal parliamentarians don’t even pay taxes and at least 60% of whom we will be seeing in the next assembly, how can you expect major changes? The general Pakistani population is too busy in making their ends meet to really go out into the streets to protest or to go in courts to sue their respective MNAs and MPAs and thus this issue will soon fizzle out into nothingness and will not affect the outcome of elections in possible sense, which really tells us something about how the voters will be marking their ballot in the upcoming elections.

So if you ask me if the next elections would bring anything new to Pakistan, will any positive change be coming, all I can do is to re quote Lenin, “…..not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution”.

PTI Trolls

Youth have played a pivotal role in revolutions and movements that have changed the course of history and as Herbert Hoover said, “Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die”.

In modern times, Obama’s 2008 campaign and the Egypt Uprising are examples of how the power of youth was utilized by older leaders to create history. However, it can also be said that the politicians and leaders in both cases struck a chord with the youth who were resentful, dissatisfied and angry at the status quo. In both the cases, the youth passionately advocated the ideals of democracy and social equality and made sure that their voice was heard so that the degeneration of a political system or the whole society could be prevented. These youth really wanted to change the world and they made sure the chance they had was not wasted. And, the wily politicians exploited that masterfully.

The case is almost similar to PTI and specially Imran Khan’s story as well. It’s popularity among the Pakistani youth is mostly due to its effective use of social media, the presence of which has changed the political landscape of Pakistan by exposing the life and lies of well known personalities both political and nonpolitical. In social media, the youths of Pakistan have certainly found a platform where they can express themselves and make their thoughts heard by a large audience. Well, with this growing number of social media users, you also get occasional ‘trolls’ who disrupt normal debates and conversations with their own brand of reasoning which is pretty much detached with reality and rational thought. But is there any method to their actions, especially of the ‘alleged’ PTI trolls? One is led to believe that the PTI trolls are just random masked idiots who’s only aim in life is to disrupt conversations and malign the people who’s allegiance lies with any party except PTI. Normally their behavior is alleged to be such that if you don’t like, revere, love or hold Imran Khan and PTI in high esteem then you are a western agent or unpatriotic. Well some of them are certifiably like that but the classification by our liberals, media personalities and rights activists that all youths supporting PTI are like that is demonstrably wrong. I am in no way an office bearer or on the payroll of PTI but I do support it because of its principles. But does that mean that I am a troll? Would I attack liberals and all personages anti-PTI just because they disagree with me? But we must ask ourselves, what compels those other youths to attack online anybody disagreeing with their political views? For one thing, one is angered by the amount of criticism hurled down by political parties and certain journalists and ‘enlightened’ individuals whose own past is tainted –rather heavily- by corruption, disreputable behavior and links to terror, all which is well documented .  How, a ‘PTI troll’ thinks, is it so that those political parties, which have led Pakistan to this catastrophic situation, have the audacity to criticize a political party, which hasn’t come into power yet. That youth /aka PTI troll is angered by this and when unable to effectively communicate his thoughts and grievances, then adopts trolling as a medium of protest, yes it is true that that ‘troll’ abandons rational judgment of differentiating right from wrong and doesn’t criticize his own party but the blame lies on the vile and loathsome mess that our elders, liberals, conservatives and political parties have created.  But the leadership of PTI must also take steps to prevent this from happening because that tarnishes its own image. Trolling is extremism in its truest form and while it cannot be stamped out, but it certainly can be reduced. The youths supportive of PTI that I know are very good communicators and open minded. The actions of a few must not reflect on the majority.

Trolling also tells us something about our society that has engendered those trolls, trolls are just not on the internet, they are in offices, mosques, institutes and gatherings. Our society has become such that it provides the right ingredients for the creation of a troll.  Strict adherence to any ideal, lack of critical analysis and open mindedness are now becoming the characteristics of our society and that is reflected in the verbal jousts taking place on the social media.  The sad part about these trolls is that they tend to be youth, the same youth that are supposed to lead the country in the future but alas, their actions warrant introspection by the society itself.

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.