Pakistan’s alarming disconnect

By Farhan Bokhari

When senior figures from United States President-elect Donald Trump’s team began tempering down enthusiasm over last week’s phone call between the incoming US president and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the latter should have asked himself if there were lessons to be learnt.

Members of the Trump team came out in their response after senior officials around Sharif began playing up the significance of the chat. Some even chose to share explicit details over who said what, disregarding the time-tested protocol of remaining nuanced and balanced when key leaders touch base either in person or over the phone.

This episode has once again highlighted a frequently-recurring problem with the Pakistani establishment. Too often, leaders of successive governments have taken it upon themselves to practically brag about their foreign linkages, all meant to highlight such relations as a source of strength, while Pakistan’s internal outlook has continued to be in disarray.

Often, the reference to a leader’s “personal relationship” in foreign lands has been meant to highlight the leader’s ability to prevail in favour of Pakistan on vital policy matters. The historical reality, however, could not have been more different than the impression often bandied about. While Pakistan’s often self-serving rulers have promoted themselves as best suited to serve their country by virtue of rubbing shoulders with foreign leaders, a reality check has often thrown up a different story.

Since Sharif’s election as Prime Minister in 2013, Pakistanis have practically been inundated with relentless propaganda over China’s largest-ever planned investment in the South Asian country, set to revolutionise Pakistan. But few have ventured out to press for a badly-needed reality check. The glaring and powerful reality of Pakistan’s internal gaps that have driven down the country’s outlook needs to be fundamentally acknowledged for the challenge at hand.

Notwithstanding China’s goodwill in undertaking a large-scale investment in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, a central question remains unanswered: Exactly how far is Pakistan geared up to improve its own outlook to stabilise the country internally? Three inter-related and chronically unresolved internal issues have time and again pulled down Pakistan’s outlook significantly.

First, a failure by the country’s political class to create the space for accepting issues that ordinary Pakistanis are grappling with, has indeed created a disconnect between the ruling structure and the mainstream. Consequently, as ordinary Pakistanis have suffered, the ruling structure appears to neither care about the plight of the mainstream nor has shown any willingness to take badly-needed emergency action to benefit the country’s mainstream.

Second, the disconnect between the ruling elite and those who are locked in the mainstream has principally undermined the extent to which the economy has been shaped to serve the people. It is therefore not surprising that as members of the mainstream frequently lament and resent their daily plight over issues such as frequent power cuts or shortages of gas supply, the response to their plight has been short of popular expectations. It should also not be surprising that Sharif’s government has gone out of its way to support visibly fancy projects, as some of Pakistan’s urban areas have seen the arrival of new fancy bus projects and wider highways. Meanwhile, essential public services such as government-provided health care and education continue to be neglected.

Finally, it is no secret that Pakistan remains surrounded by one of the world’s toughest security environments. Barring a small strip of territory along the border with China, the remaining frontiers by and large remain surrounded by varying degrees of tension. However, guarding the frontiers remains the domain of Pakistan’s army with ruling civilian politicians typically remaining on the sidelines. Tragically, little has been done by way of mobilising the public to the point where Pakistanis will not only learn to embrace the country’s national interest in a meaningful way, but will also become aware of a comprehensive set of responsibilities that every individual in the country needs to embrace. However, inspiring Pakistanis to rally around a national cause will remain an elusive dream unless the public’s faith in their leaders increases rapidly.

Achieving these objectives will be easier said than done. A comprehensive change across Pakistan is unlikely to set in unless the quality of leadership improves vastly. It is indeed essential to arm Pakistan’s leaders with sufficient moral authority so that the public rallies behind them in times of need.

Unfortunately, Sharif has indeed lost his moral authority in the wake of the so called ‘Panama leaks’ scandal that has haunted him in recent months. Revelations suggesting that Sharif’s three children used offshore companies listed in Panama to siphon off billions of rupees outside Pakistan for purchasing luxurious properties in London, has only triggered a sense of distrust about the establishment in the minds of the masses. An investigation by Pakistan’s Supreme Court into the ‘Panama leaks’ is still ongoing and may ultimately help settle the matter. In the meantime, members of Pakistan’s mainstream have every business to ask if their lives will ever begin to change for the better, in a country that remains dominated by vested interests.

Eventually, the mother of all of Pakistan’s dilemmas remains just one. As long as Pakistan’s leaders remain beholden to foreign soils on matters ranging from ownership of their overseas properties and business interests to support on the policy front, life for the mainstream will not change. With a de facto status quo surrounding key areas of policy-making, Pakistan’s future outlook will remain unchanged. And for mainstream Pakistanis, the phone call between Trump and Sharif will likely be devoid of meaning unless accompanied by a new progressive policy direction.