Need for a new Bhutto

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Elf Habib

A leader of Bhutto’s ingenuity, insight, sagacity, stature and dynamism would certainly have generated more funds and ensured a fairer allocation to the civilian sector perennially deprived by the dictatorship under the garb of the defence budget

Amrita Pritam, alluding to the death, devastation, misery and helplessness of the masses wrought by the partition had passionately yearned for a new Waris Shah to portray the plight and despondency of Punjab. The people of Pakistan, presently being pummelled by a bloody civil strife, starvation, squalor, scarcity of water, fuel, employment and basic facilities are also almost similarly yearning for the reincarnation of a Bhutto passion and panacea for the poor, and his courage, charisma, valour and the vision to inspire the masses and beat the odds against them. The trust reposed by the masses in the Bhutto party has unfortunately failed to end their sufferings. The Bhutto magic that had revived and rallied the nation with more than half of the motherland torn asunder and about 120,000 compatriots, including over 90,000 soldiers stranded and interned on enemy soil, has been woefully waning. In Bhutto’s days, even the remaining western half of Pakistan was being threatened. Despite criticism for having autocratic tendencies, we must admit that Bhutto brought back the prisoners, initiated new dimensions to bolster defence and negotiated a dignified deal with India that, despite some sporadic setbacks, has broadly stood the test of time.

The country is once again traumatised with almost similar circumstances. The war on terror, unfortunately, has claimed more lives than lost during all the three encounters against India. This staggering catastrophe, like the imbroglio in East Pakistan created by General Yahya and his cohorts, has again been created by two dictator generals. Zia induced intolerance and extremism and drained the national resources on these non-state jihadis while Musharraf claimed to dismantle it with his half-baked deceptive measures. The national resources, however, are being consumed by this conflict, eroding even the meagre Rs 421 billion development budget. The exchequer is hopelessly stymied to clear the spiral of circular debt plaguing the power crisis. A leader of Bhutto’s ingenuity, insight, sagacity, stature and dynamism would certainly have generated more funds and ensured a fairer allocation to the civilian sector perennially deprived by the dictatorship under the garb of the defence budget. His devotion, dynamism and swift, sweeping actions culminated in the preparation of the consensus constitution within just two years of his assuming office. This document, despite the repeated mutilations by the military dictators, is still the most riveting and rallying national covenant. The same enthusiasm and lightening speed was manifested in the resurgence of creativity and employment avenues in the health, education, textile, housing, food education, industrial and technological and economic sectors. New jobs were generated in the burgeoning national corporations, as well as in the overseas countries. The corporations created to implement the prevailing radical recipe to end exploitation ranged from the giant steel production, mechanical and aeronautical complexes to catering to common basic needs like bread, garments and housing. A pack of five chapatis churned by imported ovens, marked with expiry dates and selling merely for a rupee, has now turned into a mere folk tale

Accelerated extension in education was used to refurbish the skills required in these corporations and other sectors. His own voracious love for reading and accomplishment as an author of three fast-paced and prescient books was reflected in doubling the number of public universities, founding four new medical colleges and five first-ever centres of excellence to spur research in selected realms. Pakistan became the first world country to emulate the pioneering British foundation of an open university to carry knowledge to the distant, deprived, less privileged and adult learners. Charters of the universities were democratised, guaranteeing the presence of teachers and students on the governing bodies. His commitment to compulsory secondary education for all within a decade, enshrined in the constitution, still remains a distant dream. The Bhutto reincarnate would evidently revive his romance for knowledge like Obama who has devoted over one eighth of his $ 789 billion stimulus plan for education, scientific research and manpower training. Enhanced allocation to education and skill farming has similarly revolutionised the economies of the Asian tigers. The manqué Bhutto would likewise also at least quadruple the presently skimpy 2.4 percent education share for three to four decades. Education, skill building, creativity, efficiency and production are intimately tied to the health, fitness and feelings of the workers, so the moribund health sector has to be reconstructed. Even a protagonist capitalist state like the US now has provided a widespread public health cover. Health cannot be sustained without clean water, proper nutrition, sanitation and improved environment. Thus, a giant putsch for production of food, fuel, seeds and fertilisers has also become an inescapable imperative. The power outages have plunged the country into a darkness made worse by the darker thought, psyche and the trends perpetrated by the dictatorship.

The government led by Bhutto’s heirs has characteristically not emulated the brio, brilliance and brisk pace of his stellar performance in merely five and a half years. It keeps reiterating its promises to revamp the lot of the poor, yet it is hampered by a curious sloth and hibernation in contrast to the cannonade of hyperactive and blistering media, critics and detractors and misplaced judicial activism. Its endeavours to amend the constitution have taken far longer than the period Bhutto took for framing the original document. Its inefficiency in implementing Article 6 of the constitution and sidelining the controversial PCO judges has been almost an irreversible suicidal slip. It also failed to muster the Bhutto magic to move the media and the masses to extend the civilian supremacy over the defence organs or manage a fairer distribution of the resources between our over-bloated security ambitions and the festering public needs.

The party, no doubt devoid of an absolute majority, is saddled by some serious constraints. There is a large wily opposition known for its swift somersaults, fewer principles and more parochial and person-specific biases. The media is overtly hostile and emotionally manipulated more by the mullahs and establishment. The establishment, bolstered by repeated dictatorships, has become more entrenched, powerful and manipulative of the public mood and policies. The war on terror, displacement of the population in many tribal areas and their rehabilitation are taking an extra toll on the treasury. Yet, like the meteorites shooting in the darkest nights, these dark and desperate days forge the meme and milieu for the emergence and bravura of great leaders like Bhutto who, through their scintillating thought, sterling principles and charismatic appeal, can kindle new hopes, carve new paths and dimensions for the people groping in the darkest caverns of deprivation, dogmatism and dictatorship.