Liberals Losing the Battle?

National unity and the federation are at stake and the ground is being lost rapidly by moderates to Islamic revivalists in the country. This is partly owing to American policies in the region and the Middle East and the general perception that while US commitment to Pakistan continues to be weak, Islamabad is still keen to do its bidding even when public opinion has finally decisively shifted against the Taliban.

Liberals and moderates, despite the turning of the tide, are becoming a minority in the country. A recent IRI poll which revealed that 86 per cent of the respondents felt that religion should have a role in politics serves as a grim reminder of the enormity of the task that lies ahead, especially given the poor quality of governance and the derision with which the political leadership is viewed. Earlier, moderate and civilian governments failed to provide almost half of the population with access to decent basic education, health and skill-enhancement services and good governance that would have ensured that the poor and lower-middle classes have a stake in the system.

In the revolution unfolding before our eyes in the shape of a knowledge-based road to growth and prosperity, Pakistani society is horribly divided by the type of education that different segments can access. Instead of education systems being a unifying factor in terms of providing equal opportunities for social mobility to all classes, the products of the government-run institutions are not equipped to participate on largely equal terms in economic growth.

The elite has not ensured a fairer distribution of economic growth. The multitude of unemployed poor or those without steady jobs and the less affluent segments of the population with little protection from the excesses of the law-enforcement agencies and their surrogates do not have a stake in the patently unfair order and state structure. They have been left to fend for themselves by the rich whose accelerated progress in recent years has sharpened the disparities in incomes and wealth. The country stands horribly polarized between the haves and the have-nots and between modernists and the traditionalists with fundamentalist views.

Not surprisingly there is resentment and hatred against the pillars of the State and the iniquitous tax systems and structures which, while exempting from taxation the main sources of income of the vast majority of our political leadership, result in a tax to GDP ratio of less than 10 per cent, reinforcing and widening existing disparities of incomes and wealth.

The growth of madressahs can be largely explained by these outcomes. These madressahs provide food, clothing and shelter and cater to the spiritual needs of those enrolled. Moreover, politically ambitious graduates from public sector universities but from humbler social backgrounds would be welcomed by the right-wing parties whose members and leadership come from similar socio-economic classes and aspire for roles that would not be open to them in the mainstream political parties. Thus, until and unless there is an alternative that is caring and provides justice and rule of law and ensures merit so that ordinary people become stakeholders in the system we will never be able to achieve the kind of social harmony required for nation building.

Moreover, the thousands graduating from these institutions neither have the educational or technical skills demanded by commercial enterprises. They are largely unemployable and hence obvious candidates for recruitment by terrorist organizations. It is these Taliban that reflect the "demographic dividend" of our young population. So, one can understand why the suicide bomber has no compunction destroying a system in which he has no stake.

Reduction in the role and size of the army and the Federal government and greater administrative and financial autonomy to the provinces (along with powers to exercise greater control over their own resources) is required urgently. This needs to be complemented by decent, publicly-funded basic education and health and a system that rewards meritocracy in which individuals prosper on the basis of their talent. Such a structure should overtime create the environment in which all nationalities and classes will start having a stake in the unity of Pakistan, thereby facilitating the establishment of a country that can begin to claim a place as a key player in the comity of nations. With the whittling away of the writ of the state and serious doubts about the integrity and competence of the leadership things have come to such a pass that no government alone can tackle these problems effectively.

There is only a small window of opportunity that is open, and that too for a short while, to halt and reverse the process of this shift to the right. Democracy must provide better governance and must deliver decent basic services by giving the poorer segments of the population first right over the state's resources, so that they can become the first line of defence against the forces keen to derail the participatory form of government.