Mohammad A Shaikh October 5, 2007

Tags: Elections , Ordinance , Pakistan , Musharraf , Benazir Bhutto , PPP

What else can we call it?

rel="tag" href="/tag/trade">trade rep via direct telecast. Without any prelude or prefix or any other economic rationale or justification whatsoever, Mr. Cheema took on the EU trade rep: “you have to get rid of the anti-dumping duties because we are fighting a war against terrorism.”

Is this the way that you negotiate your space in international trade? By giving a seemingly veiled threat that the EU lower its anti-dumping duties or “Mushrraf’ will not be able to hold back the terrorists? Are these our ministers? And how many of them do we have? More than 60 at the federal level alone? Remember the marginal rate of productivity argument (ECON 101). How many gardeners can your lawn take?

The army in present-day Pakistan is like the Church in medieval Europe. All they want is your land and your money! What also needs to be studied is the psychological attack by the pro-military force on to the civilians. For example:

Mushahid Syed and his pseudo intellectual wife Dushka Syed saying foolish things like: “The Pakistan army represents the middle class of Pakistan… and hence democracy”. Dushka actually said this in a live program on CNBC. She was directly beaming into our households from Cambridge. Would she ever recommend the British Army to do a coup in the UK for similar reasons. A Mr. Baralvi - a pathetic pro-government anchor -- could not check her on this statement. He smiled along. Why do we tolerate such half baked intellects in our society.

Why allow the likes of Mushahid and Dushka, not to mention an orthopaedic surgeon-turned-politician Sher Afghan Niazi, to sell the Pakistan civil society short.

Compare us to a typical country in the Middle East. We have a written constitution that enshrines separation of institutions (this means separation in executive and judiciary), we do not allocate wealth on tribal patronage (unlike thousands of princes on stipends in the Middle East), we have an independent central bank (where the Board of Governors are not part of big business), our corporates have to disclose financial statements to their banks (unlike many countries in the Middle East). In short we have a lot going for us in terms of constitutional development and corporate governance.

But wait a minute!!! What is this ordinance hoopla Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto have just come up with. They want to take out accountability from the entire political and banking process. This act of self-preservation of Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto is being presented in the garb of national reconciliation.

Prosperity is matching talent with capital while keeping all sides accountable. What have Mushrraf and BB done?? They have taken out the accountability portion out!!!

When we do not follow our very own collective rules on the constitution and corporate governance, funny things happen, like Kargil, “a wrong war with a wrong country at the wrong time”. An episode Mushrraf is said to have instigated without taking the PM into confidence.

Other funny things also happen like unwieldy billboards falling on common citizens, substandard building materials and adulterated food. Just see around you on what is happening now. A brand new bridge snapping and the FWO is not held accountable. FWO is part of the army conglomerate. A fictitious bumper announced in wheat so that Musharraf’s cronies could make a killing exporting the grain. All this while75million Pakistanis dwindle below USD 2 a day. Smuggling in what.. Opps I forgot! We cannot dare hold the army accountable for sealing our borders.

These issues come about because there is no respect for separation of powers. This affects common-man issues like consumer rights, health care and food price inflation (because the junta/ establishment knows there is no competing institution that may take them on).

During Musharraf reign Pakistan has digressed in so many ways. This ordinance will further allow this country to totally divorce away the concept of accountability. This ordinance is the crowning glory of King Musharraf!!! The term Enlightenment came from Renaissance Europe. The church and state were separating and institutions were coming about where average Europeans could turn to seek justice. What Musharraf has done to Pakistan is the total opposite of this.