Watching Poverty Grow

They should make Baluchistan a free state - by breaking the hold of the tribal sardars.

Re: # 114
Saeedullahjan
I agree with you. Pakistan has been ruled as a unitary form of government instead of a federation. Successive military dictators have kept the country under a tight rule from Islamabad. The province were robbed and mutilated by military operation. Democracy gives us a hope to bring it out in the open.

Re: # 116
Taliban were re-distributing lands and kicking major land holders out. By postponing a land reform Pakistan government will only allow Taliban to regroup.

Re: # 115
Thanks again for your advice to participate in charity and stop writing about the suffering Pakistanis. Pakistan's future depends on these two issues. Abolition of feudalism and restoration of the rights of provinces. By pre-conditioning it to a benevolent dictator that god may send, you are condemning Pakistan to a definite extinction. Pakistanis must sort these things out before it is too late.

Re: # 105
mystic...
They deserve that...
Govt. was not monitoring their performance for long time, ans so they have no right to put the burden on employees...
With rising oil prices and economic slowdown, I am sure, private players will not be interested to acquire it....

Re: # 112
malik...
feudalism still exists in some part of India...That is the reason behind growth of Naxalism...But, these naxailite menace is helping Govt. to weed out this problem...
I think, that may be the reason, many people of Pakistan is supporting Talibs, hoping that the society will change...But, that will strengthen Islamic system in Pakistan, which will be far worse...

Re: # 112
I think you have to understand the basic difference between feudal-dominated Muslim League that created Pakistan and the mostly-middle-class dominated Indian National Congress that led to India's independence. Nehru moved very quickly to end feudal power right after independence. Pakistan did not. Only Jinnah was popular enough with the people that he could have taken on the feudal lords to end their dominance, but he only lived for year after Pakistan's independence.

As to your claim of restoring judiciary and its comparison to ending system are both ludicrous. Restoring a couple of judges did not make the judiciary independent nor did it improve access to justice for the ordinary folks. And feudal system is far more entrenched in Pakistan than any military dictators or military dominance. Feudals touch far more lives in Pakistan than the military. Feudals own most of Pakistan.

About 70% or more of the parliament members have been and continue to be from the big landowning families in Punjab and Sind. Landowning has been the main path to begin a political career in Pakistan. And the power is still handed from father to son (or daughter) in most cases. There is no one like Yadav or Mayawati in Pakistani politics.

Would these feudal politicians ever vote voluntarily to part with their lands? They are not even willing to pay any taxes on their income.

The lawyers would never bring any one on the streets to fight the feudal system. They simply don't care for the ordinary rural folks in Pakistan. Besides, many of the key leaders of the lawyers movement themselves have close links with feudals.

And if you think a judge can simply order an end to feudal system, you are seriously mistaken about how things work in a British style constitutional democracy where parliament has far more power than other branches of government.

In the short term, only a bloody revolution or a caring powerful dictator can end the feudal system by seizing the vast landholding of Bhuttos, Jatois, Chaudhries, Makhdooms etc.

As to the economic progress, there is absolutely no question that it has been much faster under military dictators than under feudal civilian leadership. The only government that substantially raised education spending was the Musharraf government. No one before him or after him has done that.

So my advice to you is to do what you can through private organized efforts to uplift the people living under the oppressive feudal system. Eventually, there will be hope for them if we care enough to lift them out of poverty, illiteracy and deprivation.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Reference "restoration of the rights of provinces is necessary for the future of Pakistan" Malik Sahib to Riaz Sahib .,., What is the way forward keeping in view the 1940 Resolution, the Independence Act of 1947, the Constitution-1973 ,please !

Re: # 112
malik...
true (local level) democracy abolishes all these evils...
I have seen so many large land holders loosing their properties and social status to elected leaders of the lowest in caste hierarchy....
Basic problem of education, health etc. is social issue, and I think democracy alone is not the solution for this type of problem...Govt. need to invest on these sectors...local level democracry bring accountability to the grassroot level...

Re: # 111
Mr. Haq
I completely disagree. Feudalism was abolished in India without going through all that. If a judiciary could be re-installed against the wishes of the military and feudal lords, why feudalism cannot be abolished. You pointed out that the revenue collected by India is 17% compared to Pakistan's 9% for 2008-09 and tax on agricultural income and products could make a huge difference. Your knowledge tells you this must be done but you make military dictatorship a condition for achieving it. Military has ruled the country for a very long time. They did not change any social structure instead they created Taliban. Please insist on implementing what you know to be vitally important. Provincial autonomy is another bleeding issue.
I like your passion for your country but Pakistan would be nowhere without Pakistanis. Expressing the suffering of the people is a task in itself. Those who sympathise with suffering are more in numbers than those who could be spurred by a competition. Democracy and abolition of feudalism are not mutually exclusive as you present them and restoration of the rights of provinces is necessary for the future of Pakistan.
Peace.

Re: # 110
There are only two possible ways in which feudalism can end: Revolution or Evolution.

Revolutions are usually violent and hard to predict. Revolutions also bring their baggage of violent revolutionaries who behave like the Chinese communists during cultural revolution, or the Taliban in Pakistan who initially drove the big feudal lords out of Swat before unleashing their own reign of terror on the population.

Evolution is by gradually bringing human development to the villages and expanding choices for employment created through faster economic growth and industrialization. We have this seen happen slowly over the years but more rapidly under military dictators in the 60s, 80s and earlier this decade.

The problem with military dictators in Pakistan are two-fold:

1. To placate the US and the West, Pakistani military dictators try and use the fig-leaf of democracy by recruiting the big feudal lords who support military dictators in exchange for maintaining the feudal system and their own feudal powers and corruption.

2. Military dictators are arbitrary and they invoke the anger of Pakistan's selfish urban middle class that cares more for its own rights and liberties than about the rural poor living under the feudal repression, the poor who need the economic growth to increase their employment choices to escape life on the feudal lands.

So my prognosis is that feudal system will eventually end in Pakistan but it will take a very long time. In the meanwhile, those who care, such as HDF, Hidaya, DIL, Agha Khan Foundation, Kashf etc, need to step up their efforts to build infrastructure and provide education and healthcare for the rural poor, and open up employment opportunities for them by supporting small and medium enterprises with financing and training.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 108
Mr. Haq
About abolition of feudalism in Pakistan;
How hard is it?
How long could it take?
Is it harder than fighting Taliban?
If we discuss ways to abolish feudalism, would it be going into 'solution-space'?

Re: # 108
Good advice. Thank You.

Re: # 107
I am all for eradicating feudalism. But you and I know it is not likely to happen any time soon in Pakistan. So what should we, as individuals, do until the day our dream of the end of feudalism is realized? That's where we need to focus by lighting candles instead of cursing darkness. Do some good deeds on our own, contribute time and money and encourage others to do the same.
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide

Re: # 106
Mr. Haq
Highlighting the sufferinggs of Pakistani people might not be a vain enterprise in itself though suggesting eradication of feudalism did not sound like a constructive solution to you.
Instead, a competition of India and Pakistan for every issue that hurts the people might amount to a distracting indulgence.
Respect. Peace.

Re: # 91
malikrashid,
It is very fashionable among Pakistan's middle-class left-of-center liberal elite and the mainstream media to recite the endless list of problems Pakistan faces.

Unfortunately, the entire focus of your article and your commentary also remains on the recitation of such problems and you hardly ever get into the solutions space. Why is it?

How are you contributing to society by joining dime-a-dozen Pakistani critics in our land? What do you accomplish by constantly repeating what is wrong with Pakistan without ever offering any solutions and ideas of how to make it right?
Riaz Haq, PakAlumni Worldwide