Pakistan Needs Restructuring, Not Elections by Ahmed Quraishi

( There is considerable merit outside the political class of Pakistan . The youth is restless and is thinking. The Following reflects the lines on which they think + Usman Khalid+)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan"”There is a reason why you can't find better alternatives when talking about a post-Musharraf Pakistan. Pakistani political parties never developed into viable institutions capable of generating leadership. And you can't blame this on the Pakistani military.

Talented emerging politicians like Babar Awan of Benazir Bhutto's PPP, Ahsan Iqbal of Nawaz Sharif's PML, and Tariq Azim of the ruling coalition, stand no chance of occupying their party top slots. In this elitist political system, party office is a lifetime prerogative passed from father to son.

The choices available today to Pakistanis are illustrative of this fact: A corrupt and failed Benazir Bhutto, an inefficient and myopic Nawaz Sharif, and between them a dozen or so political leaders with no real universal appeal. None of them is willing to make way for fresh leadership to emerge.

Pervez Musharraf was a good choice for the country. He had good ideas for reforming Pakistan and has been able to partially implement some of them in the past eight years. But where he made some successes in foreign policy and the economy, Musharraf has so far failed in using his immense powers, backed by the powerful Pakistani military institution, in redesigning the failed Pakistani political system.

Multiple power centers at the top have made the system unstable, resulting in perennial power fights over the past six decades. The current power struggle in Pakistan is probably one of the ugliest manifestations of this damaged system. This time the domestic infighting is sending the wrong signals abroad. The Indians have been emboldened to strengthen their claim to disputed territories, and the Americans are openly interfering in domestic Pakistani politics. Anyone, frankly, would be stupid not to exploit our problems.

Musharraf promised to reform and strengthen the system. His Russian friend and counterpart, Vladimir Putin, promised the same thing to the Russians and he delivered. The Pakistani strongman, however, made a mess of his political reforms, and now has almost reneged on an important element"“weeding out corruption from Pakistani politics. Amazingly, Musharraf appears to be joining hands with utterly hopeless politicians under Washington's prodding. So in a way, U.S. is becoming a cause for perpetuating Pakistan's failed politics, to the dismay of many Pakistanis.

There are deep structural and constitutional problems within Pakistani politics that necessitate the presence of Pakistani military in civil affairs for the time being. Only the military can help break the choking grip of the wealthy, autocratic feudal politicians. The military could have halped transition to democracy in slow and calibrated steps. But it has been part of the problem instead. It has been encouraging the monopoly of a handful of politicians in the country, perpetuating a troubled system and never encouraging its replacement with a better one.

Musharraf's seven-point agenda were probably the freshest ideas to come from the military in a long time. After all, it is useless to stand guard on the nation's borders when failed politics are eating the country from the inside.

The Pakistani military has not been a perfect administrator of the country. But it has certainly been a good administrator. Under a military-led government for the past eight years, Pakistan has expanded the freedoms of choice and expression in civil liberties. There is hardly any example of a free and independent media across the Middle East that matches the lively Pakistani media under the current military-led government in Islamabad.

The economic turnaround has been impressive. Pakistan today is ranked 76th by the World Bank in terms of ease of doing business, way ahead of India, for example, at 120th. This does not mean that a permanent military-led government is the answer for Pakistan. What it means is that the military has a role in reforming Pakistani politics. And it must embrace this role as a strategic objective. The reforms must be permanent and the end goal is a full democracy with clearly laid rules of the game.

Pakistan today needs restructuring and remodeling more than anything else. Elections are an unnecessary distraction. They will satisfy the international community but, going by past experience, will push Pakistan into more political controversies.The unfortunate thing is that President Musharraf failed to introduce any real political reform apart from the two ideas of creating a National Security Council and introducing the local government system.

Both are good ideas except that: One, they could be rolled back once President Musharraf is out; and Two, these two steps are not enough. Pakistan's strong military institution must use its influence to introduce the following five drastic changes to the country's political system: CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION. President Musharraf must challenge our decaying politics by giving the nation a fresh constitution. Around 1,000 people "“ that's the estimated strength of the present Pakistani political class "“ will create some noise. But two-thirds of Pakistanis are below 30 years of age. To them, future is more important than the past. The existing constitution creates conflict, doesn't reflect ground realities, and cripples Pakistan's potential as a rising power.

A STRONG PRESIDENCY. Executive power must be strengthened and expanded if we want to see a strong federal government in Islamabad. This means axing the current parliamentary system. The position of the President must be blostered by introducing a presidential form of democracy. This structural change cannot be made permanent without a strong presidency. A Pakistani president must have the power to appoint likeminded professionals in federal offices. We can benefit from the American and French democratic models in this regard.

MORE PROVINCES. We need to move beyond the current four provinces to at least a dozen or more, with more local governments. This will improve governance, create new local leaderships, weaken linguistic- and ethnic-based politics, and "“ most importantly "“ strengthen Pakistani nationalism.

A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM. Stability will continue to elude Pakistan without introducing something close to a two-party system "“ possibly Pakistan Muslim League [PML] on the right and Pakistan People's Party [PPP] on the left "“ alternating power, with a half dozen smaller parties tipping the scale on the sidelines.

REFORMING POLITICAL PARTIES. The Election Commission of Pakistan must introduce the requirement of a verifiable, free and secret ballot for the top slots within Pakistani political parties as a precondition to contesting general elections. This will rid us of stagnating lifetime party leaderships, giving a larger number of Pakistanis a chance to serve the public and pave the way for a better class of politicians to emerge.

Some would say that President Musharraf could have brought these drastic changes during his eight years as a powerful army chief and president. There's little chance of him pushing such an ambitious agenda now when he is on his way out. But this cannot be a one-man agenda. What is more important is that the Pakistani military leadership sponsors this entire reforms program and makes it a strategic objective, regardless of change of command.

And let's not worry too much about building political consensus. It would be good if it happens but it's near impossible to achieve. Pakistani politics are so divisive today that our politicians are incapable of seeing a good idea even if it hit them smack in the face.