Shaukat Aziz’s Speech: Hypocrisy at its Best

The maiden address of Shaukat Aziz, as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, to the nation was extremely disappointing to say the least. In Shakespereanspeak, it was “a tale told by an ____, full of sound and fury signifying nothing…” Shaukat Aziz touched upon a range of national issues, although much of what he said was of a generalized nature and did not indicate any new policy paradigm. He dilated on the exercise of economic sovereignty, political stability, security concerns, employment, and the development of trade skills in a growing economy. He mentioned plans to step up the pace of economic and social progress and to improve the government’s capacity to deliver. Most of what he said, had a palpable feel of déjà vu’. Because most of his high-flying rhetoric has been spewed out, since decades by a plethora of earlier Prime Ministers. The said speech was high on lofty promises, pious hopes but short on credibility. It was another attempt to hoodwink the hapless masses by ad nausum use of cliché’s.

Shaukat Aziz has been ruling the economic roost under the auspices of his mentor, General Musharraf since the last half-a- decade, but the lot of the poor has yet to be alleviated or ameliorated. He talked passionately of socio-economic development, poverty alleviation, employment generation, speedy dispensation of justice and provincial harmony; but there has been no tangible or discernable evidence of progress. One is reminded of the similar tall promises by his boss, five years ago, when the latter usurped the power by violating the constitution. To the contrary, instead of things improving, there has been a most visible downward slide in the socio-economic fortunes of the people. Instead of poverty-alleviation, despite huge expenditures, the poverty-line has gone further south. The purchasing power of the man-on-the-street has dwindled abysmally. The escalating rate of economic-suicides is the biggest and most poignant indicator of this negative reality. The unemployment indices have never been higher in the history of the country as they are now.

Let us have a look at the social justice aspect of the governance: the draconian and iniquitous “Islamic” law promulgated by the rabidly fundamentalist dictator Zia-ul-Haq are still on the statute books; even after more then a quarter of a century, and despite General Musharraf’s incessant rhetoric about “enlightened moderation. The human rights organization and the liberal press have cried hoarse about the deleterious effects of such laws on the women and minorities. But to no avail. The recent bill passed by the Parliament about “honour killings” has only cosmetic value, till the Huddood laws are struck off.

The minorities are worse than third-class citizens in the country, and the despicable Blasphemy Law is hanging like a Damocles’ sword over their hapless necks. It has claimed scores of victims already. So for Shaukat Aziz to talk about social justice without taking any concrete action, or initiating a positive legislation with regards to these contra-human right laws, smacks of sheer hypocrisy.

Socio-economic justice cannot be achieved without empowering all segments of the society, particularly the women, who form more then half of the country’s population.

Shaukat Aziz, if he really wants to achieve stability in the country, will have to eschew the politician’s rhetoric and work towards taking the state out of religion. The amalgamation of the state and the religion, since ever Liaquat Ali Khan adopted the Objective’s Resolution in 1949, and the acceleration of the process by Zia-ul-Haq in the 70’s, has spawned sectarian and religio-fundamentalist tendencies in the society. And our present travails and tribulation directly emanates from these inimical and invidious tendencies.

Only combating the Al-Qaedaesque militants, though vital it is, won’t do. There is an imperative need to reverse the state’s incursion in matters religious and political. In this regard, it would be instructive to re-read the Quaid’s speech of 11th August 1948, to the Constituent Assembly. It augurs well that this vital and enlightening speech has been made a part of the academic syllabus, on the laudable initiative of a minority member of the Parliament, M P Bhandra.

It is an oxymoron and a joke with the nation to invite the Opposition for talks on the one hand and to declare that the issue of President holding two offices has already been settled by the Parliament on the other. If this issue has been foreclosed, then for what purpose is Shaukat Aziz going to call the opposition for a dialogue? Aziz’s boss has marginalized the mainstream political parties; some of the opposition leaders have been incarcerated; elections were rigged to clone pro-military political dwarfs, who would do the bidding of General Musharraf. In this vitiated atmosphere, is there a reasonable chance of a genuine dialogue?

Shaukat Aziz is the creature of the military. Period. Therefore it is a non-sequiter to expect a democratic demeanour from him. Lest it be forgotten, Shaukat Aziz would be remembered in the history of Pakistan as the one whose government paved the way for institutionised politicising of the military and for piloting a bill aimed at making the Army Chief as the President of the country. It is the most dubious distinction of Shaukat Aziz to have allowed the re-writing of the civil-military equation on the terms of the military alone and thereby doing a lasting disservice to democracy and parliamentary supremacy.

Shaukat Aziz, himself did not become the Prime Minister through a democratic process. His nomination and election was itself product of manipulation and electoral fraud and that was why he fails to evoke any credibility. The record of stuffing of the ballot boxes reflected in the unprecedented turnout in backward and far off constituency is well documented by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, before the Election Commission.

There are also press reports that as a quid pro quo, for attaining the office of the Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz willfully accepted clipping of his wings by submitting to the supremacy of Chaudhry Shujahat in matters political and that of General Musharraf in matters of foreign and security policies.

The afore-mentioned constraints and his diminished autonomy to act are the reasons that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been asked to ensure the quorum of Treasury members in the Parliament (sic!)

A man so devoid of democratic-political credentials does not have any locus standi to initiate a dialogue with the political parties.

Shaukat Aziz’s speech was cliché’-ridden, devoid of substance, credibility and conviction. It was highly disappointing for those who were looking for substantial proposals that could make an immediate difference to the lives of the ordinary people. The official argument has been that the macro-economic fundamentals must first be set right before attention can be shifted to the micro level. But it has been five years since Aziz became associated with economic planning; and the argument is beginning to give an odious odour. It is high time that planning should now commence from bottom-up rather than top-down. It is about time that al least some tangible outcomes are visible to the people.