Last Friday HDF and Muslim Students Group at HSPH organized an Iftar dinner at the Harvard School of Public Health, which was followed by a panel discussion with two well known Pakistani scholars Hussain Haqqani and Hassan Abbas on history of politics and public policy in Pakistan.
It was the first time I was attending a predominantly Pakistani gathering in Boston, but some things never change no matter where we live and that is why most of the people left after the dinner and by the time we got to the panel discussion there were about 30 odd people in the audience, however, it turned out to be a good thing because we were left with a bunch of people who were really interested and actively participated in the discussion.
Hussain started the discussion with the note that public policies should be developed by the intelligentsia and feed into the political system and eventually become a part of government policies and in Pakistan it has been different where the politicians and the military rulers have made the policies leaving out the intellectuals. Hassan joined in sharing his personal experiences of working for Pakistan government and most of us were surprised to know that he was an ex-cop because lets face it 'a soft spoken academic' is not even the last thing we would ever associate with the Pakistani police.
When I met Hussain before Iftar I couldn't resist engaging into a carefully worded political discussion as we are both ex-Habibians from Karachi we are both very passionate about our ideas for Pakistan. I wasn't convinced in the short time we had but neither was he. Perhaps it was a good opportunity for him to gauge the IQ of his audience.
During the panel discussion Hussain talked further about the matters we discussed earlier, he completely dismissed the concept that the political scene in Pakistan is severally influenced by the Feudal calling it a 'myth' coined by the immigrants during the 60's to justify their inability to work with the power players of the rural areas. He also mentioned that many Feudal have lost their legislative assembly seats to ordinary people since the 70's. But he admitted that Feudal do have influence in Balochistan and the tribal leaders 'the Sardars ' of NWFP are still there, well I think that is 2 out of 4 provinces of Pakistan, isn't it? Hussain invited his audience to look for empirical studies and search for the truth. He also admitted that the 22 families of the 60's controlling the majority of economic resources of Pakistan may now have turned into a 100 may be, but their percentage to the total population is the same or even smaller.
Even if we agree with his analysis I think may be the term 'Feudal' requires re-definition or re-coining to include the Industrialists who reckon politics is just another profitable segment of their business empires and I do not need to mention any names or instances because we all know them and if anything they are as evil as the Feudal and often they complement each other in exploiting the nation. May be we could use the term 'Feudustrialists'?
Hussain did agree that bureaucracy is a problem but he blames that on the same mentality that worked to keep the immigrants segregated from the natives at the time of partition, he believes that the educated were too arrogant to communicate with the illiterate locals. I agree to this to a large extent.
Then after the panel discussion over a cup of coffee we all got down to the burning issue 'deal with the president', Hussain and Hassan both agreed that democracy is the way forward for Pakistan. I would not include Hussain's comments here because of his political affiliation I am not sure how much his comments were to be off the record, but I must say that putting one General out of uniform is not the solution it may be a way to get back to the Prime Minister house for the third time and get rid of the court cases which have been kept pending for a long time now. I guess a genuine honest leader would have joined in with other political forces to struggle and shut the door on the Army permanently telling them that the nation will not stand this anymore rather than just stripping Musharraf of his uniform, because this way he is getting an opportunity to stick to the President office for few more years and what bothers me the most is that after another couple of years another ambitious general would walk in and tell the then elected Prime Minister that he is not enjoying it anymore and that is why he has taken over!! This is the real question nobody is willing to 'deal' with.
Then I asked him, who should I vote for in the next elections, if there are four candidates in my constituency three represent Benazir, Nawaz and the religious groups respectively and the fourth one is from the popular party of Urban Sind, because personally I don't see a choice? Hussain was very clear on this that we need to analyze each one of them and vote for who ever we think is better and hence allow the system to function, and if it was not the best choice we should rectify it in the next elections and that way we will eventually develop a system of public accountability where the politicians would know that they have to perform otherwise they would never get re-elected. He believes we have to work with the system and stop hoping for a hero to turn things around for us, we should accept our current political leadership with their flaws and not expect them to be perfect unless we are willing to become leaders ourselves which obviously means sacrificing for the cause, and not many of us are willing to do that. Hussain invited his audience to join the system in any way they can and contribute rather than sticking to their 'grumbling' ways.
Theoretically, I agree to his answer because I too agree that in the long run democracy is the only way forward, it may not be a perfect system but it is a practical choice definitely better than military rule. Personally, I find myself willing to vote for and work with a leader who in my opinion is honest with the nation but none of our current politicians have convinced me on this criterion.
Despite respectfully disagreeing with some of Hussain's views I would give him credit for his oratory and effective communication style where he played with the psyche of his younger audience calling them 'grumblers' and challenging them to 'lead, follow or get out of the way' and going on to label them as a 'nation of doctors, engineers and accountants'. He was definitely in his element well aware of the fact that a portion of his audience was naïve and a portion was rather unwilling to do anything practically and on occasions he brilliantly charmed his way out of tricky points in conversation. Hassan Abbas on the other hand was very different in his approach keeping it simple and making his audience familiar with the difficulties of working in the state run system.
We also had some interesting discussions amongst fellow participants with a bright young lady suggesting that we need to revert back to Syed Ahmad Khan's ideology and focus on education and a gentleman suggesting that professionals are willing to work with Generals rather than corrupt politicians, I disagree though.
The discussion was well moderated by Salman Naqvi. All in all it was a great session, we did not come out with any definite answers of course but it was thought provoking, all credit must be given to Hussain Haqqani and Hassan Abbas for a wonderful effort.
We all must in our own capacity search for answers and may be our individual efforts will combine into a potent force eventually leading to a revival.
Far as giving up on Pakistan is concerned it would be like pulling the plug on a loved one who has been in coma for a few days, I am not prepared to do that, are you?
It was the first time I was attending a predominantly Pakistani gathering in Boston, but some things never change no matter where we live and that is why most of the people left after the dinner and by the time we got to the panel discussion there were about 30 odd people in the audience, however, it turned out to be a good thing because we were left with a bunch of people who were really interested and actively participated in the discussion.
Hussain started the discussion with the note that public policies should be developed by the intelligentsia and feed into the political system and eventually become a part of government policies and in Pakistan it has been different where the politicians and the military rulers have made the policies leaving out the intellectuals. Hassan joined in sharing his personal experiences of working for Pakistan government and most of us were surprised to know that he was an ex-cop because lets face it 'a soft spoken academic' is not even the last thing we would ever associate with the Pakistani police.
When I met Hussain before Iftar I couldn't resist engaging into a carefully worded political discussion as we are both ex-Habibians from Karachi we are both very passionate about our ideas for Pakistan. I wasn't convinced in the short time we had but neither was he. Perhaps it was a good opportunity for him to gauge the IQ of his audience.
During the panel discussion Hussain talked further about the matters we discussed earlier, he completely dismissed the concept that the political scene in Pakistan is severally influenced by the Feudal calling it a 'myth' coined by the immigrants during the 60's to justify their inability to work with the power players of the rural areas. He also mentioned that many Feudal have lost their legislative assembly seats to ordinary people since the 70's. But he admitted that Feudal do have influence in Balochistan and the tribal leaders 'the Sardars ' of NWFP are still there, well I think that is 2 out of 4 provinces of Pakistan, isn't it? Hussain invited his audience to look for empirical studies and search for the truth. He also admitted that the 22 families of the 60's controlling the majority of economic resources of Pakistan may now have turned into a 100 may be, but their percentage to the total population is the same or even smaller.
Even if we agree with his analysis I think may be the term 'Feudal' requires re-definition or re-coining to include the Industrialists who reckon politics is just another profitable segment of their business empires and I do not need to mention any names or instances because we all know them and if anything they are as evil as the Feudal and often they complement each other in exploiting the nation. May be we could use the term 'Feudustrialists'?
Hussain did agree that bureaucracy is a problem but he blames that on the same mentality that worked to keep the immigrants segregated from the natives at the time of partition, he believes that the educated were too arrogant to communicate with the illiterate locals. I agree to this to a large extent.
Then after the panel discussion over a cup of coffee we all got down to the burning issue 'deal with the president', Hussain and Hassan both agreed that democracy is the way forward for Pakistan. I would not include Hussain's comments here because of his political affiliation I am not sure how much his comments were to be off the record, but I must say that putting one General out of uniform is not the solution it may be a way to get back to the Prime Minister house for the third time and get rid of the court cases which have been kept pending for a long time now. I guess a genuine honest leader would have joined in with other political forces to struggle and shut the door on the Army permanently telling them that the nation will not stand this anymore rather than just stripping Musharraf of his uniform, because this way he is getting an opportunity to stick to the President office for few more years and what bothers me the most is that after another couple of years another ambitious general would walk in and tell the then elected Prime Minister that he is not enjoying it anymore and that is why he has taken over!! This is the real question nobody is willing to 'deal' with.
Then I asked him, who should I vote for in the next elections, if there are four candidates in my constituency three represent Benazir, Nawaz and the religious groups respectively and the fourth one is from the popular party of Urban Sind, because personally I don't see a choice? Hussain was very clear on this that we need to analyze each one of them and vote for who ever we think is better and hence allow the system to function, and if it was not the best choice we should rectify it in the next elections and that way we will eventually develop a system of public accountability where the politicians would know that they have to perform otherwise they would never get re-elected. He believes we have to work with the system and stop hoping for a hero to turn things around for us, we should accept our current political leadership with their flaws and not expect them to be perfect unless we are willing to become leaders ourselves which obviously means sacrificing for the cause, and not many of us are willing to do that. Hussain invited his audience to join the system in any way they can and contribute rather than sticking to their 'grumbling' ways.
Theoretically, I agree to his answer because I too agree that in the long run democracy is the only way forward, it may not be a perfect system but it is a practical choice definitely better than military rule. Personally, I find myself willing to vote for and work with a leader who in my opinion is honest with the nation but none of our current politicians have convinced me on this criterion.
Despite respectfully disagreeing with some of Hussain's views I would give him credit for his oratory and effective communication style where he played with the psyche of his younger audience calling them 'grumblers' and challenging them to 'lead, follow or get out of the way' and going on to label them as a 'nation of doctors, engineers and accountants'. He was definitely in his element well aware of the fact that a portion of his audience was naïve and a portion was rather unwilling to do anything practically and on occasions he brilliantly charmed his way out of tricky points in conversation. Hassan Abbas on the other hand was very different in his approach keeping it simple and making his audience familiar with the difficulties of working in the state run system.
We also had some interesting discussions amongst fellow participants with a bright young lady suggesting that we need to revert back to Syed Ahmad Khan's ideology and focus on education and a gentleman suggesting that professionals are willing to work with Generals rather than corrupt politicians, I disagree though.
The discussion was well moderated by Salman Naqvi. All in all it was a great session, we did not come out with any definite answers of course but it was thought provoking, all credit must be given to Hussain Haqqani and Hassan Abbas for a wonderful effort.
We all must in our own capacity search for answers and may be our individual efforts will combine into a potent force eventually leading to a revival.
Far as giving up on Pakistan is concerned it would be like pulling the plug on a loved one who has been in coma for a few days, I am not prepared to do that, are you?
