| March 16, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 12, 1424 |
Grim thoughts on the jobless
GENERAL Pervez Musharraf ruefully said the other day he wished that Pakistan had not been on the Security Council at this particular time. His remark was seen as impolitic by many, but it had the virtue of being candid.
Pakistan is in an awful spot at the moment. Islamabad keeps on saying there is no pressure on it to vote in favour of US moves against Iraq, but that is, of course, a lot of balderdash. The pressure may be less in the form of threats, such as those that were held out immediately after 9/11, and more in the shape of blandishments. The gratuitous waiving for a year of the so-called democracy or coup sanctions only days before a Security Council vote on Iraq is expected is the latest example of this. Instead of being warned and threatened, Pakistan is being crudely cajoled. But the pressure is there all right.
The danger is that the blandishments may go to the heads of the rulers. It is a very real danger given the entire pro-US history of our foreign policy. We sided with the western powers when the latter were trying to cripple Nasserism. It would be close to blasphemy to equate Gemal Abdel Nasser with Saddam Hussein, but unfortunately the Iraqi leader has in his own blundering way come to symbolize Arab resistance to western hegemony, thanks to the US, Britain and Israel. No one should be taken in by the sudden revival of interest in a road map for Middle East peace, with both President George Bush and Mr Tony Blair speaking on it simultaneously on Friday. It is meant to placate Arab opinion, but no one should be in any doubt that an attack on Iraq will only mean a Palestine totally subjugated by Israel. It will increase militancy on the part of organizations now backing suicide bombings, push any prospect of peace in the Middle East even farther away, and make the present Palestinian leadership totally irrelevant.
There is an even more compelling reason for Pakistan to resist US pressure. Europe or old Europe is openly challenging the US. So is Russia, and China too in its own inscrutable way. Almost overnight what seemed a unipolar world is beginning to break up into two blocs. They may not turn into ideologically hostile blocs, as in the post-World War II period, but they will certainly be competing for political influence and economic power. At that time, a non-aligned bloc had emerged to signify many Third World nations’ desire to retain their independence. We had chosen wrongly then, and should not make the same mistake again. We continue to have a certain value as a country neighbouring Afghanistan and as a sanctuary for religious extremists: the US should not be in a hurry to abandon us even if we follow a course contrary to American wishes on a vote in the Security Council.
However, we can choose Europe over the US or adopt a non- aligned position only if, beyond the immediate crisis, we are prepared to normalize relations with India. Indian obduracy is of course a factor, but we on our part have to take a basic decision about whether or not we want to end the wasteful confrontation with India that prevents both political progress and economic growth in our own country and forces us to depend on American backing for everything — from balance of payments support to military spares. Much the same logic should concentrate minds in India. Three generations down the line from independence, neither India nor Pakistan requires hostility as a means of self- assertion. Pakistan has a social, cultural and political identity of its own: it doesn’t have to have an external prop to continually justify its existence.
There may be need again for a strong non-aligned South Asia working in cooperation with Russia and China.
ONE is not trying to create a profile of an educated unemployed Pakistani young man. But perhaps, whatever the profile be, one thing would be integral to it. He would be tense and angry, or impatient, or bitter, or resentment showing in his general attitude. But this slender man was different when I met him for the first time. He was young, pleasant, cheerful, smiling as if he didn’t care; exuding an optimism that was partly infectious. His underlying cynicism, wit and realism, were in between the lines. Yes, this is Sibte Ahmed, 24, computer science being his forte but willing to consider any reasonable job. He made one think about the growing number of unemployed people in this city. And their impatience.
Have you ever realized that in the middle of our lives in our routine, topsy turvy or smooth, there are thousands of struggling unemployed, or jobless men and women? Sometimes forgotten, taken for granted, sometimes fussed over, sometimes handled with care, sometimes treated as mere statistics: even official statistics indicate that unemployment in the country is rising so is poverty. Economists, presumably, have their own peculiar concern, but some thought should be given to the psychological and sociological dimension of the unemployed in this city. lt is not just economics, there is strong emotion that goes along with it: what is the ultimate impact that goes along with being unemployed - think.
I asked young Sibte whether one could mention him in a column, and his spontaneous answer was “in a manner that would fetch me a job” doesn’t surprise really. Young men like him need jobs, and young women, educated, highly- educated or simple matriculates, for example, are looking for jobs, and finding it very frustrating and humiliating to get them. The reasons are many, and they are well known. Not enough jobs are being created in an economic climate that too is not improving as rapidly as the growth in the population.
As someone in Karachi says to us often, there is a continuous stress on making boys and girls go to school, college, university and other academic places. But do we have the jobs for them?
The counter-argument is should the population then remain uneducated, while it continues to grow, reflecting the failure of all our official efforts to make people realize the urgent need to manage their families in terms of number (on a reasonable basis). That’s another grim subject. Here it is unemployment.
Karachi, like the rest of the country, has thousands of unemployed people. In fact, people in other parts of the country, urban or rural, also look to the Sindh capital for jobs, good or even make-do types. They come here to make money, quick and easy. Legal and otherwise. They believe that Karachi is a city, cheaper than others in the land, and that it eventually does absorb the jobless. Which makes it necessary to ask: where should the Karachi educated and uneducated person go?
This is truly a weather-beaten theme, in a sense. But there is a terrible tragic side to it at the same time. An unemployed man, or even an under- employed man, is a moving symbol of sadness, or insecurity, a source of varied trouble at times, or potential trouble, a possible threat, (immediate or remote) an option of sorts.
There is an established bond between unemployment and crime, there is a known relationship between joblessness and friction, conflict. The longer the period of joblessness the more intense the unhappiness, the more prolonged the tension, and even conflict.
One feels that for all the focus there is on this subject, it is done so in a very impersonal detached sort of way. As if one is talking of water-logging and salinity or marine pollution. Or something like the future of our tourism! Admittedly it is all interlinked. But somehow the theme of unemployment is especially grim and real, and it makes one sad as one looks at today’s students at different stages of their education.
There aren’t available for them the jobs they want, need and deserve.
It was so strange to read recently that there was a surplus of dentists here and, that we should cut down on their number! Some years ago they said the same thing about doctors; earlier about lawyers, or engineers, sometimes even for other subjects like business administration. Have you realized that we have now reached a stage where a BA degree is virtually regarded as a zero? It is the individual who may makes a difference, not that degree. There is a BA LLB, and works as a phone operator.
One does not wish to focus on devalued or poor quality of our education. What is troubling is the inability of people to get jobs. And now with the way in which the world is going post-9/11 Pakistanis would find it still more frustrating and impossible to go abroad. Pause, contemplate. In many cases we have become a security risk it appears, and it is so sad. That green passport is still more a minus?
Those of us who have jobs may have realized or noticed the distrustful attitude of those who are without jobs. They resent the man who has a job and they often believe that not just life, but even society is unfair to them vis-a-vis jobs. They blame their own families at times, or family friends for failing to find them the jobs they want. Or any jobs — and it is routine to hear unemployed or under-employed people argue that only sifarish or bribe works. That merit is not enough. Merit can take you only that far, and that is certainly not enough. Merit is not even powerful to get you admission into educational and professional institutions at times. Contacts, money, and the courage to be dishonest seem to matter.
That there is an awareness emerging against these negative factors, a healthy awareness at that is something that needs to be mentioned.
But as one young man says: “Pakistani society does not dishonour the dishonest.” It is society that enables the dishonest person to go up in life, in terms of material and political power, or up the ladders of officialdom. That is tragic, said a young man who does not believe all the prosperity data that officials dish out on television channels, and meaningless press conferences.
How does an unemployed person, highly educated and unable to go abroad see the future now? What is his relationship with his family, regardless of the size and financial status of that home? How does his circle of friends treat him? How does he manage in a climate of soaring costs, how does his vision get shaped with cruelties of time?