ISLAMABAD: Two of the main sessions on politics in Pakistan, held on the second day of the Islamabad Literature Festival, saw discussions veering towards certain common themes, that were summed up well by veteran politician Syeda Abida Hussain when she said: “Politics is a whole lot of headaches, heartaches and handshakes.”

The two discussions picked apart many of the headaches over current events such as the controversy over the results of the 2013 general elections as well as the rocky nature of civil-military relations.

Religion was also squeezed in, albeit by a member of the audience, who demanded a prayer for slain human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, rather than the minute’s silence proposed by moderator Rashed Rahman.

The talk on elections in Pakistan featured Anatol Lieven of ‘Pakistan: a Hard Country’ fame, Ms Hussain and academic Sahar Shafqat.

Sahar Shafqat said: “Democracy begins with elections but does not end with elections. The quality of the election is important.” She underscored the importance of continuity for improving the quality and transparency of the electoral process.

Ms Hussain said elections should remain an administrative exercise and should not involve the judiciary, as is often the case in Pakistan.

She said that after the ballots are stuffed in bags, they are taken to the rooms of the returning officers where hundreds of bags are dumped on the floor.

“With all kinds of people milling about, it is not difficult to take advantage of the melee to add or remove ballots,” she said.

Mr Lieven said the military in Pakistan had led the nation to believe that there are magical solutions which could solve their problems without gruelling hard work. This belief, he said, had contributed to disturbances to the democratic process.

“However, constantly questioning the legitimacy of electoral results also causes discontinuity,” he added.

Sahar Shafqat and Anatol Lieven at the session ‘Full of Sound and Fury: Elections in Pakistan’.

To illustrate the role played by the military in engineering the democratic process, Ms Hussain shared a colourful anecdote involving a colonel and a major from an intelligence agency who visited her once. She said the colonel asked her to run for district nazim because, in their assessment, she was the best person for the job.

“I said how would you like to be a captain again? Why don’t you consider me for the position of chief minister or president,” she had asked.

“The colonel responded that while I have the necessary training, I do not own textile mills or sugar mills so I do not qualify,” she narrated with a chuckle.

The story drew cheers from the audience. “Those who own industries can be squeezed through their bankers,” she added.

Mr Lieven said the recent by-election in Karachi’s Azizabad area was reflective of the complicated relationship between democracy and the military.

“People were looking towards the Rangers to maintain law and order and ensure that rigging does not take place,” he said.

The discussion also touched upon the politics of patronage, which has been a defining feature of Pakistani politics. Ms Hussain said that since 1985, development funds have been given out through MNAs, to be spent on their constituency, and this has led to a client-like relationship developing between the voter and their political representatives.

Ms Shafqat sounded more optimistic when she contended that the last general elections were issue-based with policy issues such as the economy and the energy crises widely discussed. She said that people’s faith in their vote resulting in a delivery of services had also been shaken by the interruptions to democracy.

Politics of patronage and corruption among politicians was also discussed in the second session, entitled ‘Politics: The Art of the Possible and Sometimes the Impossible’, with Syeda Abida Hussain and security analyst Ikram Sehgal.

Two panelists, Aitezaz Ahsan and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who were mentioned in the programme, did not attend and the moderator Farhan Bokhari began the discussion by bringing up the question of “integrity” among politicians.

Ikram Sehgal said he knew both Mr Ahsan and Mr Hussain to be people with integrity.

“Unfortunately, they have not shown that integrity when facing their own party leaders,” he said.

“I studied Mr Zardari’s speeches and not once did he mention the word corruption,” he quipped.

Ms Hussain recalled that she once asked Benazir Bhutto why she resorted to making money.

“Ms Bhutto said my mother was a simple lady and when my father was in prison, she gave everything to those who said they could save him. By the time my father was hanged, we had nothing,” she said.

Mr Sehgal then veered the discussion towards the first-past-the-post system, which he said should be replaced with proportional representation. Ms Hussain disagreed and said proportional representation would give too much power to party leaders.

“Look at what reserved seats have done to women politicians. It has made them bimbos,” she contended.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play