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July 25, 2004
Dilemma that haunts
Why have we failed to alleviate poverty? Dr Zafar Altaf explains
EXCESSIVE pontification and advice have confused everyone about what to do. What not to do may be of greater significance. The fact that 50 years-plus have failed to remove poverty is indicative of a continuing dilemma that still remains.
What is the cause of the failure? Reason? Social Contract? Corruption? Intrigues? Feudalism? Markets? Water shortages? Industry? I can go on, for the reasons are many and the complexity greater than we will be able to comprehend unless and until a thorough analysis is carried out. The unintended consequences are beyond the comprehension of the normal government and politico-technocrat visionary. In fact, the visionary, who is the requirement of the day, has been the subject of much abuse. The result has been that the few who were working have given up.
The federal secretary, who is supposed to exercise his judgment, will not do so. The result is that with no one to interfere, the mafias get their way. To be allowed to play rough with all and sundry does not augur well for the many. Money is a powerful weapon in the hands of the unscrupulous and dirty money is even more powerful. One can now understand Adam Smith’s distaste for the “mean and rapacious”. To somehow survive until his retirement is the way that the “visionary” will operate. Let the boat sink. Poverty alleviation requires powerful thoughts and imaginative interventions, not the inanities of goons who allow the people of this country to end up on the dust heap.
Let us then look at the possible causes of failure. Reason was the first one that we listed. It is reasoning that puts a nation on an even keel. The question that would be asked of me is a natural one. What was I doing in these positions of authority? Did I fail in my duty and was I unable to discharge my responsibilities? I plead guilty as I was unable to convince those that mattered that the ultimate accountability is not for what we sit down to assess but for a larger constituency which finally determines where one ends up. The accountability to the unknown countryman is the one that is difficult to dismiss. My inability to persuade led me to take the battle and my thoughts to the print media.
Power has its own convulsions and no one can remain in power in perpetuity. One of the saner ways of understanding power is to be aware that it can vanish into thin air. As I told someone, there is only one reality in life. Asked what, I answered, “You are going to have a successor.” The second reality is that “The successor will be wiser than you.” And finally, “That successor will determine that you are the biggest scoundrel on God’s earth.” I brought this trinity to the notice of one uppity individual who was badmouthing the bureaucrats. The individual fell silent for a moment and then asked, “How do you know?”
My reply was: “I am one of the few that had a predecessor as a successor. So mine was a doubly rich experience and in Pakistan this counts. Ever since that day I have been a chastened man.”
What is the empire of reason in this country? Is it with the people of knowledge? Does the empire of reason require the perverted western style of learning by rote that develops our frame of mind? Does it require the majesty of thought and the advancement of thought so that it can reach out into the world?
Is it necessary for the reason of empire to be equated with the power of authority? Whence will our enlightenment come? From our colonial heritage, the Mughals, or a time removed from us by centuries? We have virtually no base to start from.
Come back to enlightenment as the raison d’etre of reasoning. What are the laws of enlightenment and how can they be incorporated in the legislation and governance of the country? Enlightenment brings about thought and action and transcends boundaries. If this does not happen, it is flawed enlightenment.
The roots have to be in the same intellectual soil, and should produce a common harvest of ideas and attitudes and even of programmes. There cannot be separate laws for different segments of society, and neither can these be implemented selectively. The doctrine of progress promises much and must be made to deliver. Liberation from pettiness will go a long way towards establishing the primacy of the independent mind. The humanitarianism that attacks torture, bonded slavery, poverty and war; the conviction that man is made for happiness without let or hindrance; these are aspirations that must be sought.
This means that Pakistan has to seek enlightenment from within. Can it do this? It can, provided man-giants are created, through a limitless liberalization of the mind. The consequences of this activity can be very substantial and meaningful. At partition we preached quality living and equity for all but what we practised most was inequity. The compulsions of partition are lost upon the new generation. What warped our worth and hampered the realization of our aspirations?
On what do we build our future? Reason, enlightenment, or whatever else you might like to say, but let us not diminish our strengths by doing what others tell us to do. There may be greater glory in self-functioning and self-reliance. You may disagree and with good reason but I too have my own arguments. The empire of reason sees no reason to not let me reason it out with those that do not want to reason.
Governance is in the thought process. It is neither in the rules nor in the regulations nor in all those silly things that supposedly superior beings keep on telling you. They will tell you how to be transparent, how to be consultative, how to establish a dialogue. That is all very well, but ultimately the crux of the matter is how the individual sees his own role in the entire situation; how his actions will be perceived by the people at large and by himself (himself because he must draw satisfaction from his work). His contentment is important. I have always looked at this contentment as reflected by the degree of cribbing that goes on. The more the cribbers the worse it is for self-contentment. Call it a proxy indicator but it can be used as a barometer.
This is rather complicated by itself, firstly because the individual seldom analyzes himself. Secondly, the environment is a very large canvas. It is impossible to work your own mind into everything that is happening. That is why the quest for trust, not loyalty, is so pertinent. Loyalty is now an obsolete word and it has even begun to emit a stench. It is a canine virtue. It is up to you to be four-legged if you want. Trust, rather than loyalty, is what is important.
The majesty of thought works only when there is right diagnosis. That is the first step. Then comes the devising of a prescription for the malady. That is a judgment call. The judgment call is to be linked with the working aristocracy. The working aristocracy must take a new oath, must understand the money alone is not the symbol either of man’s success or of man’s duty to man. The essential element of this change is reform that is inclusive of everyone, from top to bottom. If Pakistan is to be reformed it will have to be through this thought process. Pakistan should not be habitable for the chronically unreformed. Infatuated mortals, what are you doing to this land? The rights of men have been abrogated by men and of Muslims by Muslims. If you do not look out the cries audible in heaven will also be heard in Pakistan. Those in governance are in the driving seat. It is they who must provide the government and guidance, not non-governance.
The above pertains to the working aristocracy. What of the idle aristocracy, those who happily consume the rents of the labour and sweat of others? They may be the landed aristocracy or the manufacturing aristocracy or those who think they have the right to every aspect of life whilst the poor do not have the right even to survive. The poor farmer stands alone, stupefied and speechless, in front of some of the most brazen actions of the working aristocracy. This transitory class will not survive. In the paradise of “do nothings” one can see the idiots who do not understand that nobility lies in the suffering of the self for others and not in that of others for oneself. The power structure of Pakistan is one in which the nobles make others suffer.
Consider the laws of the country. It is not enough for the law to be meticulous. It must be also just. It is not enough for the law to be meticulous, just, and understanding. It must also be compassionate. It is not enough for the law to be meticulous just, understanding, and compassionate; it must also be rooted in equity and absolute truth. In this majesty of thought, how would one place the different variables and requirements? It is ultimately the majesty of that very thought which will give the individual the right to live fearlessly.
If you go back to the majesty of the Roman and Greek civilizations and the reason for their decadence then the evidence that this was caused by the idle aristocracy is pretty much evident. The country must know, as the Romans did, that the rights of the individual supersede the rights of the government, and that the evil laws of prideful men should never threaten liberty. For should this happen, then the ambitions of a few are furthered and the cry of freedom is silenced.
Excerpted with permission from
Poverty: Practical Solutions to Pakistan’s Economic Problems
By Dr Zafar Altaf
Ushba Publishing International, 194-S, Block II, PECHS, Karachi
Tel: 021-4521391
ISBN 969-8588-38-8
331pp. Price not listed
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