In the public discourse about how to put the economy on the path of inclusive and sustainable economic development, analysts have usually focused on the need for charters of economy, democracy and governance. But what is forgotten, to quote a distinguished development economist, is that the historical record demonstrates that economic and political rights make a remarkably successful problem-solving system.

That may prompt us to think of a charter of citizens’ economic, political and cultural rights that could also help define better-conceived charters of economy, democracy and governance and ensure their effective enforcement with the overwhelming support of an empowered and active citizenry.

As proposed by MQM-P, a charter of rights was signed by PPP; the latter was persuaded to agree, owing to the dire need for coalition partners for PDM to form the federal government in the face of fierce opposition from PTI. But that charter was restricted to only empowering local bodies’ representatives and sharing provincial revenues in Sindh to uplift urban areas. And the resistance to change is quite visible in the pace of its implementation.

A new wave of research on economic history, politics, institutions, culture and technology has provided plenty of material that establishes that when the rights of the local people are respected, new trades, technologies and new services happen, says renowned economist William Easterly. The opportunities created could help create a stable environment for economic development.

Power politics have divided the society, institutions, ruling political elites, and the people on a scale rarely witnessed before, making it next to impossible for Pakistan to resolve its increasing problems

While the incumbent government in Pakistan is struggling with conventional wisdom to resolve deep-seated multiple crises, business confidence is at a low ebb. According to Pakistan Business Council CEO Ehsan Malik, none of the political parties seems to have creditable plans to restore economic stability or solvency. Hit by an unusually high rate of inflation, ordinary citizens have been largely left to fend for their livelihood.

Against this backdrop, the idea of an interim technocrats-led setup for an extended period has been floated by those who expect to do the same thing again and again, hoping to get different results.

Looking at the historical experience, Easterly, in his book titled, The Tyranny of Experts, Economists, Dictators and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor, argues: “the technocratic illusion is that poverty results from a shortage of expertise whereas poverty is really about a shortage of rights. Rule by experts and dictators makes the problem of rights worse. They are part of the problem.”

Power politics (pragmatism without principles) have split societies, institutions, ruling political elites, and a nation’s people divided on a scale rarely witnessed before, making it next to impossible for countries like Pakistan to resolve increasing problems. A charter of citizen’s rights can help restore national unity, which is badly required, to come out of the current economic and political mess.

The technocratic approach ignores poverty’s real cause — the unchecked power of the state against poor people without rights, says Easterly. And technocrats confer new powers and legitimacy on the state to implement technical solutions. They think that the same power will remain benevolent of its own accord.

Pakistan’s technocratic development model adopted during the 1960s finally collapsed under its own weight. The autocratic system denied political and economic rights to the ordinary citizens and autonomy to the federating units under a political system based on ideas of a strong centre, parity and one unit. It was replaced by the 1973 Constitution envisaging a federal, democratic and egalitarian system. This constitutional mandate has been undermined by (now faltering) hybrid democracy.

Self-interest and the absence of any public good have been the norm in Pakistan’s neoliberal order, says S. Akbar Zaidi, executive director of the Institute of Business Administration.

Interesting to note here is that the Lahore High Court (LHC) last Monday set aside the appointment of a local government administrator in Punjab and all new development projects initiated by the interim setup.

According to the LHC judgment, an interim setup for continuity of public service cannot exercise powers conferred upon elected representatives, particularly identification, fixing priority and expenditure of development funds. Justice Shahid Jamil Khan also declared the practice of allocation of development funds for the MNAs and MPAs as not only against the constitutional scheme but detrimental to the norms and spirit of democracy itself.

The local governments are not trusted or mandated to undertake community-led development or their adapted plan, says Ali Touqeer Sheikh, climate change and development expert.

Top-down policy planning can’t deliver resilience at the community level. Far from leading mega projects, the Planning Commission has reduced its role to managing local level schemes and projects. No wonder, Mr Sheikh adds, it has throw-forward of at least 1,260 unfinished public sector development projects with an estimated tag of Rs6.2 trillion.

The over-centralised development model does not embrace local people’s unalienable rights as a starting point as envisioned in the thoughts of great pioneers of the industrial revolution. In 1779 the French National Assembly proclaimed that all men (here men symbolise citizens including women) are born and remain free and equal in rights that are ‘natural, inalienable and sacred’. Liberty consists of the freedom to do everything which injures no one else.

Historian and philosopher John Ralston Saul says the idea that civilisation can be led by economics is that of technocrats, administrators and economists who “resemble an old priesthood, but they think of themselves as very modern, thanks to the mass of details by which they surround themselves.” They are “aggressive on the details, passive on the larger picture.” And active citizenship goes to sleep under the weight of technocratic decision-making.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 9th, 2023