Listen, it’s the voice of the people

It may not be fair to lay the mistakes, transgressions and omissions of the past sixty years at the doorstep of this government, but there is no other place to lay it than at the doorstep of government. And this government, having campaigned, fought and won an election to come into government to resolve Pakistan’s ills, is in government, and the only place we can lay this mountain of explosive debris. Unfortunately, it became apparent that they not only lacked the capacity but often the will to deal with these problems, as was the case with the restoration of the judges, and as a result have added to that mountain of explosive debris.

Yes, it’s unfair to demand a cleanup of a system so corrupted and inefficient, or to expect a dramatic shift in the way things are done and have been done over the last six decades but time, everyone agrees is running out. The knee-jerk reaction of those in government is that this is a conspiracy to destroy the PPP, to destabilise its government. It’s not that, it’s frustration, and the frightening realisation that the PPP cannot see that there is no conspiracy to destroy them. They are doing a really good job all by themselves. What we need to realise is that this is not about the PPP, it’s about Pakistan. If they get it together and look beyond themselves, if they stop the whinging and playing victim and listen to the real victims – the people of Pakistan – they may actually find themselves better equipped to redeem the situation. Perhaps they should sit in a village gathering in some remote mountainous district, not a political rally but a people’s assembly, and hear what people say. Listen to their concerns, how they would like to have them addressed. Listen, rather than talk; difficult, I know but very educational.

Earlier this week I flew to Islamabad and drove straight up to Abbottabad to attend a People’s Assembly of the Hazara Division organised by the Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation. The Hazara Division covers a huge area and anyone who went up after the earthquake knows how difficult the terrain is and, due to poor communication networks, how inaccessible some areas are. All this notwithstanding, on Tuesday morning there were over three-and–a-half thousand people assembled in Abbottabad, of whom over six hundred were women. They sat on durries on the grass in a public space near the High Court, many of them had travelled for over eight hours to get there. They had come from remote parts of Kohistan and from not-so-remote but completely neglected parts of Abbottabad District.

The organisers had originally planned a jashan, to celebrate the restoration of the chief justice, which would be followed by the more serious business of talking about what next. Celebrations generally include traditional games, dances and songs, but given the horrific attack on the police academy in Lahore the day before, song and dance gave way to debate. It is an amazing sight to see close to four thousand people sitting on the ground, no hierarchy, men and women, no protocol, no disruptions. People spoke, others listened respectfully. There was pin-drop silence whenever someone spoke, women spoke as well. The session was conducted by a woman activist and the discussion centred on the expectations of the people post the restoration of the chief justice. It wasn’t a litany of complaint or a series of self-congratulatory speeches; what I heard was a clear articulation of people’s concerns. Issues that, for them, were core to the issue of restoration. These need to be addressed by government, and soon, because if they are not, then the people of Hazara Division will be swallowed up by the advancing Taliban. What are the issues? There are many, but one that concerned the topic of the day was the urgent need for an efficient and fair system of justice.

The courts do not work, and have not worked, efficiently, most matters are left to and are being resolved in jirgas and there is a desperate need for a legal system that functions for the people, as there are areas where the jirga can do nothing. A case in point being the compensation scheme for rehabilitation and reconstruction post the Oct 8, 2005, earthquake. The earthquake hit almost every part of Hazara Division and some 250,000 have not received compensation. For the rest the scheme was so flawed that getting the compensation rather than benefiting them actually resulted in them sustaining a net loss. And there was no redress of this major grievance. This huge vacuum needs to be filled by government before it is filled by those whose prescription is a ready and brutal system they call justice. A system which flogs women and men, a system that chops of heads and limbs in the town square, a system which does not believe in social and physical infrastructure lest it open our minds, enable us to think and connect us with the world. No, this is a system that seeks darkness not light, and it is only coming because we allow it to.

How are we doing this? It’s because our governments don’t listen to the people, the international media is not interested in a jashan where there is song and dance and games and dialogue. Where men and women speak out. This flies in the face of what everyone calls Talibanisation, but does it get airtime? No. In fact, as someone put it, neither does the story that another plane lands safely, only the disaster makes it. Well, here we need to stop the disasters from happening. How many more videos of young women need to be flashed around the world before there is an understanding of the problem, for only when we understand can we work on resolution. Once we see it for what it is, not just a war of extremists, it’s a class war as well. The so-called liberal political elite who saw the restoration of the chief justice as a problem now turn around with a touch of what could best be described as contempt and say now take all your problems to the chief justice. This is not only juvenile, it is dangerous. For what they are saying is, we are not here to deal with your issues. What are they here for then? Do they not realise that their very existence is threatened and they will only be safe once they take serious notice of the problem, stop playing the soft-image game and roll up their sleeves to start tackling this in earnest. Let the chief justice do his work, he has much to do. You do yours and we will be right behind you. Ranting on television is not the answer. Yes, the problems are not of your making, but you have undertaken to resolve them, and the more you procrastinate the worse it becomes. So it’s time for you to listen.

We need to take these voices to Islamabad, to those who should, and need to, hear them. And Islamabad needs to come out to these People’s Assemblies and listen.

So listen to the voice of the people and hear it, for it could be what will save Pakistan.