It goes without saying that,
for good or for bad, agreements with the IMF hinge upon downsizing. If
abandoned, the agreements might fall apart. The government has already
put downsizing on hold in its cabinet meeting on November 6.
Restructuring of the state is failing once again. The ruling elite,
being the main beneficiary of the overgrown state, will do their best to
undermine any restructuring effort.
Opposition parties usually
try to put the government in a tight spot when it follows an essential
but not-so-popular economic programme. During Benazir Bhutto's second government
(1993-96) the PML and its allies followed a well-designed strategy to paralyse
the economic activity by "Payyah Jam", "Najaat Day" strikes and other
tactics. Every month markets were forced to close for several days,
damaging the economy beyond repair.
Theoretically, the PML and
the PPP do not differ on privatisation and other economic measures needed
for economic salvation. The former government of the PPP might not have
pursued the implementation of these programmes (downsizing,
privatisation, etc.,) as vigorously as the present government, but
there was no divergence in the approach used in handling the economy. These
parties, therefore, use disaffection of different sections of the population
as political tools.
The main problem is that
the political elite do not look beyond winning the elections and enjoying
the perks that come with power. They do not take the issue of governance
seriously and mindlessly oppose every move by the government
without realising how much damage they will do to the economy, and
whether the economy can be revived even if they come to power.
The opposition always adopts the statist view i.e., blaming the government for not protecting the weak and vulnerable sections through state institutions. However, none has asked questions about the state's capacity to solve these problems.
Ironically, everyone knows
that the Pakistani state is overgrown, overbearing and dysfunctional: it
cannot improve the conditions of the masses even if it wants to.
Interestingly, most among the public fall in one or the other category
of 'statists' (believers in a strong state). Following are some of
these categories:
-- Elitist statism: Pakistan's
ruling elite have been the main beneficiaries of the state's control of
economic organisations, its ownership of different types of wealth (land
and other natural resources) and its ability to transfer this wealth.
Getting huge loans from nationalised financial institutions and then getting
them written off, or simply refusing to
pay them, is what most of them do. In the last 50 years the state has
transferred huge amounts of wealth in the form of land grants, permits,
subsidised agricultural and industrial loans for the benefit of feudalists,
industrialists and civil
and military
bureaucracy.
-- Rent seekers' statism:
Enrollment on the state pay-roll has been a source of unearned income,
known as rent seeking, or corruption. There is no other sector of the economy
where one can enrich oneself by just being enlisted in a
certain service.
-- Ideological statism: The
support of ideological statists is not largely based on narrowly-defined
self-interest (or selfishness) but it is a philosophical approach to re-engineer
society. Despite the failure of statism in many countries,
socialists and the enlightened elite still espouses that state is (or
should be) the first and the last provider. The population is conceived,
largely comprising orphans (citizens) needing parenthood of the state to
defend it from the cruel and greedy rich and to provide feed and shelter:
the state is also taken to be an employment agency.
However, the Jamaat-i-Islami, after increasing its influence in the trade unions of the state-owned enterprises has become the new champion of statism. It has consistently opposed downsizing and streamlining of major enterprises like Railways, PIA, Wapda, etc. Like socialists, it strongly believes in social re-engineering and has accommodated statism in its PPP-style populist agenda.
-- Petty statism: This manifests
itself in theft of state-supplied services like electricity, telephone
services, irrigation water, etc. This is happening when most of the people
are getting no benefits from the state in any way. Despite endless
victimisation at the hands of the state, they continue to believe that
it is the state that has the ultimate solutions. They look towards the
state as benevolent omnipotent entity that will, ultimately, come to their
rescue. They are unable to grasp the essence of the state and continue
believing that, one day, a benevolent ruler will capture the state and
use it for the good of the people.
In summary, one can say that
most of the ruling elite have a vested interest in keeping the state in
its present form. Enlightened elite, religious ideologues and the people
continue to believe in a strong state. The forces in favour of paring
down the state are weak and vulnerable. It is not difficult to win
against them, particularly during unstable political times.
It appears that the Nawaz
Sharif government, due to economic necessities and pressure of international
agencies, had begun to downsize and restructure the state.
However, because of its political vulnerability, it has started to
backtrack. Now, with the rising clout of the legislators, it will be
unable to take any meaningful action to reform any institution: it will
be opposed by one or another group of powerful political lobbies. The status
quo will continue and rehabilitation of the economy will remain a far cry.