In truth resides the future

There comes a time when one feels frozen inside, unable to think or move. It is that time in the history of our country where everything has been put on an automatic regulator, giving an impression of movement. But this movement is denuded of substance and soul, driven by pre-orchestrated compulsions.

The recent mass convictions announced reflect the intellectual and moral bankruptcy that state institutions, most notably the judiciary, seem to be suffering from. Instead of adhering to established principles of jurisprudence, these convictions are driven by the need to punish individuals solely because they advocate for a particular cause.

The recent judgments awarded, based on evidence provided by two prosecution witnesses who were ostensibly hiding (one behind a sofa and the other under a table) in the room where a conspiracy was allegedly hatched, are simply hilarious and would not be sustainable in any independent court of justice.

However, such credible and independent courts of justice have become a pipedream, drifting further away over time as government ministers promote what they refer to as a hybrid system, where authority does not come from the statute book, but from the interests of beneficiaries that dictate how things should be done. In the process, justice always becomes the principal victim.

Such dispensations usually have a short life cycle as personalised arrangements cannot replace an institutional approach honed over centuries of work in pursuit of excellence dedicated to the benefit of states and people. Justice remains the primary foundation on which the edifice of a progressive and welfare-oriented society stands. While ceaseless efforts are invested in further improving upon the existing model, no one thinks of tampering with the substance and soul of the base on which the structure rests.

Instead of utilising the collective wisdom of the people and learning from past experiences, when individual fancies become the dominant driver in shaping the way forward, it usually boomerangs in the form of an avalanche, taking everything in its way. No distinction remains then between the good and the bad, or the useful and the useless.

Everything is reduced to becoming part of a clueless mass, which, not able to withstand the ferocity of the approaching barrage, is washed away. We have suffered this repeatedly, yet we have refused to learn from such experiences. Instead, we insist on repeating our blunders.

From a sincere foundational attempt to establish democracy which was repeatedly interrupted by toppling the incumbents, to martial law, to a system of basic democracy, to more martial laws with interludes of controlled and often rigged experiments at the hustings, to what we now refer to as the hybrid concoction — our national life span is gravely punctured with potholes of experiments which have now become gaping craters ready to suck in whatever remains of the system that we follow.

In actuality, there is nothing that can be referred to as a system. It is merely a collective of interest-seekers dictating the direction the country should take, so that their reservoirs of wealth and power continue to multiply. Having tottered this far, we are now lost in a maze of imponderables where whatever remains of this fabrication is being held hostage by the same group of the beneficiary elite who continue to insist that they have been right, and that they shall have it their way.

There is this persistent infatuation with practising the same faulty model with the hope that, this time around, it will deliver different results. Through repeated experiments, this has not happened in the past, as indeed it shall not in the future either. In this pursuit, the institutional capacity and capability of the state suffer to the point of becoming dysfunctional. The recent court decisions are a manifestation of this grave institutional collapse.

We have lived in a world of pretence for long, to our utter detriment. There comes a time in the life of a nation when people should put their heads together, take off the apparel of make-believe and face reality in its brutal entirety. That is the need of the present times. Dishing out punishments on flimsy grounds is dividing an already fractionalised nation.

History has also established that peace cannot be secured under the gauntlet of the sword. It will be secured through the exercise of reason, logic and compassion. It will be secured when people have the confidence that they shall be dealt with justly in full conformity with the law of the land. At this moment, we are far from that end and drifting further away.

We are tired. If we continue going along the current route, we are headed towards exhaustion and desperation. That is when the distinction between right and wrong completely disappears and one starts operating unmindful of the consequences. We are not very far from that stage.

The drift to current times may not have been difficult, but the journey of retrieval is going to be challenging. In this pursuit, we will be pitted against the beneficiary elite, which is responsible for stripping this country to a skeleton and leaving it by the wayside with a begging bowl in hand. This is a pitiable state that should evoke a collective response from all who care for their home, where they were born, and where they can still have a promising and profitable future. But that is not going to fall in their laps. They have a struggle at hand.

An approach reeking of vengeance will cause further division. We cannot be clubbed exclusively as angels or demons. We are human beings, fallible in our conduct. We should adopt a flexible approach, willing to examine without prejudice why we have arrived at this juncture and how we can extricate ourselves from the quicksand in which we are perched. Staying there is not an option, as we shall continue to be sucked in deeper with time.

A claim to righteousness is no one’s exclusive domain. We can all be right, and we can all be wrong. One’s greatness rests in accepting the reality without any apparel of pretence. We have worn the combat mould for long. We should put it away. A linear model is not always the best option. It must come with its shades and colours so that it appeals to a larger gathering of people.

Our raving indulgences of the past have brought us to the brink of destruction. Truth and reconciliation can pave the way to a future that benefits all. It is time to come together.

The writer is the federal minister for planning, development, and special initiatives. He tweets/posts @betterpakistan

The writer is a political and security strategist and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute. He is a former special assistant to former PM Imran Khan and heads the PTI’s policy think-tank. He posts @RaoofHasan

Originally published in The News