COMMENT: A crisis of morality? —Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain

The emphasis both among the ruling classes and the elites is on public displays of piety with frequent trips to holy sites. Public piety has therefore replaced personal probity and as such made a mockery of the moral principles that are the underpinnings of our great faith

If our pundits of the print and electronic media are to be believed, Pakistan is going through a crisis of morality. If only we were better people, more tolerant of each other and more honest in our dealings, they say, then things would be just fine. Whenever I see such an outpouring of the need for morality I just go a little weak-kneed. And in the midst of all this are persistent cries from our more religiously inclined friends about the need to hew to the path of the righteous caliphs.

Well, first about our home of the pure. It was born in a cauldron of communal slaughter, the first few years saw people enriching themselves by claiming property left behind by the Hindus and Sikhs, illegally and entirely immorally, the culture of ‘permits’ reigned supreme, and hoarding and black marketing was the order of the day. Fortunes were made literally out of thin air using connections.

Jinnah died almost a year after he watched the country he brought into existence literally fall apart, perhaps more from a broken heart than a destroyed pair of lungs. In the first few years, we were unable to create a constitution, and within five years the first prime minister was assassinated, and soon after that the province of Punjab erupted in sectarian violence that literally brought life to a standstill with a complete breakdown of law and order.

The civilian government of Punjab elected a year earlier had already given us ‘Daultana’s jhurloo’ (‘Daultana’s magic wand’) for the election rigging allegedly done by Mr Daultana, the new chief minister. The subsequent dismissal of the elected chief minister of Punjab and the first ‘martial law’ in the life of the young republic as a result of the ‘disturbances’ allowed the army to taste the pleasure of ruling the country, a taste it never forgot.

The report filed by Justices Munir and Kayani about the sectarian disturbances in 1953 held the elected government of Punjab complicit in fomenting sectarian violence. This exposed a pattern of collaboration between the religious extremists and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League that exists in some form or the other even today. And soon thereafter an unelected governor general dismissed the constituent assembly, a matter unfortunately legitimatised by the apex court of the country.

As far as the early history of the Muslims is concerned, the religiously inclined Pakistani Muslims hold that ‘governance’ during the period of the ‘rightly guided caliphs’ is the ideal that Pakistan must pursue. The fact of the matter is that even though all the important ‘companions’ were people of great moral principles and were totally committed to following the example of the Prophet (PBUH), of the four rightly guided caliphs, the last three were assassinated while still in office.

So I must contest the idea that Pakistan suffers from some recent collapse of morality leading to its present problems. Of the people I see and work with every day, most are a decent lot trying to do the best they can under trying circumstances. Yes there is a lot of corruption but most of it is limited to the bureaucracy and the ruling classes. Rampant corruption as far as I am concerned is due to the inability or the unwillingness of the institutions that are supposed to enforce the law to do their job.

The sad fact is that most of the institutions responsible for enforcing the law are corrupt themselves and as such the law has become something that applies only to those without any money or connections. As far as the senior bureaucracy is concerned, they have once again assumed the arrogant ways they had when they represented the ‘King Emperor’ in the days of the Raj. And they can always find a new ‘king emperor’ to serve, be it an army general or an elected politician. Frankly, democracy in Pakistan will never become a reality as long as the present system where the permanent senior bureaucracy actually rules the country stays in place.

Emerging religiosity, especially excessive public piety, is also a serious problem. The emphasis both among the ruling classes and the elites is on public displays of piety with frequent trips to holy sites. Public piety has therefore replaced personal probity and as such made a mockery of the moral principles that are the underpinnings of our great faith. The rich and the powerful believe that they can do as they please as long as they show appropriate public deference to religious obligations.

But appearances can be deceptive. For all its detractors, Pakistan and Pakistanis are not doing as badly as our TV anchors and op-ed writers might wish us to believe. First, a vast majority of Pakistanis actually put in an honest day’s work and keep the country running. Second, for all the noise about the state of education, a large number, perhaps even a majority of our young people, are actually becoming educated. And third, women are also becoming much more educated and joining the work force in large numbers.

Also, it is extremely unlikely that Pakistan is going to devolve into a religious theocracy any time soon. Most Pakistanis are quite religious but are also in favour of modernisation. And many of the even most devout among us believe strongly in education and professional opportunities for women. This is obvious during a visit to any of our institutions of higher learning. A significant number of women attending these institutions go around wearing the hijab or the niqab.

No, all is not well with Pakistan. What is needed most importantly is a real democratic system, including functional locally elected governing bodies. Once Pakistan has a truly representative government, in time things just might get better. However, the one thing that has considerable significance for us and our immediate future as a country but is essentially out of our control is the situation in Afghanistan.

Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com