The Culture of Power and Governance of Pakistan 1947 - 2008

168 Pages·2010·38.726 MB·English

by  Ilhan Niaz

OXFORD
- -
----
The Culture of Power and
Governance of Pakistan
1947-2008
NIAZ
lLHAN
OXFORD
\TNIVBUITY PUSS
OXFORD
VNJYai.SITY PA.&SS
Grur Om:ndon Srrttt, Oxford oxl 6oP
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, ro Ben 214
Contents
ix
Preface
Acknowledgemen rs xiii
Introduction
1. Imperishable Empires 20
2. Original Sins 62
3. Mandarins 89
4. Praetorians 138
5. Guardians 168
6. Oiwans 210
7. Grand Seigneurs 239
Conclusion 275
Bibliognphy and Sources 291
Index 313
Preface
Th~ Culturt of Powtr and Govtrnanu of Pakistan 1947-2008, is an
attempt to explain the decline in the ability of the Pakistani state to
govern effectively and in accordance with its own formal constitutional
parameters berween the 1950s and the 1990s. The primary argument is
that the mentality of the westernised ruling elite of Pakistan has steadily
regressed into its pre-British form in its ways of exercising power. Thus,
the state has come to be treated as a personal estate by the rulers whereby
the servants of the state have become personal servants of the powerful
members of the executive. This arbitrary exercise of power has reemerged
as a dominant norm and undermined the institutional and psychological
principles and practices inherited from the British Empire in India.
This is not a moral judgment but an empirical one that can be readily
confirmed by paying a visit to almost any government office or by
reading daily newspaper headlines. It is further substantiated by living
memory which, though rarely enamored of British rule, concedes that
the kind of routine oppression, financial corruption and violation of the
law that now characterises the exercise of power at all levels in Pakistan
did not characterise British India to the same extent. It is affirmed by
the de-classified documents and reports in Pakistan, which practically
serve as a barometer of decline from a higher to a lower level of state
morality. And finally, it is conceded, at least in private, often reluctantly,
but at times enthusiastically, by the servants of the state I have had the
opportunity to interact with. One went so far as to declare that if we
were to take away the much derided 'colonial legacy' all that we would
be left with are shrines, some palaces and a few cultural and aesthetic
refinements. The entire apparatus of modernity from democracy,
constitutionalum, the very idea that the military ought to obey civilian
authority, civil society. merit-based recruitment to public service, down
to our railways and canal , arc parts of the 'colon1al legacy.' The same
gentleman lamented that instead of trying to rationally comprehend the
nature of our tate and society we had become mired in surreal discourse
and plunged hcadJong into irrelevant diatribes.
.__. ~--------
Perhaps it is almost inevitable that when a great empire declines the given way to ideological fanta ies and the parroting of received
successor states that emerge operate under numerous handicaps. The
wisdoms.
new rulers are often poor imitations of the grand imperialists they Trying to comprehend thi proce of regr~ ion and the dangers it
replace. Their inferiority complexes, insecurities and neuroses condemn poses to the state and ociety are major objecrivo of this rudy. Unles
them ro denounce imperial traditions without a clear understanding. we begin to understand u.•hy the phenomenon of decline is o
Thus, the Maratha Confederacy and the ikh kingdom were to the gravitational in both intensity and extent, there is no hope of it being
Timurid Empire what India and Pakistan are co rhe British Empire in arrested or revened. adly, under the impact of irrational foreign tutelage
India. The difference lies in the establishment by rhe British of the rule the Pakistani elite have lo t the will and perhap also the ability to think
of law, autonomous insrirurions-polirical and administrative-that rationally about its own predicamem. ln tead, enormous amounts of
continued ro function, and the decision to transfer power co successor time and money continue co be inve ted in the rheroric of national
stares. Whereas the Timurid Empire suffered administrative breakdown security, economic developmenr, empowerment, conflict studies, civil
and territorial breakup within twenty years of rhe death of its last great society, grassroots mobili<ation and che like. The prescriptions that
emperor, the British Empire in India managed to escape the former and emerge from this discou~. such as the Devolution Plan or the Access
mitigated the latter. co Justice Program or variotu c:lectromc. governance initiatives, often
When rhe 'crisis of stare' or 'crisis of governance' or a decline in 'the aggravate problems they are originally initiated to roolve. Every few
writ of the government' is discussed in Pakistan, rarely are the years, the older panaceas are brushed aside and new ones rake their place
implications of these statements examined. To say char che quality and thus enabling one set of donor-spon ored irrationalities to replace
effectiveness of the scare apparatus has declined indicates that at some another. Wicnessing chis intellectual debacle unfold and examining irs
point in rime things were better. To lament the 'rise of corruption' in impact on the administration of the country one cannot help bur recall
Pakistan suggests that there was a time when corruption in the form of Ibn Khaldun's admonishment that 'the pas~ure of stupidity is
the privarisacion of public wealth and violation of laws was nor as unwholesome for mankind.'
widespread. To declare that Pakistani society has 'become ungovernable' The unwholesomeness of the consequences of the arbitrary and
or 'anarchic' and 'violent' is ro recognise subconsciously that this society delusional exercise of power was brought home painfully in 2007. As
was at one time governable, relatively ordered and fairly peaceful. So the final research and writing of the dissertation on which this book is
great, however, is our cognitive dissonance, capacity for self-deception based rook place Pakistan was shaken by a series of inter-related
and sophistry that we will ourselves, individually and collecrively, to developments. In Islamabad the Lal Masjid brigade effectively terrorised
reject the plainly evident in favour of the contrived. And ir is plainly the entire cicy, made a mockery of the writ of the state and precipitated
evident char when the phenomenon of decline is di cu ed in PalcistAln a full-fledged siege in the heart of the capital one residential sector away
rhe irresistible undercurrent is char we are in fact di cussing the from the seat of government. In the NWFP, the provincial law minister
deterioration of the quality, erhos and effectivenos of the institutions deprecated the devolution of power to electe~ local gover~~ents and
bequeathed by the British Empire in India. That the tory of Pakinan's warned that there was no one left in c.harge smce the abolmon of the
governance is best under rood as a journey to an earlier governing office of the deputy commi ioner and the province was sinking into
mentality. This mencality converted autonomous in cirution inro ~rvile anarchy. Karachi found itelf the -.cene of mob violence on 12 May
instrument , rhe rule of law into the law of the ruler, and obliter:ued 2007 while spiraling terrori t attacks left hundreds dead and thousand
the distinction between public and private "'eaJth and authorit}. Its · · 'd ss che length and breadth of Paki tan. Baluchistan endured
InJure aero th' · ·
legacy is rhar whereas Pakistan was a rare in 19· 7 ir gradually hearne ·1· · · by the central government even as IS mrervenuon
m• Jtaty mtervennon . . 1 f
the estate of che rulers and their officials muc.h as rhe pre-Briti h empires fail d the 'writ of the government.' The arbitrary dlsm• sa o
were estate of their imperial elites. Reasoned argument and debate have e h~ofs.ecu~e followed by a prolonged agitation led by lawyers, the
th e C IC JUSCJCC,
x Prtfaa
dedararion of emergency and purge of the higher judiciary, set the suge
for funher confrontation and polarisation. Finally, the a.ssassinadon of
Acknowledgements
~en.azir. Bh~tto on 27 December 2007 was folJowed by widespread
nottng m Smdh and the postponement of elections.
I~ their aftermath, a coalition government of former opposition
parttes led by the Pakistan Peoples Pacey has come to power. Becween
February and August 2008 the political parries launched a concerted Th~ Cultu" ofP ow~r and Govfl1Ulnu of Pakistan 1947 2008, would not
campaign against President Musharraf. After Musharraf reluctantly have been wrirren if it were not for the hundreds of conver arion I have
stepped down in August, the polirical parties elected Asif Ali Zardari as had over the past seven year wath Zafar Iqbal Rathore, a Poltce ervice
the new president. Further confrontation between the presidency and of Pakistan officer who retired as ecretary In tenor. Th~ conversanons
the parliament erupted immediately and almost brought the democratic introduced me to a great number of the concepts and ources used in
process to a premature and tragic conclusion in March 2009. In the this book and provided rare insights into the actual work.ing of the tate
meantime, the Taliban consolidated their control over large parts of the in Pakistan. I have benefited gr~atly from Rathore' wisdom and
NWFP and threatened the rest of the country with takeover, a muJtirude generosity and am profoundly grateful to him.
of military operations notwithstanding. The research and writing of Tht Cultu" ofP o"'" and Gov""anu of
The ouster of the Musharraf regime in August 2008 serves as a Paltistan 1947-2008, was conducted as part of my work for a PhD in
convenient marker for the present study. There is little cause for history from the Quatd·i-Aum University, Islamabad. The do est
optimism and the race against time may well be lost. If, however, the interaction that one normally has in the course of researching and
n~ dispe~sation is to survive, it must be understood why earlier regimes writing for a PhD is with one's supervisor. I was fortunate to have begun
failed. It ts thus that an account of Pakistan's historical experience of this dissertation under the guidance of Dr Sikandar Hayat. Regrettably,
governance accompanied by reflection and analysis may contribute to his retirement from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Department of
the amelioration of the crisis of state. History, in September 2006, eventually precipitated a change of
supervisor. Or Tariq Rahman at the National Institute of Pakistan
Studies was very generous in taking up where Dr Sikandar Hayat left
off and helped me with the first revised draft of the dissertation. After
the first revised draft was ready I had the opportunity of work.ing under
Or M. Naeem Qureshi's supervision at the Department of History. Or
Tariq Rahman very magnanimously allowed me to avail this opportunity
and thus 1 completed the o;ccond, third, and fourth, revised drafts of the
dissertation under Dr Naeem Qureshi's supervision.
In spite of a repeated change in ~upervision, I feel that the dissertation
benefited from the feedback and guidance given by three of Pakistan's
mo t outstanding ,ocial ~icnti t . I am, of course, particularly grateful
co Or Nacem Qure: hi for ecing the dis cnation through to the
submssion stage and to Or Wiqar Ah Shah, the Chairman of the
1
Department of History at Quaid·i-Azam UniverSity, for being as
supportive and emp;ahetic as he has been.
xii Pufau
The dissertation and the present volume would have lacked sub tance,
if it were not for Saleemullah Khan, the Director of the Nauonal
Introduction
Documentation Centre in Islamabad. He and his associates prov1ded
assistance and advice on finding and utilising de-classified files and
reports concerning Pakistan. The Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship,
Pakistan, provided timely assistance in the form of a fellowship in the
summer of 2006 at the University of London, chool of Oriental and 1. T HEOR.ETICAL O VERVIEW
African Studies (SOA ). This enabled me to examine reports and papers
from British India. I am therefore indebted to Oaud Ali, William The state is a major component of hi torical experience. As the
preeminent form of human political organi arion, the tate perform the
Crawley and Jane Savory for their support.
I am grateful to my present colleagues at the Quaid-i-Azam University, essential functions of e rabli hing .and u taining order and collecting
taxes. Every state mu t carry out the~ two function with reasonable
Or Javed Haider Syed, Or Tanvir Anjum, Annice Mehrnood, Rab.a
effectiveness or cl e it fail and an.uchy en uo. 'rates also h.lve to
Umar Ali, Or Farooq Oar and Fouzia Farooq for their support and
negotiate with the ocial context in which they o~rate. Of aJI form of
encouragement. My evaluators and examiners for the dissertation, Dr
the: state the: continental bureaucratic empire is the mo t widespread and
Anwar Syed, Or Ian Talbot, Or Francis Robin on, Or Saeedudin Dar,
Or Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema and Or Khurram Qadir all of whom generously for much of h~tory w.u al o the mo t me<. ful.1
In continental bure:10cr.uic empir~ the ruler either exercised universal
contributed their time, insights, criticisms, also merit appreciation.
proprietor hip over rhe land and moveable .l.SSers or aspired co do o and
As an academic with no direct experience of working in a bureaucratic
was rhus hostile co the free t~ccumubrion of private property. In chis
organisation I have had to depend on the testimony and experience of
sense, rhe enrire counrf}· was the per onal c:scate of the ruler. Many of
those who served, or still serve, the state. I am in particular grateful to
these: empires grew roo large, populous and complex for the ruler and
senior officers such as Ijlal Haider Zaidi, Tanvir Ahmed Khan, lnam-ul
his leading warriors to manage: direcrly even when they monopolised
Haq, Ghiyasuddin, Ejaz Qureshi and Riaz Mohammed Khan for their
armed force and conrrollc:d food production.2 Expansion concentrated
valuable in ight.
My friends outside academic life have also played a vital role in the wealth in the ruler's hands and made it possible for him to sustain
further territorial acquisitions1 and indulge: his aesthetic sense. The ruler,
research and writing process. Many have contributed their experiences
of cour~. did not want to hare power with the local leaders his conquest
of working in the public, private and social sectors and thus augmented
had forced into ubmh ion. lt was in this context that in the: fourth and
my per pective. Others have been endless sources of encouragement. I
am, therefore, particularly thankful to Ahmed Fasih, Khurram Afzal. third millennia BC a cb of ~rvant 4 that exercised sovereignty in the
ruler's name: ac.ross the admini tralive $Ub·uniu of the: empire emerged.~
afiya Aftab, Jibran Riaz, Rukhsana hama, Mohammad uleman.
Although the details of thi class varied from one continental bureaucratic
Ruk.hsana Ashraf, Samia Khalid, Ayesha hafiq, and Himayatullah.
empire: to another, the: essential features were nearly everywhere the
Finally, my grandmother, Sadiqa Manwor, parents, Karnran and
same:.'
Nuzhat Niaz, and my sister, Nadia Niaz, provided support, enthusiasm
A most important feature was that the scrv:ants of the tate derived
and comments on the dissertation and the manuscrip£. After having
their powers from the ovcreign at the centre: and enforced hi
profited from the assistance and support of o many, the errors and
· toro;hip over the country. ln the context of umer we find that
propnc: , .
omission that remain are solely my responsibility. b 2500 B 'wa the lc:ac.lcr of the bureau racy and mau1e dect•s•1 on
t h C: t'n y· n scribes and offi ial divided into over a h unuI reJ pec.•ta t••s c J
concern• g · 7 • •L- l
functions as enumerated in officia.l texts. ln F.gypt SCCJPQ were t lC
xi11 Aclmowl~dx~mtnts
instruments of the pharaoh's rule and through -Lem h" ·11 d
mam• f 4e st. 8 Scm• or officers were recruited from thU1e scribIeS cWJ .I.. r.. was ma· act A concentration of armed force, universal proprietOrship and a ruling
11 . . ...... , aspect class of servants, was complemented by a state religion or ideology.
co ~g~ was ma1ntamed at the capital to train these generalise
Agajn, while the details of this idcocratic complex varied, the basic
adm1ms~rator~, ~d enterprising young men were advised to enter the
features remained more or less constant. The ruler was regarded as either
pharaohs scrv1cc 1n this capacity:
divinity incarnate or as a reflection of divinity. The official priesthood
and intelligentsia held their positions at the ruler's pleasure. Their
In Egypt scribes were not onJy amongst the elite th,., knew it d "d
PI a m. IY · 'Be a scn·uLc. , • ran the advice, 'it S4vcs you' fro-m, roil, it •p aront ecwtS so salaries, privileges and terms of service depended upon the ruler's will.
Their principal task was to project the pronouncements and actions of
fr~m aJI manner of la~ur.' 'Be a scribe. Your limbs will be ~ledc, your b~:;;
their ruler as sublime and infallible manifestations of the divine will. 12
Will grow soft. You wtll go forth in white clotho honoured w·th -
$4] uu· ng you.• And many a senior figure in the state' included "scriIb e' CaOmUor tiers Consequently, opposition to the ruler was considered both treason and
the accumuJated tida of his curriculum vitae.' ngst sacrilege. Often the judicial officers of continental bureaucratic empires
were recruited from the priestly class. The abject dependence of this class
The_ ~hin~c ~andarins arc perhaps the most famous example of upon the ruler safeguarded his arbitrary power, provided legitimacy, and
admmtstratlve elttes and China was for over a millennium the continental brought a modicum of predictability co the administration of justice.
bureaucratic em~irc par_ccalknu blending into a remarkably coherent The theorecic emphasis on order, obedience and tradition, combined
who!c: Co~fuctan . cth1cs and ideology and Leg:tlist politics and with the reality of routine excesses and arbitrariness, promoted an
admmtstrattvc practtcc. Though the size of the bureaucratic elite varied atmosphere of intellectual rigidity and moral flexibility. Occasionally, a
from _ten thousand to thirty thousand depending on the dynasty in radical despot or religious movement would change the state religion or
qucsuon, entry into its ranks was controlled by :t competitive ideology without altering the 1deocratic orientation of state power. In
examination held every three years. Candid:ttcs were: allotted roll this event, after a brief period, the new belief system would either be
nu~bers, sat in cu~icles, and had to answer questions from subjccr.s such reduced to the status of the old having changed only the rhetoric of
as hiStory, law,_ cthtcs and the classics. The final test was conducted by power, or a competent conservative ruler would succeed and restore the
the emperor h1msclf whose many functions included that of the chjef old beliefs. In any ca e the ideocratic nature of the continental
examiner. bureaucratic empire remained essentially unchanged. 13
The effectiveness with which these servants executed their master's In more recent times various 'uropian projects' driven by 'totalitarian'
order~ determined their merit in the eyes of a competent ruler. The and authoritarian movements took rooc in continental bureaucratic
rccruHm~nc,_ promotio~, and transfers of these scrvancs wc:re subJect to states confronted with the challenge of modernisation.14 These
th~ ~ulers wtll though tn many continental bureaucratic empires a First movements, often using ideological and pseudo-scientific rhetoric, in
~tntster, Royal Council, or Grand Vizier, handled routine work. to The many ways 'represented a reversion to ancient and primitive times when
ltves, property, ~d h~nor of the servants of the state were at the mercy de1ry and ruler were one.'n Perhaps the greatest of the misconceptions
of the ruler. D1sobcdtcncc and inefficiency often entailed catastrophic spread by these movements was that their motivations and ideologies
con~ucnces and so long as the ruler was competent his servants rc:acred existed autonomously of cultures of power and hisrorical experiences.
to hts dcman~ with servility and an inordinate desire to please:. Since Sov1et Russia with Its Stalinist horrors and wastage of human life was
the ruler constdcred the entire Land his personal estate, his demands were far removed from the Marx-inspired Labor parry in England or the social
~ftc~ ar~itrary and entailed the: dispossession, enslavement, coercion, or democracies of northern and western Europe. 16 From these and other
ltqUtdauon, of m~y of his subjccts.11 In this manner the arbimry power historical experiences it appears that cultures of power bend and break
of the ruler over h1s servants translated into the arbitrary power of the ideologies but arc rarely bent or broken by them. 17 Changes in rhetoric
state over society.
2 Introduction
Introduction 3
nd rationali arion do not translate into more just or beHer The first is philosophical and examines Pakistan as a continental
overnanoe. bureaucratic empire and an administrative state in which the
The toral um of relations produced by the operation of continental predominance of the executive function i a structural as well as a
bureaucratic empiro produced an arbitrary and ideocratic culture of normative imperative. The econd uis is empirical and describes the
power that encompas_,ed the behavioral parterns manifested by the ruling actwll exercise of power by the ruling elite through the administrative
c:l in the exerci e of power and the reactions of the ruled with regard institutions and instruments. The third assesses the impact of the
to expo urc to the state apparatus. Cultures of power do, of course, vary exercise of power by the elite has upon the effectiveness, quality and
but in all continental bureaucratic empires their inherent propensity is ethos of the stare apparatus, as well as the reaction of society.
toward~ c:.xtreme arbitrarine s that proceeds from the nature of the state In terms of the theorerio.l framework everal central themes relating
it _elf. Arbitrarine , centralisation, and ideological delusions, are to cultures of power and governance in Pakistan have been integrated
retnforced by hi torical experience and broad environmental into the study. The most important are the high levels of arbitrariness
condition .
in decision-making and execution and the overriding propensity to treat
The great weakne of cominental bureaucratic empires is their over the state as a personal estate. An equally strong tendency amongst rulers
dependence on the quality of the central execucive or in more is that they treat the servants of the state as personal servants. The
sop.hi licued ca e , the ruling corporacion.11 Prolonged ~posure to servants of state, in turn, carve out their own networks of patronage and
arbitrary ru!e produce failed societies characterised by atomisation, try co achieve a measure of personal security and aggrandisement. In this
pa.th~, f1ltalt m, mutual distrust, risk-aver ion and extreme greed. Th~e environment policy making is far removed from realities on the ground
Jet.•es are ervile when the state is strong and ungovernable when the and a high level of cynicism prevails alongside intolerance of original
tate 1 \\ k. inc~ the prevalent culture of power causes both the ruler thinking and criticism.
nd hi servant:. to ce the country as a personal estate, as soon as the The empirical basis of the theorisations enumerated thus far comprises
former wakens the Ia
. uer carve out personal estates for themselves the actions, reflections, desires and reform efforts of the ruling elite over
cdcraung movement toward administrative breakdown and political the past sixty years. This elite, it must be borne in mind, for most of
anarchy.'' When a 1 h
new ru er emerges t e same pattern manifests irself Pakistan's history can be equated with the administrative elite. It is thus
.a nd che • rn-l"t"rJv bur~u cra11· c e cares are fiu sed by v.to lence and conspiracy important to discuss the development of political and administrative
~nto a mgle grand e tate. Alternately, chaotic conditions can continue habits and the cultivation of state morality during Ancient/Medieval/
•1 0r de•c ades. or centuri~ unu·1 urcnrc t· ent external force is applied by new British periods in the subcontinent's hisrory in the concext of their
1mpenal elnes.
relevance to Pakistan's governance. An important qualitative difference
exists between the British Empire in India and its development of
autonomous institutions under laws and earlier empires and the resultant
TA
IT OF THE PROBLEM tensions in Pakistan's culrure of power and governance. The roles of the
political leader~hip vis-a-vis the state apparatus, the higher bureaucracy
Paki un' ixry vear of . d d h
· b·t· 10 epen ence ave been characterised by greac and judiciary, the law and order and financial administrations, the
1m Q1 1f u y repaJt e d recourse to extra-constitutional methods, and a high military interventions in the state apparatus and its relations with the
rb• • •
eb\''l : o. a f Jtrann~ in th e cond uct o f t h e state apparatus. The main ocher arms of the executive and American/A merican-inspired tutelage
ofa rJ Ch:aCst tvf:e •o the pr Cnt ~t u d Y 1. to cxp Ia .m why the Pakistani state thus on the culture of power and governance in Pakistan act as important
at 1_.J to excrct• e po ·
ro pe · 1;:\1 d . wer •n a manner consistent with the dignity, empirio.l markers.
P ruy an ecunty of . . .
The assessments that flow from the theoretical and empirical inputs
sc:lf-incere t Th I . •t Citizens and act in its own enlightened
· e e P anauon proffered rotates on three principal axes. reflect upon the direction of Pakistan's administrative history, governance
4 lntrotlurtltm
lntrotluction 5