In Pakistan, politicians treated their constituencies as the fiefdoms, selecting their wives, sons, daughters or grandchildren as successors. The politicians have a tendency to treat their constituencies as their personal belongings, raising questions about the democracy within their party ranks and a barefaced display of nepotism, while making mockery of the democratic system.
Such decisions were made without consulting the senior members of the party. In some cases, this irks the party leadership and its workers alike but mostly the political leaders’ bow down to the judgement rather than question it.
Pakistan’s politics is surrounded by a few individuals and families, whether it is Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervaiz Elahi to name a few.
Even the sons of former military dictators, Ejazul Haq, the son of General Ziaul Haq, a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth president of the country; following a coup and declaration of a martial law in 1977; Omer Ayub Khan, the son of General Ayub Khan, the second president of Pakistan, who seized the presidency from Iskander Mirza in a coup in 1958; and Humayun Akhter Khan, son of Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan, a senior army general who served as the 5th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1987 to 1988 and also served as the seventh director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1979 to 1987, are also actively participating in politics.
Favouritism is absolutely unjust and unfair on the part of the political leadership. It is also an ailment, which destroys nations, as it provides opportunities to those who do not deserve to be at the helm of affairs and creates a sense of deprivation among those who are not only honest, talented, competent, as well as skilled.
Despite being an Islamic state, the people in Pakistan are deprived of equal rights, whereas Islam strictly prohibits nepotism.
In Pakistan, not only in politics, the same exercise is being practiced in the corporate world, where the founder and owner of a company hires his/her family members to run the affairs of the company. The only difference is that the corporate sector stakeholders do not talk about democracy but the politicians declare themselves as the champions of democracy but in reality, the case is otherwise.
The corporate sector is also prone to favouritism. Due to a less number of opportunities, the fresh graduates find it difficult to get a job, while nepotism makes it more challenging for them. It has been observed that many organisations and companies appoint staff based on their references, personal preferences and nepotism, discouraging the young professionals. Many graduates who are unable to find a job fall into despair and depression, while others turn to criminal activities to make ends meet.
Such a behaviour of the organisations and companies leaves a bad precedent and the students instead of acquiring a degree prefer getting a job through some references.
This issue requires immediate attention by all the concerned, as the potential of our talented people is being put to waste because of nepotism — something that is also resulting in low productivity and the lack of development and progress. Political advancement largely depends on the development of political parties. Without politically developed parties, the system would remain futile. Even the political systems in the developed countries such as the US, the UK and China, can see that the parties instead of giving preference to their family members and relatives, attach themselves to those senior party leaders who have diversified views.
At present, the political landscape in Pakistan is mainly dominated by three parties, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and several smaller ones with limited reach. In such circumstances, how can a system be evolved, as the resolution of Pakistan’s economic problems depend on the reshaping of politics. Despite practicing the same exercise of nepotism, India has a more developed political system than Pakistan. Nepotism is the result of an extremely strong tribal or clan mentality.
The people at the helm of affairs do not implement the laws in true spirit. Had they placed importance in rules and regulations, favouritism would not have stood a chance. Unfortunately, everyone talks about equality and gender welfare of the masses in their drawing rooms and calls for the provision of justice to all but they never bother to make efforts for the same, rather in many cases, these bigwigs were found indulged in anti-people policies. Who is responsible for such a behaviour?
It looks nepotism is a natural process everyone will avail if given the chance. Sadly, even educational institutes are also prone to this fatal disease. Despite being considered the key source of progress and development of any country, nepotism is manipulating education instead of polishing and improving the educational structure.
It is a common practice that the educational institutions also facilitate the influential people and give vacant seats to their children and relatives, depriving the talented students of their basic right to education. Not only politics, almost all other sectors have been practicing favouritism. The system has become highly corrupt, leading to a rise in criminal activities in the country, especially in Karachi. Nepotism has been part of our system since inception and plays havoc with the progress of the country, especially economic growth. It has become a nuisance for the nation.
The politicians must stop promoting nepotism in the country so that the rights of the talented people can be protected. We, as a nation, also have to stand up against this undemocratic behaviour of our politicians and fight for our rights. There should be a clear mechanism and a uniform procedure for appointments, whether in a political party or a corporate organisation to prevent such practices from resurging again.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely the author’s intellectual thoughts and do not reflect the stance of the organization.
