Ayaz Ahmed
In the discipline of international relations (IR), good governance and efficient leadership are regarded very significant intangible sources of national power. Since its inception as a province of Pakistan, Balochistan has been plagued by sinister and lingering bad governance. Presumably, almost all of the existing political and socio-economic issues of the insurgency-hit province are chiefly attributive to its deeply-seated ineffective leadership.
Good governance is a prerequisite to the uninterrupted prosperity of a country. There are a range of examples which clearly spotlight that even resource-strapped nations have become economically prosperous and militarily powerful only with the help of good governance. For instance, even though some Far East Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Singapore are devoid of required natural resources, they have still made tremendous strides on all the fronts only because of competent leadership. On the other side, Balochistan is replete with precious natural resources, but the province is still lagging far behind owing to the entrenched bad governance and brewing leadership crisis.
To impartially assess the level of good governance in Balochistan, it is imperative to take into consideration some pre-determined parameters of quality governance identified by the World Bank (WB). According to the WB, maximum participation in governance is the first and foremost precondition of good governance. Arguably, the politics in the province is quite exclusionary rather than inclusive. Dynastic and hereditary politicians have mainly monopolized the power corridors since 1970. Such powerful and influential politicians heavily rely on immense wealth and tentacles to readily purchase votes from the poor, neglected and uneducated people. Thus, the politically-educated youth barely get to reach the assemblies. Therefore, the province is deprived of the competence of the youth required to expedite the snail-spaced development process.
Competence, effectiveness and efficacy are also some ingredients of good governance. These qualities mean that the leadership possesses the capacity and capability to create result-oriented policies meant to attain maximum delivery of public services. The incumbent provincial government seems to be lacking in all of these qualities. The legislative assembly in the province is oblivious and neglectful of needed legislations, and its members mostly make unnecessary and defective laws. Most of the acts passed by the government dismally fail to meet the required demands of the increasing population. Many a policy crafted by the government results in further misuse and misapplication of dwindling cash of the province.
Impartial accountability and responsibility also play a central role in the institution of good governance. Almost all public institutions and office-bears in Balochistan are largely unaccountable to the competent authorities regarding their discharge of constitutional responsibilities. Against the principle of parliamentary democracy, the ministers of the executive departments are not responsible to the legislative body. The provincial investigative agencies and accountability bureaus are toothless to look into the corrupt practices and massive irregularities committed by the potent and wealthy politicians and bureaucrats.
Transparency and openness ensure the continuity of good governance. Both lay stress on incessant but necessary public access to information on decisions and transactions made by the government. In Balochistan, since corruption and unconstitutional measures by the government are the order of the day, the public is systematically kept in dark about the official activities of MNAs and MPAs. The people are hardly provided with any information about the substantial funds afforded to the irresponsible ministers.
Last but not the least, the rule of law is of paramount importance for the sustainability of effectual leadership. The concept of rule of law means that all and sundry are regulated by the same law of the country, and office-bearers are not treated with special laws. Moreover, whenever anybody violates the law, he is promptly punished by the same law. In Balochistan, influential politicians and powerful criminals are above the law, who possess the money and potency to escape from punishment. On the other side, powerless ordinary people are brought to book whenever they commit serious crimes.
The afore-mentioned yardsticks make it abundantly clear that good governance is still a distance dream in the province. As a result, some wealthy and mighty families have had unchallengeable hold and sway over the reign of the government and the dwindling resources of the province long enough. On the other hand, the ordinary people, consisting of more than 90 percent of the population, are purposely deprived of their due political, socio-economic and educational rights granted to them by the Constitution. Therefore, the province is far lagging behind from other federating units in the country in terms of economic prosperity.
It is never too late to bring in required far-reaching reforms in the prevailing bad governance of Balochistan. The proposed steps should include full participation of the educated youth in the government; implementation of the rule of law and maintenance of transparency and openness in all measures of the government. If the incumbent PML-N led provincial government shows further disinclination to prudently reform the ineffective and rotten governance system, the province will continue to ominously suffer more on political, socio-economic and educational fronts.
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