The real conspirators

By Ahsan Iqbal
There are so many conspiracy theories for what is happening to us that at times
it becomes difficult to keep track of them. USA, West, Israel, and India most co
mmonly get referred to in those conspiracy theories. The conspiracy syndrome isn’t
just limited to uneducated, very often educated and elite are also vocal champi
ons of such theories. If we analyze the psychology of conspiracy theory syndrome
, it can be safely said that it provides a safe refuge for finding an explanatio
n for all the negative events and outcomes, which we don’t like and about which we
are not willing to do anything in order to bring a positive change.
These theories are escapists’ heaven providing comfort, catharses, and solace to t
he pain of mind and soul. What they conceal and block is the path of introspecti
on. The believers in conspiracy theories find all the faults and responsibilitie
s with conspirators, who are villains, and view themselves as victims of treache
ry, who are innocent, hence throwing all the blame on the conspirators for their
sufferings.
The first cardinal principle of diplomacy is that each nation is entitled to act
in its own best national interest. Therefore, to expect that any other nation w
ill watch some other nation’s interest is contrary to this basic axiom of internat
ional politics. The nations may cooperate but they do so to the extent that thei
r national interests converge. Therefore, what is a national interest for one na
tion may well look like a conspiracy to another nation or society beyond its sha
red interest. In Pakistan, thanks to a long history of dictatorships, we have de
veloped a strong culture for conspiracy theories, as lack of information and dis
empowerment, become key drivers of this culture. We seldom try to analyze the ro
ot causes of our problems. After 62 years, if we are still mired in poverty, und
er development, and political instability with little sovereignty, who has affli
cted these wounds on our soul and body? Before we fix responsibility, we should
draw wisdom from history of rise and fall of nations and societies.
The literature on this subject throws many explanations for development and decl
ine of nations. Some of these factors are unique while others are general in nat
ure. The law of history is that sovereignty, prosperity, and development have ne
ither been bestowed upon nations in charity nor in aid. Dignity, prosperity and
progress are earned and manufactured by the nations through the work of the foll
owing seven factors; i) leadership and vision, ii) knowledge and skills, iii) ju
stice and peace, iv) governance and merit, v) enterprise and hard work, vi) inte
grity and trust vii) team work and synergy. No matter what circumstances nations
may face or resources they are gifted with, it is the work of the above seven f
actors that determines their prospects and rendezvous with destiny.
Where Pakistan is today and where it will be tomorrow, it only reflects the choi
ces we make as a nation. The difference between a successful person or a nation
and an unsuccessful person or nation is in its belief and outlook. Successful in
dividuals and groups take responsibility for what they are while unsuccessful in
dividuals and groups try to blame circumstances and others for their failures. T
he public discourse in any society plays very important role. It helps in unders
tanding its agenda and also drives its future. Therefore, it should be of paramo
unt concern to any society how the agenda of its public discourse is shaped. If
we believe that all our problems are due to some sinister conspiracies being hat
ched against us by others then the logical implication of this thinking is that
others are being unfair and devilish with us. This argument shuts the lens for i
ntrospection and objectivity in analyzing the past, present, and future. In orde
r to understand why we are where we are, it is important that we analyze our sit
uation in the light of the seven above mentioned factors of progress and develop
ment. The first factor is vision and leadership. Both vision and leadership are
part and parcel of each other. Leadership without vision is a journey in circles
and vision without leadership remains an abstract reality. All small and big su
ccess stories are born out of a compelling and a shared vision and a committed a
nd a competent leadership. Vision is what determines what an organization or soc
iety is going to try to accomplish. Without a clear vision any society will be p
ulled in many different directions and nullify its effort.
The story of Pakistan’s creation is itself a proof of this principle. It was the v
ision of freedom, democracy, prosperity, and social justice in accordance with t
he principles of Islam that galvanized the Muslims of South Asia to launch Pakis
tan movement, and the dynamic and competent leadership of the Quaid-i-Azam made
this dream come true. Unfortunately, after early death of Mr Jinnah, strong civi
l and military bureaucracy hijacked the state as political institutions were wea
k and in early formative stage. This led to blurring of our founding vision, giv
ing rise to parochial thinking and politics.
Our military dictators ruled for over thirty three years playing havoc with rule
of law and institutional governance in the country, which led to weakening to f
ederation and unequal distribution of wealth across regions and groups further d
enting the founding vision of state. Our judges granted legitimacy to the dictat
ors, our bureaucrats served them, and there were always willing politicians to j
oin them while the people accepted it as their destiny. Was this some conspiracy
against us or our collective failure to resist most glaring deviations from our
founding vision? The second factor is knowledge and skills. Societies, which un
derstood the importance of human resources and invested in developing strong int
ellectual and human capital, have always performed well. Development is the proc
ess by which human beings become aware of opportunities and challenges, formulat
e responses, make decisions, and initiate organized actions. This process follow
s the sequence from knowledge to inspiration to action. Human beings acquire kno
wledge, they become aware of opportunities and challenges. When that knowledge m
atures, they acquire a motivation or inspiration to translate that knowledge int
o action. No matter how great the opportunity or how dire the necessity, without
that knowledge no adaptive response occurs. In earlier stages of development, l
and and minerals constituted the principle resources for development. Knowledge
was rudimentary. Human beings were valued mainly for their physical labour. Toda
y, information and knowledge have become increasingly important inputs to the de
velopment process. All economic activities are becoming more knowledge-intensive
. In this context, where do we stand, we are rated at 141st position in the Huma
n Development Index out of 172 nations and sixth out of seven South Asian countr
ies. Our education system from primary to tertiary levels is in a mess with mult
i-class system with lowest budgetary allocations in the world. Has any country e
ver stopped us from providing our children best education and from producing qua
lity scientific research in our universities? If almost half of our population i
s illiterate and we have worst form of class based education apartheid with purp
oseless education without offering the marketable skills then who is to be blame
d?
The third factor is justice and peace. Martin Luther King said, “True peace is not
merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” Justice and peace
are preconditions for an enabling environment that can attract investments and t
alent for the development of any society. Absence of justice means no rule of la
w and without rule of law societies become jungles in which might is right, lead
ing to chaos and anarchy. Under such circumstances, society fails to produce sta
bility and order as necessary conditions of progress. If we are mired with inequ
ality, injustice, and strife today whose fault is it? In all those countries, wh
ich we call as conspirators, sitting heads of governments can be put to trial bu
t we are finding it difficult to initiate legal proceedings against former presi
dent General Musharraf.
The fourth factor is governance and merit. Governance can be described as the pr
ocess and capability of a society to set and achieve its goals. Good governance
has 8 major characteristics. It is participatory, merit based, accountable, tran
sparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follow
s the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, and the voices of th
e most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive
to the present and future needs of society. While good governance helps build c
onfidence of local and foreign investors in the economy merit recognition guaran
tees best standards of performance. According to World Governance Indicators Pak
istan’s ranking is 162 out of 179 countries even behind Afghanistan. If we have fa
iled to establish good governance in our country, according to the above criteri
a, is it not entirely our own doing and choice. There is no evidence of any fore
ign hand involved in enforcing poor governance on us.
The fifth factor is enterprise and hard work. Strong and stable societies are bu
ilt on successful economies and no economy can prosper without entrepreneurial s
pirit and hard work. There is enough empirical evidence to suggest that societie
s that exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial effort are more innovative and s
uccessful. Likewise, there is no substitute for hard work. In Quran, Allah says,
“Man will only get for which he strives”. Has any foreign country ever asked us not
to harness entrepreneurial skills of our people and to not work harder in our o
ffices, educational institutions, factories, and professions?
The sixth factor is integrity and trust. Development has two dimensions, hardwar
e and software. While physical infrastructure lays the foundation it is ethics a
nd values infrastructure of any society, shaping social attitudes and social cap
ital, which determines its level of success.
Following Fukuyama, this social capital can be defined as the “set of informal val
ues or norms shared among members of a group that permits them to cooperate with
one another”. Obviously the level of trust capital is key for fostering cooperati
on and comfort. Trust is developed among members of group through mutual respect
, honest transactions and tolerance. How much integrity and honesty is there in
our work and dealings? Has any conspiring nation ever asked us to indulge in adu
lteration, be unfair in measures, and not be honest in our dealings and transact
ions?
The seventh factor is teamwork and synergy. As Henry Ford said, “coming together i
s a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” High pe
rforming organizations and societies are good at transforming individual excelle
nce of their members into collective competence in a way that combined effect is
greater than sum of individual effort, which means there is harmony and positiv
e synergy in the system. It is said that in the new economy the basic unit of wo
rk is team rather an individual, which means group dynamics of nations have beco
me critical for their success. How good are we in collaborative modes? Has any f
oreign power forced us to be divided on parochial lines and not to work together
as a united nation and communities?
If we look at the above seven factors, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist t
o find out that we alone are responsible for our failures. No one is conspiring
against us as we are guilty of conspiring against ourselves. Instead of blaming
others we need to focus on our shortcomings and take responsibility for our dest
iny. This is the only way forward to become a dignified, a strong, and a prosper
ous nation. The writer is an MNA and former minister of education