Article Type

Article

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IT may not be obvious but the common ground that brought protest marchers to Islamabad was a sense of exclusion from the affairs of the state. The anti-incumbency sentiment is strong because the common citizen feels deprived of basic services by the state and of job opportunities.

In fact, any disgruntled political party would be able to bring people out on the streets. We have, therefore, to look at the root causes of this deep-seated, widespread sentiment. Corruption, politicisation of the bureaucracy, nepotism, favouritism and sifarish have become the bane of society, creating a governance deficit and resulting in the declining writ of the state. The decay of institutions that provide these services is endemic.

Corruption is widely seen as the main malaise in society, that has hollowed out institutions. There are, however, laws and institutions such as the National Accountability Bureau that enjoy the power to bring the corrupt to book. Despite their various weaknesses, action has been initiated against corrupt officials and politicians under these laws.

The superior courts have also taken note of these offences and initiated suo motu action. While corruption is widely talked about and condemned, there is hardly any discussion about the more deep-rooted malaise of sifarish (no English equivalent can quite capture or convey the essence of this term that, in a general sense, relates to nepotism and favouritism). Sifarish is corroding the moral fabric of the governance structure and diluting the writ of the state.

Publication Source

Dawn

Publication Date

8-30-2014

Pages

1-2

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