Thomas Hobbs in his book “Leviathan” argued for a social contract between an all-powerful sovereign and the population of a country through which the sovereign ensures safety, security and well-being of the population in exchange for absolute control over the citizenry through state monopoly over violence. It is on this model that the modern state operates with absolute power and control over the lives of people, at times hindered by the inefficiency of its bureaucratic structure or checked to certain extent by constitutional oversight, but all powerful nonetheless.
Pakistan is no exception to this model though here the state provides no security to the general population and in several cases oppresses the very citizens it is meant to protect. Firstly most government departments are rife with corruption here leading to great loss for the citizens of this country. The common man is hardly spared from corruption for even the smallest of tasks such as approvals from government departments. There is also no mechanism to check corruption and misuse of authority by state officials leading to each department acting as a fiefdom in its own right with each relevant official as its king. The state basically double taxes its citizens for its basic rights once officially and then unofficially.
The laws that exist in Pakistan also fail to protect the rights of citizens and are mostly designed to just oppress them. Most of the laws have not been updated since the colonial era unlike India and thus are woefully outdated and focused more on controlling the populace as per the wishes of the British Raj then facilitating it. Our penal and civil code is still from 1868 and 1908 respectively. Furthermore the judicial system of the state is in absolute shambles. On top of the ridiculous laws that exist the judiciary is short of judges from the lower courts up to the Supreme Court. The state has failed to fill the posts of 1034 civil judges and a few dozen higher court positions over past several years because of infighting about who should be appointed to these influential positions. There are no laws mandating that cases be deiced in a certain time frame meaning that they can be dragged on for years or even decades. People can languish in prison for months because judges are either unavailable or overloaded with other cases. Most of the lawyers and judicial officers are also not well trained and versed in law leading to courts resembling traditional “Panchayats” rather than judicial offices. Furthermore the investigation agencies such as police, FIA and NAB are only interested in political cases or in extorting money from the accused. These organizations exist only to harass and inconvenience law abiding citizens with no ability to convict actual offenders after dragging on cases for years on end. To top it all off absurd laws like the PECA act 2020 exist in this country which in the name of protecting the sanctity of certain institutions only cover up their crimes and inefficiencies and stifle progress.
So how can citizens be protected from a state that has gone rogue and broken the social contract? The first and biggest defence against violation of anyone’s rights is the judiciary of a country. The people of Pakistan fought hard in 2007 for a strong and independent judiciary. Since then it has largely failed to deliver on any front and thus a new movement is required to reform the judiciary and the relevant prosecution agencies by addressing the above mentioned issues so that they can function without draconian consequences for the citizens. People from all walks of life must unite and push parliament and its members to reform our laws and increase judiciary’s capacity to dispense justice in a timely manner. The various bar councils should also play their role by suggesting mechanisms that ensure transparent and fair trials. Best practices from the rest of the world can be assimilated in our laws and judicial culture in order to achieve this goal. The police reforms of Georgia in 2003 and the Dutch penal code and judicial rules are a good example that we can emulate.
If we study western civil rights movements we will realize that all the rights we enjoy today have been achieved through grass root level movements that sprang up organically and were not created by a particular political party or person. This is not to say that these movements did not have leaders, rather that those leaders were not the creator of the movement but only a driving force since they too had suffered injustice at the hands of the state. If it wasn’t them leading the strikes, advocating and protesting/fighting against state oppression then it would have just been someone else. Furthermore none of these leaders were fighting to get a position of power in order to implement their reforms rather all were insistent on relevant reforms being carried out by those in power themselves. Martin Luther king or Malcolm X for example never were elected officials yet their contributions were massive in the fight against systematic racism in the United States. The effort however came from the suffering masses and the laws that brought them peace came from the federal government through various civil rights acts and Supreme Court verdicts after a decade’s long struggle.
Similarly the people who have been on the receiving end of state oppression in this country will have to unite and struggle themselves, not for bringing a particular party to power, but for addressing the various issues that have been tormenting them for generations. Casting aside party, ethnic and religious differences and coming together on common grounds against this unjust system is a necessity if ever we are to see a prosperous Pakistan. As the saying goes the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow yet exceedingly fine.
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