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The News International
June 14, 2005
Privatisation at gunpoint
Muddassir Rizvi
The deployment of the army at the installations of Pakistan
Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) all over the country to
crush workers protesting against its privatisation is the worst
manifestation of the oppressive nature of the Pakistani state. The
state has zero tolerance for democratic processes especially when
they start to yield results that go against its determined notions of
national interest. At a time when the government is making big and
bold claims of ushering in an era of true democracy, the events at
the PTCL only indicate at the hollowness of its much-repeated
pronouncements.
Whatever is happening at PTCL is simply a demonstration of the
state's capability to use coercive force against non-violent workers
who are only exercising their democratic right to demand and protest.
The events at PTCL raise several issues regarding the nature of the
state. It is intolerant. It uses guns to settle disputes. It is
rigid. It allows public debate as long as the direction of discourse
remains within the determined confines. It sets the agenda, excluding
all stakeholders. It uses democracy only to bestow legitimacy to
bureaucratic and institutional decisions. It lacks transparency and
shies away from independent probing in controversial issues. It
relies heavily on coercive apparatus whenever its ability to
negotiate with the masses fails to co-opt and coerce the opposing
side. It hobnobs with the powerful to control the people. This is how
the state has been functioning since its inception 57 years ago and
there appears to be no change as the country enters the 21st century.
The jargon and rhetoric may have changed, but the style of working
remains the same.
The PTCL fiasco is another reminder of the oppressive state that
continues to curb pluralism and refuses to act as a neutral umpire.
It is not surprising that democracy in the country fails to take
roots when processes that build public confidence in their political
potentialities are ruthlessly restrained. In a country where people
are fast losing trust in the political processes, the use of brute
force at PTCL may dampen whatever little energies that are left in
the workers' dying movement that provides the scaffolding for
democracy. Such coercion may yet trigger mass agitation leading to
the kind of instability which will itself keep the investors at bay.
If the state has to use a gun to subdue genuine voices of 65,000
workers, how can it expect the polity to be tolerant and democratic?
Democracy cannot be nurtured under the shadow of gun and uniforms.
Unfortunately, the coercive apparatus of the State this time is being
utilised to violently push the process of privatisation and that too
in favour of the foreign entities keen to buy off a state asset,
which yields profits and carries an impressive portfolio.
But what is more unfortunate is the fact that the capitalist class
now has the backing of the state to serve its interests so blatantly
that it appears anti-worker. The facade of fine balance between the
interests of the capitalists and workers has finally cracked. The
Pakistani state, which according to Marxist theoretician Hamza Alavi,
was independent of the metropolitan and domestic bourgeoisies, and
also the landed elite seems to be putting on new avatar. It is
responding to the capitalist class and its agenda to the extent that
it is ready to use force to quell the voices of the workers, who are
only demanding a fair deal for state assets. The privatisation agenda
may be central to the neo-liberal lobby that has been elected to the
houses of the people at the behest of the state institutions and
their international patrons who certainly do not represent the
aspirations of the masses.
The hurriedness visible in privatising the PTCL does not only raise
eyebrows but also tempers. The government needs to do a lot of
explaining this time. What is at stake if the process is delayed
until the PTCL workers' unions are pacified and public suspicion
cleared? Their demands are certainly not too big that they cannot be
met. All they are demanding is job security and more importantly,
reassessment of the company's value, which they say is being given
away at a much lower price than it may actually fetch. The government
may like to institute an independent process for the valuation of the
corporation, engaging experts from civil society, trade unions and
opposition parties. This may yield results that may be acceptable by
all parties. The privatisation process can't continue at gunpoint.
The writer is a social activist and freelance journalist based in Islamabad
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