Re: Shahid Javed Burki on Pakistan lop sided economic growth///
Here is what the villagers think…
In Pakistan’s villages, it’s the economy, Musharraf
By David Rohde and Salman Masood Published: December 5, 2007
BADAR RANJHA, Pakistan: In a recent interview, President Pervez Musharraf challenged Western journalists to journey to the villages of Pakistan and gauge public opinion.
“The people who vote are these people on the streets in the villages,” Musharraf said, recommending a trip to Punjab, the province that holds 55 percent of the Pakistani population. “Please go around and ask them, what do they think?”
Westerners overestimate the popularity of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the main opposition leader, he said, because they only meet “human rights activists” in Pakistan’s cities. And he scoffed at Bhutto’s claim that her party would have “trounced” his party in a nationwide election.
“Don’t let anyone misguide you, form your own opinions, go to the streets and find out,” Musharraf said. “Find the common man and ask him or her about her statements.”
In random interviews in this farming village in northern Punjab, the vast majority of Pakistanis criticized Musharraf’s government, saying prices have soared during his tenure. Some said they supported Bhutto, but most expressed a deep cynicism about whether any leader would ever help Pakistan’s poor.
“God knows who will be the leader after Musharraf,” said Tariq Hussain, a shop owner in this destitute village of 2,000 families. “Whoever becomes leader is worse than their predecessor.”
Villagers said Musharraf’s government had supported the feudal landlords who rule rural Pakistan, where 5 percent of the population controls 66 percent of the land, one of the most lopsided ownership divisions in South Asia.
“Musharraf has announced he will end poverty,” Hussain said. “It seems he will end the poor.”
While city-dwellers complained that Musharraf’s dismissal of the Supreme Court, suspension of the Constitution and shuttering of independent media were illegal, villagers complained that they had driven up prices.
Since the Nov. 3 emergency, the price of wheat has risen by 25 percent, from $7.50 for 40 kilograms, or 88 pounds, to $10, villagers said. Rice has risen by 25 percent as well. Mustard oil prices has risen by 75 percent, from $1.33 a kilogram to $2.33. Even before the emergency, they said, prices had been rising over the last several years.
“Here, a poor person earns 100 rupees a day,” said Shahed Imran, a 22-year-old tea stall owner. “How can he support his family?” A hundred rupees is the equivalent of $1.60.
Pakistani and international economists agreed. Pakistan’s inflation rate was 10 percent last year, they said. While the economy has boomed under Musharraf, with 6 percent growth a year on average, nearly all of the growth has come in the urban service sector in areas such as banking, construction and stock trading. Farming has remained stagnant.
Villagers said some aspects of rural life have improved under Musharraf. More families have televisions sets. New Chinese-made motorbikes speed down the village’s rutted, one-lane road. And new generators and concrete lining have been added to the local irrigation system.
But villagers said the improvements aided wealthy landowners. The 50 percent of village residents who were landless continued to struggle, they said.
“The routine is the same,” said one man, who asked not to be identified. “The government does not make a difference.”
Expressing limited interest in politics, they said a former member of Parliament from the area had been a member of Bhutto’s party in the 1980s. But they did not know who represented them now.
Most villagers vote for whomever their landlords tell them to, they said. Pakistani political scientists have long blamed the feudal system for stalling the development of democracy in Pakistan. Winning elections depends on creating an alliance among landlords - often by spreading government favors - not by meeting the needs of average voters.
Villagers said that Musharraf’s crackdown on independent news stations had had no impact in rural areas. All independent stations are broadcast over cable systems available in the country’s cities, they said. Only state-controlled television can be seen in the countryside.
But villagers said that they were aware of Musharraf’s crackdown and that he had blocked a protest march by Bhutto’s party across Punjab. Urdu-language newspapers, which arrive one day a week, kept them abreast of events, they said. Those who read the papers said Musharraf had declared the emergency to retain his hold on power, not to deter terrorism.
“Emergency is not good in any country,” said Azmat Ali Bhatti, who runs the village’s largest store. “It’s not natural.”
Most villagers reported having only a grade school education, but they displayed a keen awareness of prices and land ownership. The economy was more important to them than any other issue, they said, adding that development will be stalled as long as feudalism continues.
“Until the time feudalism ends in our country, the situation cannot get any better,” Bhatti said. “Because of the feudal system, the woes and the problems of the poor go ahead.”
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/05/asia/village.php