Nepotism in Pakistan

The HIR
January 23, 2008
Nepotism in Pakistan
Filed under: National Politics, South Asia — Kiran Bhat @ 2:55 am
As an American of South Asian descent, dynastic politics at the highest levels of government is something I’ve grown quite accustomed to. As far as I can remember, a Bush or a Clinton has sat at the top of American politics. In India, the Nehru/Gandhi family has dominated, interrupted only a few times since independence. And even with its history of military leaders and democratic turmoil, the trend towards dynasty has emerged in Pakistan as well.

Under the pretense of stability, the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) quickly named the slain leader’s 19-year-old son Bilawal its new chairman. Bhutto had named her husband Asif Ali Zardari heir to the chairmanship in her will, a strange choice considering the time Zardari spent in jail on charges of corruption and blackmail (which, in fairness, he claimed were politically motivated). However, Zardari insisted on giving the official title to his son. This was an even stranger choice in that Zardari will continue to run the PPP’s day-to-day affairs and that Bilawal currently has no experience, no qualifications, and no intention of running the party before he graduates from Oxford.

All of this left the outside observer only one logical conclusion: Bilawal was appointed only to ensure the longevity of the Bhutto family’s hold on the PPP. Since the PPP is the only party to consistently mount opposition to Pervez Musharraf and realistically have a chance at beating him in a fair election, the Bhutto family’s hold on the PPP is by extension a hold on Pakistan’s democratic politics. Needless to say, Bilawal’s appointment smacked of severe nepotism.

That’s why it’s refreshing to see pieces such as this one, which features an interview with a politically-oriented Bhutto who, ironically enough, recognizes the harm that cronyism can do to the democratic character of a nation. Fatima Bhutto, Benazir’s 24-year-old niece, is currently an opinion columnist and critic of the Musharraf regime and is cutting her teeth in print and in efforts to enfranchise Paksitan’s masses before turning to politics. This Bhutto sounds like she wants to earn her way to a leadership role - and if that’s true, then who cares that she is part of a powerful political family? Fatima demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with dynastic politics per se if it means that earnest and competent individuals come to power. Pakistan can only hope that Zardari and Bilawal won’t demonstrate everything that is wrong with keeping things in the family.