Source: Dawn

By Irfan Hussain

I HAVE often wondered why the people of Pakistan put up with all the awful stuff they endure on a daily basis.

Why don’t they rise up in protest against the incompetence and corruption rampant in the country? The state provides virtually nothing in the way of basic education and health; 84pc of Pakistanis have no access to clean drinking water; and the populace is at constant risk from terrorists and criminals.

So why aren’t people out on the streets to demand decent governance? I suspect our bovine acceptance of whatever our leaders dish out is due largely to the fatalism that has long held the subcontinent in its iron grip.

When a child dies in a hospital due to a botched procedure or sloppy nursing, its parents console themselves by looking towards heaven, saying, “Allah ki marzi” or “It was God’s will”. Thus, rotten medical care remains the norm as doctors and nurses know their blunders will go unremarked on and unpunished.

By contrast, they would have been sued for similar professional malpractice in other countries.

This fatalistic attitude permeates society, allowing policymakers, politicians, bureaucrats, cops and professionals an easy way out whenever they fail in their duties, something they do with depressing frequency. And when there’s no price to pay for incompetence, there is little incentive for reform and improvement.

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