In 2024, even as we are aghast at how blatantly military intelligence agencies attempt to influence the superior Judiciary as per the letter signed by six Justices of the Islamabad High Court, and other trans-institutional transgressions are abundant, we also need to remember that, however unfair and unjust the trial process was --- during which the accused never once appeared in Court --- General Pervez Musharraf was given the death penalty in absentia, a punishment never implemented because the General passed away overseas. Yet it became a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court this year, to become a first-ever expression, and a deterrent- precedent to prevent open future institutional deviations? Do different individuals make a difference to how institutions are conducted?

Prospect for major change is seen as a threat rather than as an opportunity for gainful advancement. Re-structuring appears to be de-constructing one’s own validity and legitimacy. But it becomes easier for one institution to introduce reform in other institutions!

Yes, they do. From the extremities of the Reko Diq fiasco that cost Pakistan so dearly to the level-headed restraint shown by some succeeding Chief Justices, from the 11-year self-perpetuation of General Zia ul Haq that injured the institution as well as society at large to the admirable, one-term only humility of General Waheed Kakar, from the electoral despotism of Z.A. Bhutto to the truly democratic attitude and actions of M. K. Junejo: the respective temperaments, the goals, the actual actions of these, and other individuals made a palpable, though not necessarily, an enduring difference to how institutions functioned and impacted the nation at large.

Institutions have an inherent tendency to resist reform. Conventional ways of conduct become quasi-sacred traditions. Prospect for major change is seen as a threat rather than as an opportunity for gainful advancement. Re-structuring appears to be de-constructing one’s own validity and legitimacy. But it becomes easier for one institution to introduce reform in other institutions!

A classic example is the National Reconstruction Bureau during the tenure of General Pervez Musharraf 1999-2007. This writer was privileged to be a Member of the Federal Cabinet for the first year, after which I resigned due to policy differences on the road map for the General’s plan to return power to civilian authority. Yet in that first year, it was exhilarating to see how, under the quiet, under-stated leadership of NRB’s Chairman, Lt. General (r) Tanwir Naqvi, the entire edifice of Local Government could be radically re-visualized. With an elected Nazim becoming the pivot for all major departments and services --- education, health, public works, etc. --- instead of an appointed Deputy Commissioner. Here was an inherently authoritarian institution --- the Armed Forces, primarily the Army --- creating a genuinely democratic, locally accountable system. Instead of the well-entrenched Federal capital and Provincial-capital-centric edifice preferred by political parties. A refreshing new arrangement emerged. Not necessarily perfect or ideal but certainly a significant step forward in empowering citizens at the grass-roots.

Unfortunately, with the exit of General Musharraf, followed by the 18th Amendment in 2010, the powers of Provincial Governments were vastly enhanced while the powers of the Federal Government were circumscribed. But at the same time, the authority and the innovative structure given through the elected Nazim-led Local Government system was swiftly dismantled. Thus, democratic institutions --- the Federal Parliament and the four Provincial Assemblies --- demolished the powers of another democratic institution: Local Bodies. The presence --- or absence --- of individuals made both the progress, and the regression possible. With the election of a PTI-led Government in KP in 2013, the Musharraf-era Local Government system, with changes, came partially back. Which brought only cold comfort on the macro, national level.

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s bizarre, biased conduct vis-à-vis PTI illustrates how an institution within the civil Executive domain can wittingly or unwittingly help the military --- also within the Executive domain, though not civil --- deepen its influence on electoral processes, specially with the widely questioned, mysterious changes which took place from Form 45 to Form 47 in the results of the 8th February 2024 polls. At the Headship level of both institutions, the individual identities and perspectives of the respective chiefs evidently shaped the outcomes.

There is clearly a need in all institutions to improve existing mechanisms by which persons proceed to the highest levels of authority, as also the need to introduce new mechanisms derived from experience in Pakistan, and in overseas countries. So that, together, only individuals who meet rigorous, inflexible standards and tests of intellectual integrity, possess track records of unblemished professional acumen, display no signs of subjective bias and prejudice rise to command the heights of institutions, which alone can evolve to serve as the abiding, permanent framework for a nation’s fair, just and participative development. Which is like looking for angels --- when they may already be here, right under our noses. Concealed and stifled by Institutions? Let’s find them, energize them!