KARACHI: A pre-lunch session moderated by Yasir Qazi on the political character of Pakistani middle class proved to be a thought-provoking one on the second day (Saturday) of the 11th Karachi Literature Festival.

Asad Sayeed said middle class is a term or concept whose definition is contested and not clear. The definition that we usually get is from Marxist literature which talks about the propertied class and the class that has nothing but labour to offer (working class). Then there is another way of defining it which is done through looking at factors such as education and aspirations of a people.

He mentioned a research in which the author comes up with categories such as education and income levels of a people to define it. If one was to transpose that study to the present-day Pakistan, the middle class comprises 40 million to 60m, one-fourth, of the total population, whereas 70 per cent comes from the working class segment. Then there are further gradations such as upper middle class, middle-middle class and lower middle class, the last one being the most vulnerable.

Dr Huma Baqai said as per a World Bank report some 42pc of the country’s population falls into that category. Then there are two groups — the old middle class, which has the Ayub Khan nostalgia of a more secularist society; and the new middle class associated with Ziaul Haq’s rule where religiosity crept into that section. No political party in Pakistan, she pointed out, can win an election on a secular agenda. The PPP had to align itself with religious factions, the PML has always been a centrist party and Imran Khan won the election by pitching the Riasat-i-Madina idea. She highlighted the fact that now Pakistan’s 60pc population is under 35 years of age.

‘Democracy is in decline all over the world’

Ghazi Salahuddin said democracy is in decline all over the world. It’s a depressing scenario. To him, he underlined, it’s the intellectual deprivations of the middle class that troubles him most. The role of the establishment in injecting ideas into Pakistani politics is a factor.

He also raised the questions: “What part can the middle class play in bringing about social change? The young ones are acquiring education but what kind of education they are acquiring?” Freedoms have become restricted. The middle class is no more powerful.

Mr Sayeed answering a question about the economic aspect of the subject said three segments of society need to be examined: businessmen, professionals (doctors, lawyers etc) and the youth. No single pattern seems to be common in them vis-à-vis politics. Pakistan’s politics has always been ethnic-based. In the 1970 elections, the ruling elite of Punjab at a certain level aligned itself with the working class, but in Karachi people voted for religious parties. In 2018, Punjab’s traders were with the PML-N and in Karachi they opted for the PTI over the MQM.

Ms Baqai said Pakistani middle class is selfish. She gave the example of the MQM which she argued has always been with the establishment because it feels comfortable with the status quo. The establishment fragments the sections of society that try to be vocal, she added, giving the example of the media.

Mr Salahuddin said the status quo will not remain tenable. “Who will be able to preserve it?” The fact that public universities are awarding degrees without much attention points to the intellectual deprivations that society is faced with. The establishment’s arrangement is not working. State power cannot control the wave of change. The question is whether we will be able to move away from the narrative of a security state. He lamented: “The middle class does not have the capacity to steer any possible social change.”

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2020