Pakistan has become remarkably adept at explaining away the things that should never have happened in the first place. The latest example is the controversy over the appearance of two Grade-20 civil servants in a horse-drawn carriage apparently reserved for the Head of State during an Independence Day event. The Interior Minister has offered a clarification, but even after that explanation, the fundamental questions remain unanswered. Indeed, the clarification may have addressed the mechanics of what happened without addressing the much more important issue: why did anyone think this was a good idea? That is the real question.

If the two officials were travelling in a vehicle meant for the Head of State, and the Head of State was not present, what made them think it was appropriate for them to occupy it? Were they instructed to do so? If so, by whom? And if they were instructed, did neither of these senior civil servants possess the basic judgment to say: Sir, this may technically be possible, but it will look terrible and should be avoided? This is not really about a buggy.

It is about the culture of official privilege that has become so deeply embedded in Pakistan’s bureaucracy and political establishment that people inside the system can apparently lose the ability to see how their conduct looks to everyone outside it. The criticism was immediate on social media, where images of the “royal” carriage became a subject of ridicule and anger. The controversy was not manufactured by some sophisticated political conspiracy. It was an entirely predictable reaction to an image that, in a country struggling with inflation, unemployment, poverty and a seemingly endless demand for sacrifices from ordinary citizens, looked spectacularly out of touch. And that is precisely why the two........

© The Friday Times