After losing thousands of lives and billions of dollars in the war on terrorism, and facing the uphill challenges of floods, inflation and the energy crisis, our economy has been crippled for over a decade, finally to show dismal economic growth in a region with ever-rising unemployment. Finally there are some positives appearing that seem to be leading towards economic prosperity though it is premature to comment about its sustainability as the inflation rate has gone down significantly owing to sharp decline in oil prices, giving some relief to the common man despite all odds.
The dollar has started to come down a bit after going up to drastic levels due to political unrest, lack of public confidence and some international factors. There has also been a slight improvement in the corruption index, recently issued by Transparency International although there is much more that needs to be done on this count. At least we have some consolation for now. Our valiant army is busy overcoming an insurgency in the northern areas, one that has kept the whole nation hostage for over a decade. There are many encouraging signs coming from there as the army is about to wrap this operation up to pave the way for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have migrated from those areas for the survival of the whole nation but were never given befitting treatment due to political incoherence between provincial and federal governments.
The stock market has seen a new high that is on record-breaking note after suffering badly in the aftermath of the August deadlock. Both Afghan and US governments are expressing their willingness to extend their cooperation after realising the due importance and role of Pakistan in the region as the successful tour of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) has just concluded. The country is facing the uphill task of overcoming polio, which is still not being given due importance in its true perspective. However, when we see media coverage of only political mudslinging and blame game, there sets in polarisation of the whole political landscape. Our politicians are oblivious of all these developments and the ground realities, busy utilising everything to their benefit instead of improving performance in their own domain. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, all major political parties have some power somewhere, either in the provincial or the federal setup and have an ideal chance to prove themselves as sincere by delivering good governance. Unfortunately, this is not the case as nobody seems to be satisfied with their own position and is trying to grab a larger portion of the pie without adding any credibility to their name.
There must be some code of conduct to partake in politics based on mutual tolerance and respect for each other without going into the personal details of anyone’s life and no use of foul language against each other, safeguarding the national interest. After the meaningless spree of political rallies, sit-ins and the impasse of several months we are heading towards another stalemate: shutting down the whole country. Pakistan has already suffered colossal economic losses during the recent floods, likely to be translated into slowing down of growth in the next economic survey. There are differences between political parties and stakeholders in every country but the resolution of such disagreements lies in dialogue only; using that to get political mileage to shut the whole country is tantamount to weakening the very foundation of the state. There has to be a line between the state and the sitting government that needs to be identified while defining the code of protest. Measures such as civil disobedience, call for sending money through non-banking channels or shutting down industrial centres weaken the state and not the government.
Similarly, the use of state funds to run advertisement campaigns against political rivals is not only unethical but also against the Constitution and can be regarded as usurping the rights of the citizens as their tax money is wasted to malign others. The country is facing many uphill challenges and it is requested that all stakeholders exercise some sanity in their policies and have some pity on this nation, which is still struggling to come out of huge crises. Enough politics have been played with this country and now we need good governance as that is the only remedy for this troubled nation.
The writer is an academic and freelance columnist. He can be contacted at [email protected]