Lamenting inglorious history in the process of nation building is counterproductive but still the hallmark of Pakistan. Few realise that advocating various past eras on policy fronts is not critical scepticism but dismissive suspicion and lethargy. Pakistan has been surrounded by countless issues including, but not limited to, inadequate infrastructure, dearth of leadership, insufficient resources, political instability and terrorism.
These critical issues remain primary threats to internal security and keep the economy at its lowest ebb, further aggravating the deteriorating law and order situation to create a complex multi-dimensional governance crisis. Under such circumstances, people get the impression that nothing is going right in this country.
Having no real interest in progress and repeating the same policies is neither expected nor acceptable from those in whom the people have reposed their faith for their continued hopes and well-being. All the same, such practices have remained an integral part of both military and democratic governments as the grim milestones of the country’s history. The public perception of governance and policy in Pakistan therefore historically revolves around both hope and despair.
Perennially teetering on the brink of war over three decades, the country is in a state of flux on all fronts with multiple issues. Pakistan ushered in 2014 with great hope for a better future. The abstinence of the generals from political ambitions has seen the first ever fully democratic transition go though the history of Pakistan, and it has elevated the hopes and expectations of the people. The nascent democratic process has also afforded an opportunity for the country’s new rulers to set Pakistan on the right track. At the same time, it needs to be seen that the troublesome legacy of the past still passes on to the current regime despite the newly gained democratic institutional changes in the May 2013 elections.
It is therefore disquieting to observe that, instead of setting new policies and organising to deal with the tough issues on ground, the Nawaz Sharif government, like the preceding regime, also responded erratically in an uninspiring manner to gainsay the advantage they had at hand. The six-month performance of the PML-N government caused widespread disenchantment among the people who obviously expected much more.
In such a topsy-turvy state of affairs, the scrupulous decisions to head up betrayal accusations against former General Pervez Musharraf will further deteriorate the situation. The government is not taking any strict endeavours to curtail crime in Karachi, there seem to be no structural changes, nor reforms in the offing, neither any strategic incentive to broaden the tax base, nor to improve the working of state institutions through better governance and stern regulatory controls.
One of my US correspondent freinds, Jim Oppenheim, sees Pakistan as “a tale of two countries” — there are two Pakistan’s today. One Pakistan is a Pakistan where the youth are progressive and modern, and have realised that modern education and secularism are the key to the progress and well being of the country. The other Pakistan is the youth that has been indoctrinated with only theological knowledge in madrassas and does not approve of a secular and progressive looking Pakistan. They become easy victims of the mullahs and religious extremists who preach hated of other faiths and sects, and do not believe in rule of law or the right to freedom of expression and speech, and the right to hold dissenting views.
One country has joined the world with sufficient affluence or capital for accessing the internet, developing relationships, participating in global media and enjoying, for better or worse, the world in English, good and bad, and expanded worlds in other languages. The people living in that country have climbed a great mountain that somewhere started with work or power and developed enough infrastructure and technology to do what it now does online.
The other country has found itself clinging to what it knows and believes, including what it believes it knows about itself and its civilisational and national mission. That world too has accessed the web but it has taken positions opposite the enthusiasm and values that produced its modern capabilities. That world wants to continue living in a perpetuated yesterday.
The two countries in tentative formation are skirmishing with one another in every way imaginable, from the bureaucracies of the state’s military down to deadly activity — assassins on motorbikes and suicide bombers — in remote precincts.
The serious dearth of leaders has been a major problem for decades resulting from flawed policies on economic, social and political fronts. The constantly obstinate stance of government and Imran Khan, a cricketer turned politician, regarding peace talks with militants is a waste of time. In this process, militants are continuing their operations on desired targets while government is on the back foot, resulting in heavy human and infrastructural loss. Presently, the government has shown that it lacks vision when it comes to Pakistan’s existential militant threat. Alongside, some encouraging but short-term initiatives by the government, like subsidies on different sectors, are rays of hope for the public.
Militancy in Pakistan is essentially an ideological war. It is entirely primitive to think that you can abolish narratives only through public rhetoric — not a piece of cake. What requires undertaking is the radical mythos. Countering radical ideology also entails that the political leadership does not bemoan the death of those responsible for killing thousands of guiltless citizens. It shows the political leadership spelling out that the most prominent menace to Pakistan is homegrown terror, and this is Pakistan’s own war, no one else’s. It intends that banned organisations are not allowed to initiate their activities anywhere in the country.
Simply deploring problems and hoping for their solution, with seriousness and good intentions, will not make them disappear. It is time to remove the blindfold, to broaden vision and realise that we must tackle our problems head on.
The writer is a freelance columnist and independent researcher. He can be reached at [email protected] and tweets @JanjuaHaroon