Daily Times

Since independence, Pakistan has been grappling with a set of unprecedented challenges. Yet, it has succeeded in passing through a topsy-turvy journey – fraught with political toxicity, economic insolvency, constitutional deadlock, democratic regression, and intermittent military overreaches.

Currently, the country is standing at a critical juncture in its history because it is in the throes of the same challenges it faced earlier – except the looming challenges of climate change and internal security deterioration, which are the recent additions.

Despite the multidimensional challenges the country is facing, it has the requisite resilience and vigour to recover from the contemporary challenges when genuine and long-term reforms are initiated backed by an elected civilian dispensation and headed by visionary and forward-looking leadership.

If fundamental principles of the Constitution are abided by with full commitment and dedication, Pakistan would be a livable, prosperous, and inclusive country where the citizenry especially marginalized ethnicities and genders would get due political representation, economic security, and a life of dignity.

About 26 million children are out of school, which is a gross violation of Article 25-A.

The country’s arduous socioeconomic and constitutional crises can be resolved by availing them as an opportunity for the country’s prosperous tomorrow.

One of the main challenges that are hampering the overall development trajectory of Pakistan is the dysfunctional and distorted local government system. An inclusive and prosperous Pakistan is not achievable without effective local governments.

A robust local government system having all devolved powers with key representation of women in the decision-making process would yield tangible positive results. Therefore, if Pakistan wants to be a livable, prosperous, and inclusive polity, its stakeholders must shun their centralized dispositions and reform local governance in line with the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

Furthermore, the current brewing structural economic challenges are a testament to the country’s unsustainable and bleak economic future. Thus, for a livable and prosperous future, Pakistan should work on its macroeconomic indicators.

The underlying structural economic challenges must be resolved on a war footing. The current architecture of the elite economy and inequitable financial system should be revamped by bringing down fiscal and current account deficits, enhancing domestic productivity, boosting valuable exports, cutting non-developmental and non-combat military budget, efficiently investing in public welfare, broadening the tax base by taxing real estate and retail sector, reforming the energy sector, especially reviving IPPs agreement, switching to renewable energy sources, and privatizing loss-making SOEs.

Moreover, Pakistan would not be a prosperous and inclusive polity with a steep population growth rate. According to the recent census, Pakistan’s population has reached 242 million with a greater total fertility rate (TRF) of 3.32. Currently, we are too many having lower per capita, higher maternal and neonatal mortality rates, and lower economic growth. Therefore, to regulate and balance population growth, pragmatic and viable measures are needed. For instance, robust family planning with the engagement of all stakeholders, strong political commitment, and efficient urban planning to stop the haphazard sprawling of cities, are some of the steps to deter unchecked population growth.

Besides, the unprecedented floods of 2022 in the country – triggered by climate change – have manifested the vulnerabilities of Pakistan to climate change. It would be a livable country if it adapted its governance framework, infrastructure, and monitoring system in line with extreme weather events. According to the World Bank report, Pakistan has lost $30 billion in recent floods. Therefore, Pakistan should formulate a comprehensive climate policy and its across-the-board implementation to avoid further economic losses and vulnerabilities, especially for marginalized groups.

Also, education is another sector that needs to be reformed for a prosperous and inclusive future. Unfortunately, about 26 million children are out of school, which is a gross violation of Article 25-A.

The government should take steps to bring these children to schools and impart them updated education. Furthermore, religious seminaries should be regulated to cut the ideological roots of violent sectarianism.

Lastly, the prevailing illegal enforced disappearances, outright human rights violations, and media censorship should come to an end as these issues point out the structural flaws in our legal and criminal justice system. The state should stop the propagation of terror and harassment of progressive voices in the larger interest of an economically vibrant and socially inclusive Pakistan.

The writer is a student based in Mardan.