It is a common phenomenon in the field of medication that a disease gets worsened if it is not diagnosed and medicated timely. The treatment has two-pronged purpose: treatment and containment in the form of strengthening immunization. In all this process the key thing to note is the timely response to the disease. This shows the intensity and sincerity of the will to do.
The same principle is fairly applied to the case of a country which is struggling with a number of issues. A country may easily make sure of its progress if it succeeds in overcoming the hurdles coming in its way. Contrary to this, a disastrous end awaits a country which is negligent and indifferent to its ill – stricken nature. Pakistan has been suffering from serious to chronic issues eroding its very existence.
The problematic nature of Pakistan is brought under discussion time and again. However, an effort is needed to unveil the structural and basic reason responsible for driving Pakistan to such a chaotic condition. Similarly, some practical and viable solutions are also required to address the various issues facing Pakistan.
The prescription of remedy to the diseases of Pakistan goes through the structural understanding of the issues causing and exacerbating the issue – stricken nature of Pakistan. Before diving deep into the solutions, it is apt to uncover the issues Pakistan is coming across. Pakistan has been struggling with a plethora of issues ranging from economic to political and socio – security.
The struggling nature of Pakistan’s economic realm sails through periods. Pakistan has hardly made any serious effort to base its economy on a long term growth project instead of making it dependent on short term stability like foreign aids and loans. This has resulted into a huge fiscal deficit. Similarly, Pakistan has never tried seriously to, at least, squeeze, if not close and surpass, the trade deficit. The mounting gap between exports and imports is caused by the excessive imports of a number of unnecessary items which build an unbearable burden on the import bill of Pakistan. Moreover, the minimum number of exports and their outdated nature have reduced the earnings of the country thereby increasing the trade deficits.
The exports-imports gap is largely triggered by the lower number of production and their reported low standard at par with international demand. Pakistan has hardly tried to diversify its exports production. There is an apparent absence of value added method in exports production. The heavier burden of import bill is also increased by the addition of the imports of traditional energy sources like oil and gas.
The solution is simple as Pakistan has to swallow a bitter pill by showing not only a sincere intent and will to pull itself out of the ongoing crisis. It must first diagnose the possible reasons of its economic failure followed by the formation of vibrant strategies and policies and their implementation.
Pakistan must squeeze its fiscal and trade deficits. It may enable its exports to surpass its imports by reducing the imports of a number of unnecessary items and substituting the foreign products with its internal goods. Pakistan must impose a fair amount of tariffs on imports to support the local products and help the import- export balance kept intact.
Similarly, it needs to increase its exports productions by exploring new avenues like pharmaceutical and IT among others. Pakistan can easily make its exports surpass its imports by revamping its existing exports manufacturing regime in the way to increase not only its quantity but also quality to compete their counterparts in the global market. There must be introduced the concept of value added which is to make as many things as possible out of a single item.
Likewise, the huge cost of imported energy sources could be drawn down by a timely and workable shift towards renewable energy sources from the prevailing traditional sources of energy. However, the challenge to all of this is the showing of political will and intent benefiting the country reducing not only the heavy burden on its import bill, but also resolving its energy crisis.
Following the list of the issues Pakistan has been facing for decades, the menace of political instability is constantly eroding the edifice of the country. As has been reiterated by a handful of research pieces including the Ishrat Hussain’s Governing the Ungovernable, the chronic records of political instability have affected the growth of the country.
Almost all the spheres of the country life are affected by the curse of political instability. It slows down if not completely stops the possibility of foreign direct investment. The country economic activities are badly affected by the chaotic nature of political realm as a result of frequent changes in the economic policies following the continuous and premature changes in government solely for personal interests.
The dilemma of political instability is caused by the turbulence and chaos in political arena. It emerges when there is a prevalence of power politics, parochial politics and dynastic politics. It is triggered when the key stakeholders throw their constitutional responsibilities at back seat and frequently preferring to trespass their constitutional domain in order to intervene in the internal matters of others with a purpose to satisfy their personal interests.
The result is the weakness of institutions and their respective role which in turns triggers the political chaos. Similarly, the constant toppling down of the governments before the completion of their tenure invites political instability. Above all the dilemma of frequent changes of governments are solely based on political motives which is one of the main reasons of political instability in Pakistan. The nature of the game is simple: today’s opposition is tomorrow’s ruler and vice versa usually by alleged unfair means.
The remedial measures might well initiate with unveiling a sincere intent and will to ensure a smooth and viable function of political process. Pakistan must have a mature political and democratic culture because the absence of tolerance, consensus among political stakeholders, fair electoral process among others largely drag the failure of democracies as propounded in How Democracies Die?
All the political parties must ensure first the presence of a complete democratic process in order to stop the intrusion of undemocratic forces and practices like dynastic and parochial politics along with nepotism. They need to do politics in the real sense for catering the interests of their country instead of their personal vested interests.
Moreover, there must be a culture of mutual tolerance and consensus among various political stakeholders. However, the sole challenge to all of these is relinquishing their personal interests in the best favor of the country. They seem quite hesitant to shun their long-existing habit of doing politics just for gaining power. This provides the way for the intrusion of anti-democratic forces into political realm of Pakistan largely causing political chaos.
Another issue of serious concern for Pakistan is to ensure that all the key state institutions are fairly holding to their constitutionally defined borders. Unfortunately, there seems to the rise of allegations put against one another by the key institutions of unconstitutional interference in the matters of others. Such an unconstitutional meddling may have far reaching implications for the whole nation and governmental machinery.
This may paralyze the operational capacity of the various state institutions as well as increasing the trust deficit and lack of mutual cooperation. Therefore, Pakistan must ensure that the constitution is completely followed. Each of the state institutions has to ensure its adaptability to the constitutional demand. However, there is an obvious hurdle as usual to this suggestion too and that is to sacrifice personal ambitions and interests for the sake of the state and nation.
The writer has done his Master of Arts in English Literature and Linguistics from NUML Islamabad and can be reached at abdulsamad khanbannu22@gmail.com.