Imran Khan, cricket-hero-turned-politician and head of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), after an impressive victory in his attempt at the National Assembly, as well as recapturing power Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as securing substantial seats in Punjab, in his public address on July 26, 2018, reiterated the oft-repeated rhetoric of making Pakistan a welfare state. Since the inception of Pakistan, this has been the slogan of all the governments, civil and military alike, but none have succeeded in making this a reality so far. It will certainly be unjust to say that Imran Khan would also fail unless we see what practical steps he takes towards this goal, after taking the oath for the Prime Ministership of Pakistan. The main cause of the prevailing pathetic socio-politico-economic situation is the existence of inefficient, corrupt, repressive, insensitive and outrageous government departments and corporations. Besides, the right-sizing of these monstrous bodies, all perks and benefits of their employees should be monetized along with a fool-proof system of accountability. The palatial residences in GORs and elsewhere should be sold or leased out. It would bring trillions into the government’s treasury and there would be no need for further borrowing or levying more taxes. Will Imran Khan be able to defeat the vested interests that want to protect elitist structures and these benefits? Militro-judicial-civil complex controlling the state would be the main impediment in the way of making Pakistan a welfare state. Only time will tell whether PTI dismantles these structures or further appease the rich and mighty, The much-needed reforms in judiciary and administrative services would certainly disinvest the powerful classes that are the real rulers and not the politicians. Through the colonial culture of masters and servants they control the masses. In five years, PTI did nothing to undo these structures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and empower the elected local bodies as ordained in Article 140A of the Constitution. They also did not fulfil the fundamental right of free and compulsory education under Article 25A of the Constitution. At the heart of concept of the welfare state is Article 3 of the Constitution which says: “The State shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfilment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability to each according to his work”. No worthwhile step was taken for implementing this principle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2013-2018. For making Pakistan a welfare state, we need to reform our judicial, political, economic and administrative structures. Socio-economic justice is not possible without implementing Article 3 of the Constitution. The government of PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the past five years was the least pushed in providing basic amenities like safe drinking water, health, education, transport and housing to the people, let alone the talks of establishing an egalitarian society. If Imran Khan is really serious in making Pakistan a welfare state, he must concentrate on Articles 3, 25A and 140A of the Constitution. Local governments should be given powers to provide functions such as education, health care and social welfare services. They should also be responsible for matters related to the residents’ free-time, recreation, housing, and the management and maintenance of their living environment (i.e. roads, streets, water supply and sewerage), as well as land-use planning and functional municipal structures. The anti-thesis of our current bureaucratic, anti-people power structure; is the devolution of political, administrative and financial responsibility and providing authority to the elected representatives of the local governments. The dream of an egalitarian society can only be achieved by empowering the masses. This requires handing over power to levy and collect taxes for essential services at local levels. Decisions would then be taken by the residents — through elected council members — and not bureaucrats sitting in Islamabad or provincial capitals in palatial offices oblivious to the ground realities, working most of the time for self-aggrandizement rather than for the betterment of the nation as a whole. The elected members would be directly answerable to the residents. Local courts should be set up where justice is provided at their door steps, rather than requiring people to go through expensive and long-drawn litigations under the conventional system. We need stringent laws and their effective implementation to curb money laundering, plundering of national wealth, political write off of bank loans and leakages in revenue collections Imran Khan in the first 100 days will have to move decisively for massive reforms in all spheres of governance. The biggest challenge is to ensure corrupt free government structures, supremacy of parliament coupled with an independent judiciary. Making the country a self-reliant economy by stopping wasteful, unproductive expenses, cutting the size of cabinet and government machinery, making government-owned corporations profitable, journey towards a knowledge-based economy, promoting export-oriented industries, increasing productivity, improving the agricultural sector and reducing inequalities. There is an urgent need for revamping the entire education system by introducing revolutionary measures to take society out of ignorance — our problem is not only illiteracy but also ignorance. Even the so-called literates demonstrate by their actions disrespect for law and rules. The foremost stress of education should be on building a knowledge-based society, elimination of bigotry, religious intolerance and violence. In our curriculum we must stress on the development of a society based on higher values of life and humanity. At the same time, reformation of mosques and the madrassa system should be a top priority—these should be part of the mainstream educational framework and not isolated, erratically managed institutions. PTI needs to devise long-term and short-term strategies to break the shackles of debt-trap which is possible only through growth and productivity that will also ensure employment for all. It has not yet unveiled any such plan or strategy. There is also no study done for a legal framework to control wasteful and non-developmental expenditure. We need stringent laws and their effective implementation to curb money laundering, plundering of national wealth, political write off of bank loans and leakages in revenue collections. There is an urgent need to reform and strengthen the management of public finances ensuring the transparent public sector spending. Though PTI emphasises revitalisation of tax machinery but they have no blueprint for that as there is no home work for simplification of tax laws and procedures, reduction in excessive tax rates making them compatible with other tax jurisdictions of the world, especially Asia, elimination of taxes on production, machinery and equipment and substantial reduction in corporate tax rates. It needs to be emphasised that any agenda for change or reforms should entail a comprehensive, well-integrated and unified plan that alone can assure its success. Reform in one sector ignoring ills in the other, resorting to improving something at the cost of leaving aside the one interlinked, can never yield desired results. The starting point of change should be improving the political culture — parties should immediately be purged of corrupt members of land-mafia. If elected persons are not capable of demonstrating by their actions respect for rule of law, tax obligations and democratic norms, there can be no hope for a better Pakistan. It is a prerequisite for the process of reforms and change. The writer, Advocate Supreme Court, is Adjunct Faculty at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Email: ikram@huzaimaikram.com; Twitter: @drikramulhaq Published in Daily Times, July 29th 2018.