Daily Times

Bravo Imran Khan. The real task for you starts now. Good luck on the road to a New Pakistan. Nothing is more important than restoring the positive image of Pakistan. We take pride in our institutions and national public enterprises. Pakistan was never in so much of a mess as it is today, lurching from crisis to crisis. The country did so well in the past that other countries had followed its plans and development strategies. This is time to reinvent, strengthen our institutions and national enterprises, enhance credibility, gain self-confidence and do something to enhance and improve quality of leadership. Existential question for Pakistan has much to do with the naiveties of leadership, civilian as well as military. Pakistan needs to think of new avenues. Good luck Pakistan.

Tremendous challenges face the country, and they need to be tackled effectively to convert threats into opportunities, and weaknesses into strengths. Political parties can put an end to hate politics. As it is, they are not contributing positively. Inter and Intra political parties’ rivalries and conflicts are a matter of concern. They have to change negative attitudes in to positive thoughts to facilitate the way forward.

Hearing the Panama leaks cases, the supreme court of Pakistan (SC) had observed that “the political parties are polarized and they all seek their own kind of Justice. The political parties would accept only such verdict as serves their own interests”. This applies to the PTI as much as the others. Only a new approach to leadership can wipe out dictatorial tendencies, and politics of deceit, bigotry and hate. Only when leaders lead from the front can they understand the real issues the country and its people are currently facing.

Lack of imagination leads to inaction, or sometimes even over-reactions. The state and society have to work together to rid the country of the multiple challenges it faces, which threaten to grow with time. State institutions must be empowered, strengthening their capacity to deliver and the will to serve the people.

The new government and the parliament will have to re-evaluate aspects of the constitution and the plethora of laws contrary to the spirit of justice and fair play. Horse Trading for example is against the spirit of free and fair elections.

Rule of the situation is important. In politics, the ends justify the means. Cooperation and conciliation help resolve issues; hence politicians should be flexible to new thoughts, ideas and suggestions, as the emerging situations demand. But the interests of the general, unorganized public should not be compromised by politics. This is especially important if we believe in democracy as a functional feature of human development.

Perceptions are an important indicator of the direction in which a society is moving. If the direction is misleading, wrongs must be corrected, through developing positive images of the state and society. Organized planned change would be desirable. It would be fatal to depend on and promote mob politics and crowd behaviour. That would be nothing less than the path to self-destruction.

Simplistic solutions with naive approach are not the remedy for Pakistan’s problems. Complex issues require serious rethinking and national resolve for collective action with all political actors on board, irrespective of party affiliations

Let us dig deeper in analyzing issues that Pakistan faces, and on account of which its people suffer. Most tensions are because of internal problems and Pakistan disastrous foreign policy. Simplistic solutions with naive approach are not the remedy. Complex issues require serious rethinking and national resolve for collective action with all political actors on board, irrespective of party affiliations.

In the best interest of Pakistan, all efforts should be made for human development, education, health and housing with full focus on making Pakistan self-sufficient in agriculture and industry. The new government’s major task should be to reduce internal and external tensions so as to create an environment of peace and respectable living for the people.

The cost of living and cost of doing business is sky high. Unjust taxes on every facility have to be looked into. Multiple taxes on utilities and bank accounts are not justified. Income per Capita is not in line with sky high prices of commodities. Education and health facilities are out of the reach of the citizen. Mixed economy can facilitate public and private sector enterprises to create job opportunities. The government can provide low cost houses to people on easy payment terms. Cost of education should be made affordable for all sections of our society.

Imran Khan often talks of the state of Medina. He should work to build Pakistan on those lines of governance. Justice is not easy to secure for a common citizen in Pakistan. Reforms in the legal system should be top the agenda of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He should realize that the common man does not have enough money to post bail, or afford to pay a lawyer or a doctor. If a welfare state can help ease the situation, then that is what Pakistan should aspire to be in the future. But we don’t want the label of ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism’ fixed on our people. We don’t want internal and external tensions. Let us put the past in the past. Let us start on a positive note.

The writer is former Director, National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Government of Pakistan, a Political analyst, a public policy expert and an author. His book post 9/11 Pakistan was published in the United States

Published in Daily Times, August 14^th 2018.