Daily Times

Dear Mr Prime Minister of Pakistan! It gives us immense pleasure that you have assumed the office of the Chief Executive of the country. Fortune has given us another chance to be led by a true leader, who has experienced life as a World Cup winning cricket Kaptaan (Captain) and as a prominent philanthropist in the country. During a variety of adverse conditions affecting our country, you offered a consistent resistance to thwart the challenges with dedication and persistence. From this point in time, you will be faced with a host of different challenges that will concern everything from our national interests and foreign policies, to nation building and social stability.

Currently Pakistan is experiencing multiple socio-economic problems, which need to be resolved pronto. Over the past couple of decades almost every key Pakistani institution has pursued a war against extremism and consequently, state institutions are still in a quagmire to recover from this long war. Thousands of Pakistanis have sacrificed their lives, and their families have been left to suffer the consequences, yet not many people dare to celebrate their great contribution. Hats off to the security agencies that have sacrificed so much to ensure peace and security within the country.

In consequence, Pakistan’s political crisis has eroded the pillars of the state, and filled our society with ethnic hatred and baseless ideological engagement. Certain isolated practices of peace and love still remain intact, which had been strengthened by our forefathers. As Napoleon said back in 1805 “There cannot be a firmly established political state unless there is a teaching body with definitely recognized principles. If the child is not taught from infancy that he ought to be a republican or a monarchist, a Catholic or a free-thinker, the state will not constitute a nation; it will rest on uncertain and shifting foundations; and it will be constantly exposed to disorder and change.”

Another endless institutional crisis is the increasing foreign debt. Most of the foreign loan was received either for institutional reforms or for the performance based delivery of the public sectors. The resources and infrastructure of the country are also very important to revive the country’s ailing economy, along with investment in certain key areas. These are as follows:

Education: Literacy rate is very low in Pakistan, as compared to other Asian countries and instead of improving, it has been falling in recent years. As per the constitution, the provision of education is an absolute necessity for children between the ages of five and sixteen. Yet this target has not been met due to various reasons. Many government schools lack basic facilities like adequate sanitation and clean water etc, while others suffer from crumbling infrastructure, or a serious dearth of quality teachers. The private sector is much better, yet is unaffordable for the majority in Pakistan, causing a discriminatory culture within our society among students belonging to public and private school.

Health: According to the World health Organization (WHO), Pakistan is ranked 122 out of a total of 190country when it comes to the provision of basic health care. We also have the third highest infant mortality rate in the world, and the rising poverty in the country has led to additional problems. Malnutrition and lack of clean drinking water has led to a rampant spread in certain diseases, in this sector we once again see the stark differences between the public and private sector. The former lacks basic facilities or uses low cost medicince, while the latter is expensive and exploitive.

Water and Sanitation: certain urban areas in the country only receive water anywhere between four to sixteen hours a day. Furthermore, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 90 percent of the water supply schemes are hazardous to health. Shared toilets among family units are normal in urban areas and access to solid waste management remains low. The World Bank estimates that poor sanitation costs Pakistan around 3.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with diarrhoea-related death and disease among children under five being the largest contributor.

Poor Housing and Affordability: In Pakistan, the urban population is growing by three percent, every year. Pakistan has the fastest growing urban centres in South Asia, and by 2030, more than half of Pakistan’s projected 250 million citizens are expected to live in the cities. A deteriorating rural economy is a key reason behind this trend, and an influx of people will require affordable housing schemes in order to accommodate the large of numbers pouring into the country’s urban centres.

Land Management: Outdated land utilization, regulations and building codes have resulted in poor land management in Pakistan. Populations living in formally planned settlements consume larger percentage of the resources. The substantial governance mechanism required for the regularization of schemes with adequate land management planning are not available in the urban and semi urban areas of Pakistan.

In conclusion I would like to address the Prime Minister again. You have won the affections of the people to become the new leader of this land, and now they expect you to deliver on your many promises. You performances will be based on your actions and the way you manoeuvre through the multitude of issues facing Pakistan today. Key sectors as cited above need immediate attention from state authorities in order to provide the people of this nation the relief they have been searching for, for so long. All eyes are on you now, and if there was ever a time for you to act truly like a leader, then it is now.

The writer is a Legislative Fellow, USA 2013 and a LEAD Fellow Cohort 19 on Urban Resilience and Sustainable Cities

Published in Daily Times, August 21^st 2018.