Daily Times

“There ought to be system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely”. ~ Edmund Burke.

Our beloved Land of Pure was named Pakistan with so much love, passion and vision for futuristic profile by the founding fathers. However, after 72 years of its birth, there is now so much abundance of eyesores in the society that go well beyond the simple definition i.e. “an unpleasant or ugly sight in a public place” and rather exhibit the full spectrum meanings of the word both in physical as well as in abstract sense. Someone said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. The irony is that most of us have ceased to identify the blemish and those who partially do, have turned a blind eye to it and therefore it keeps multiplying, adding to the poor image of the whole society, despite existence of rare oasis of beauty and tranquility available to affluent lot alone. Let’s undertake some stocktaking of the hideousness and chintzy affairs that appear as a blot on the public landscape.

In personal dealings, greed, jealousy, dishonesty, doublespeak, inefficiency, lethargy, irresponsibility, lack of courtesy, undue anger, haughtiness, poor discipline on roads, streets and other public places, disregard to moral and legal obligations as a member of the community, pathetic physical appearance and least regard for personal and collective hygiene are only a few glaring embarrassing examples that we suffer from despite claims of being practicing Muslims; nevertheless, suffering comprehensively from anti religious practices to say the least. How many Mullahs speak about these ills from their tightly held pulpits despite giving meaningless long sermons? How many schools and teachers educate their students about these issues? And how many parents groom their children about all this? A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said, “Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world”. The senior generation in Pakistan including all public and private institutions needs to realise that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” (Ronald Reagan)

The incumbent government gave hope of change to the people of Pakistan and won the elections. Though little improvement has been observed during first year of PTI government, yet there is a long list of to do things in the next four years as indicated above

In the 17th chapter, “Al-Israa” (“The Night Journey”), verse 22, the Qur’an provides a set of moral stipulations which are “among the (precepts of) wisdom, which thy Lord has revealed to thee” that can be reasonably categorized as ten in number: i.e. worship only God, be kind, honourable and humble to one’s parents, be neither miserly nor wasteful in one’s expenditure, do not engage in ‘mercy killings’ for fear of starvation, do not commit adultery, do not kill unjustly, care for orphaned children, keep one’s promises, be honest and fair in one’s interactions, and do not be arrogant in one’s claims or beliefs. In Holy Quran Allah Almighty says: “Allah does not intend to inconvenience you, but He intends to purify you and perfect His favor to you, so that you may give thanks”. (Quran, 5:6). Our beloved Prophet (SAW) said about purity in one of His hadith in a way: “Cleanliness is half the faith (Emaan).” (Sahih Muslim). How many Muslims in Pakistan care or practically follow these basic precepts of Islam to look better as a human being and make our society appear attractive?

Now coming to some physical eyesores, which are visible to everyone less those responsible for eliminating them. It is generally accepted universal truth that a nation’s disciplined traffic system indicates the civic mindedness, sense of responsibility of its people and government. However, in case of Pakistan, except for main motorways, there are some glaring examples of repulsive and meaningless police check points manned by semi literate and ill groomed human resource on the roads causing traffic jams, accidents and even physical brawls, besides raising public blood pressures at repeated bottlenecks; why can’t it be it done by police at main traffic signals if need be and through electronic cameras keeps one wondering. I have never seen this anywhere in a civilized country. Perhaps, the genius who ordered it in some situation years ago simply forgot to take the orders back. Dysfunctional traffic signals, missing traffic police, swarms of beggars on every traffic signal, potholes, flying shoppers, spread litter, massive horrible wall chalking, posters, banners and billboards, standing water due to choked or missing sewerage system, hazardous road dividers, excessive speed breakers of various types, and mixed traffic of all sorts on the roads gives the worst impression of a country in a mess. Dangerous driving by refuting traffic laws simply reflects poorest and corrupt licensing system in place. Oversized, overloaded and old smoking and noisy vehicles continue to ply on the roads by greasing palms of traffic police. Illegal construction on roadsides, encroachments, freely roaming stray animals, carts, vendors and shops being run right on the roads along with unlawful parking posing extreme hazards are too obvious to state and speak volumes about the inefficient and corrupt bureaucratic system. This can all be put in order by a conscientious, efficient and honest team of police and district management civil servants along with local political representatives. Why it does not happen then? Perhaps the answer lies in the missing traits discussed in part one above.

Some other main eyesores include over populated old cities and towns, dilapidated old buildings, poor road infrastructure, clogged sewer system, ill planned new towns, most perilous overhead electric wiring, inadequate garbage collection and disposal system, shortfall of energy resulting in most disturbing dark hours and failure to go for renewable energy for reasons unknown and undue conversion of residential areas in to commercial hubs, all pointing towards poor governance and corrupted organisations and systems. It is also a fact that any institution whose name is preceded or succeeded by word government, national, Pakistan or public has to be in disarray and under the grip of mostly corrupt, inefficient, non-cooperative, bad tempered and evasive officials from top to bottom with extremely rare exceptions due to missing accountability and effective oversight by the concerned political masters who themselves thrive on similar poor qualities.

The incumbent government gave hope of change to the people of Pakistan and won the elections. Though little improvement has been observed during first year of PTI government, yet there is a long list of to do things in the next four years as indicated above. The earlier teams of qualified experts and project management specialists are employed for rectification of the missing governance under strict supervision of political representatives who can drive the bureaucracy out of slumber, the better for the government that is there by the people and for the people. Long Live Pakistan!

The writer is, SI (M) is a retired senior Army officer with rich experience in International relations, diplomacy and analysis of strategic issues