Dear Prime Minister Imran Khan, I hope this finds you in good health.
I was just wondering how the journey has been for you since becoming the prime minister of Pakistan. Prior to becoming the PM, not too many people thought you would be able to achieve such a huge feat. It is like when your cousins said you were not good enough to play cricket for Pakistan; you eventually did and became one of the greatest all-rounders to grace the game. When you were playing cricket,many people said that you would never be able to captain Pakistan. You did that too, in both tests and one-day internationals, and eventually gave the people of Pakistan one of their fewest happy moments back in 1992. It is very true. You said in an interview that never had you seen such a huge euphoria amongst the masses after Pakistan won its first, and so far,the only World Cup.
In a nutshell, you have defied odds all your life and thoroughly succeeded in doing so.
During the 1990s, cricket pundits labelled the Pakistani cricket team as an ‘unruly’ lot. That was the team the majority of whose talented players you captained at one stage or the other in your life. Captaining eleven players on and off the field perhaps gave you a sense of leading the country.You noticed the misery that the common man has to go through every day in Pakistan.
However, that team was only eleven players. Now that you are the prime minister of Pakistan, how is it really like leading a country of two hundred and ten million people? This is a huge number of people who belong to various ethnicities in such away they forget to call themselves Pakistani. Considering the economic fragility in which you inherited Pakistan, perhaps right now nationalism is not the top priority. The top priority is to keep Pakistan afloat for the next five years by maintaining a level of$10-$12 billion per year.
Perhaps corruption at the top did not let money trickle down to the grassroots level where development in terms of health, education and infrastructure could take place
Wow! This is certainly a huge amount considering that our foreign reserves had been depleted in the recent past, and our existing resources lack innovation to be exported, and hence, not able to bring in adequate foreign exchange. Last year, our ever-loving and dear brothers Saudi Arabia and the UAE provided us with decent funds.However, to repeatedly take that course of action is unwise. Pakistan has decent resources but lacks innovation for a large exporting mechanism that would bring in good foreign exchange.
On the international front, Pakistan has been on the receiving end of undue and unfair criticism in the last two decades. Our efforts and dedication towards finishing terrorism is second to none. You know for a fact that Pakistan has not benefitted from the War on Terror as much as it has sacrificed. The services of our great armed forces and lives lost during this war along with many innocent men, women and children are unparalleled in the recent history of mankind. Along with lives, the confidence of investment in Pakistan was also lost. It is indeed very sad and unfortunate when we have and still are doing so much yet we have to hear the two taunting words: “Do more.” Such comments make one feel very demotivated and hurt. Just like the United States, Pakistan also wants a definitive end to terrorism as that would bring peace, prosperity and progress not just to Pakistan but also to the entire region.
One day, terrorism may end, but peace is still not possible due to our neighbour on the eastern border. It is really unfortunate that Pakistan and India cannot solve their outstanding issue of Kashmir. For the past seventy-one years, both sides have lost military personnel along with innocent men, women and children due to the violence in Kashmir. It is very important for Pakistan and India to solve the Kashmir dispute through a unilateral process, but perhaps the unnecessary animosity that India has for Pakistan since 1947 is not allowing them to move on.
Pakistan is a reality that will remain so until this world ends. It is a reality that possesses talent, skill and intellect that can contribute towards the well-being of humanity in great strides.Pakistan and India have both produced some outstanding singers, artists, writers, cricketers, businessmen and scientists who have excelled in their fields and brought immense repute to their respective countries. Just imagine, if both sides ended the antagonism and hate and became very good friends. An exchange of ideas in myriad fields would flourish in a way that would benefit not just the two countries but the entire world.
I dream that one day soon peace is achieved, and the borders are opened. One could visit the bustling streets of Delhi or Lahore and roam through the small local bazaars of both countries, travelling on the local railway and seeing the picturesque landscape of trees, mountains and rivers. Such an experience would be absolutely priceless. In the past, Pakistan and India showed a willingness to be friends. Being permanent friends is what both sides should seek.
Creating better relationships with India and the United States would take its due course of time, which cannot be achieved overnight or perhaps, even in a span of a few years. What can be spoken about right now is the direction in which Pakistan is headed.
Your initiation to finish off poverty and provide shelter homes to the poor and homeless is really second to none. The reasons of poverty could be mismanagement, irregularities and malicious practices of funds at state-run institutions. Perhaps corruption at the top did not let money trickle down to the grassroots level where development in terms of health, education and infrastructure could take place.
The idea of a ‘Naya Pakistan’ (New Pakistan) has entered its second year. A Naya Pakistan is where the basic amenities of food, water, home, healthcare, education and job security are being desperately hoped for. I am not criticising the hundred-day performance given by you and your government but for a country like Pakistan, hundred days are not much to set upon the path of progress like China, Malaysia, or Singapore, which you often cite as examples.
In order to achieve such a feat, we, as a nation, must put our heads down and embrace a lifestyle of simplicity, hard work and acquisition of knowledge, which would tremendously help us to grow as a nation. The struggle and discipline that you have gone through in life has made you not only successful but also the only living hero of repute that Pakistan currently possesses. I guess the formula for success is hard work and struggle that we as a nation must understand and have the discipline to maintain. For the time being, to achieve that, I leave you with the following line: Sabraurkhamooshibehtreeninteqaamhain (Patience and silence are the biggest revenge.)
Much respect and regards
The writer is a freelance columnist