Karachi: The degenerate politics of Pakistan on public display every day is sucking the life-blood of the country. The legislative and political stratagems in support of massive and organised corruption and in defiance of the Supreme Court are holding the whole country to ransom.
The relentless plunder of the people is destroying the lives of millions upon millions of living and unborn Pakistanis. No enemy could be so hostile! Is it too late to save Pakistan? It is never too late for decent Pakistanis to change from being passive spectators and actively organise to save their country from hovering vultures. Now is a defining moment.
Movements require a mobilising vision, commitment, organisation, struggle, feedback, and participatory decision-making. Otherwise, any progress will be sporadic, temporary and insufficient to overcome the political inertia. The hopeless response to constructive proposals will remain: who is listening?
Many think the moral strength, mental horizons, political confidence and organising capacities of the people are too limited to challenge the powers that be. If true, Pakistan will have no future. But if slavish pessimism is rejected we can meaningfully discuss some realities and requirements a leadership committed to serving a people’s movement for national transformation should consider. The following are a few:
- The population of Pakistan will reach an utterly unmanageable 400 million by 2050;
- There has been enormous underinvestment in the whole range of human resource development which would raise capacities to address these challenges;
- Massive investments are needed for poverty reduction and transforming the health, education, sanitary, housing, mother-and-child care, basic services provision, human and gender rights protections, administrative and governance systems;
- The money for these investments must be largely generated from the revenues of a developing economy to preserve Pakistan’s political and economic sovereignty;
- Long-term economic growth rates should be transformational for defence expenditures, debt repayments and administration costs to be met without incurring unserviceable and ruinous debt;
- Budgetary allocations and tax burdens must be transparent, rational, redistributive and pro-growth;
- Social and economic inequalities should be reduced while living-wage job opportunities are maximised through human resource development;
- Credit Suisse recently estimated Pakistan’s middle class at over six million. This is around three per cent of the population. A middle-class country should have a middle class approximately half the population. The structure of power and class-based governance stand in the way of addressing this situation;
- Defence spending that takes away from other essential spending undermines economic and national security;
- Transition from a security to a development and democratic state is the condition for national security in today’s world;
- Major corruption should be a capital crime;
- The promotion of a “culture” of rationality, innovation, and science and technology is indispensable to implement transformation policies;
- Civil-military relations mean nothing outside civilian supremacy;
- Capable, responsible and accountable policymaking institutions must replace personal, uninformed, uneducated and unaccountable decision-making;
- Governance must be brought closer to the people through devolution of power;
- The formation of additional provinces should be encouraged in accordance with the wishes of the concerned people;
- Terrorism is a major challenge. Though deep-rooted it must be uprooted;
- Counterterrorism without addressing the root causes of terrorism is disguised state terror;
- Nuclear weapons should never be considered a first-strike option;
- The protection of nuclear assets and materials is less about systems reliability; it is more about external perceptions of Pakistan’s sustained political will to deny unauthorised access;
- Without transformational change at home, foreign policy cannot develop international credibility ;
- The foreign service as the nation’s “first line of defence” must be upgraded and empowered as a major priority;
- A foreign minister must elicit respect and loyalty from the foreign service through his understanding of foreign policy issues and his commitment to service morale and welfare;
- The foreign minister must also carry weight in the cabinet and the corridors of power for his ministry to provide indispensable professional input for a credible foreign policy.
- Policies towards India, Kashmir, the US, Afghanistan, Iran, etc should be integrated and consistent with national transformation, 21st-century imperatives, international law, strategic partnership with China, and UN resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.
All of the above is doable. But who is listening? The political system is rotten beyond polite description.
A corrupt elite cannot communicate with the people. It can only deceive and ferociously defend its loot. However, a people made aware of their faith and power to be free, will listen, challenge and prevail.
By arrangement with Dawn
