There is little doubt that Pakistan is in a catch-22 situation. From political instability to the economic meltdown and social disintegration, there is hardly any issue Pakistan is alien to. Of course, much more like the causes of all issues, there is clear evidence that the root cause of all issues is the mindset of the people. Being made on religious lines coupled with unending divisions within Islam, the state seems anachronistic at best. It looks as if Pakistan tries to live in the Stone Age. Add to this the military establishment and political impotence, there stands a perfect recipe for disaster. In hindsight, we can say that the dismemberment of Pakistan owes much to the multifaceted injustices done to the majority. It seems today our elites are poised to repeat history with utter indifference to consequences.
Honest discussion about the wrong inception and its consequences doesn’t go too far or even doesn’t get any attention. No historian disputes the claim that Pakistan came about in a hurry and all sorts of interpretations festooned it. People took Pakistan the way they wanted that is, the secular showed the portrait and lifestyle of the founder while conservative Muslims took refuge in the ideological moorings of Pakistan— it all boils down to nothing concrete, nothing definitive and nothing clear.
The fact is that we don’t need a PhD in politics to understand and do something about the current state of the country. The experiment has already been done by the West over centuries. A thousand years ago, the West was going through the same crises, which we are facing today. They took some radical decisions to put their houses in order. Any elementary book on the subject in question can make things clear. Secularism, strong institutions, meritocracy and inclusive growth based on science and technology are some of the mainstays behind the prosperity of the West. We have the formula, and we only have to apply it
History is taught more like propaganda. Those who invaded our homeland are touted as our heroes despite their genocidal acts. At times, we take refuge in the arms of Turks; sometimes, we embrace Persians and even the barbaric Afghan Pashtuns who devastated much of this place, and they become our heroes. If one takes a look at the names of our roads, public places and even missiles, they teem with foreigners who ruined the Subcontinent. Surprisingly, what makes us believe this is Islam?
Politics is another religion Pakistanis love to hate. Much more like Islam, there are a great number of sects in politics based on the allegiance and loyalty of a leader whose policies can’t be wrong. Indeed, the opposition always finds fault with the incumbent whether or not they are viable. On the one hand, it seems most Pakistanis know about politics, on the other, while voting they turn out to be as ignorant as Stone Age people.
The fact is that even today, so-called educated individuals think dynastic politics isn’t a problem. In other words, the best Pakistan can produce or has produced is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or Maryam Nawaz. It is a pure disaster and shows that blind following of respective leadership rules the roost. No one doubts that if Bilawal or Maryam or Hamza is competent enough, they should be given chances, but they should go through the process. When Bilawal was asked about dynastic politics, his answer was simply embarrassing, that this life chose him. The same can be said of Imran Khan’s son or any other. No one forces him to come to politics. It was his own choice at best.
In the same vein, economics is treated with pure confusion. The courts have given statement after statement regarding the interest-free system in spite of its impracticality. Elite capture has put millions on the back burner and less than five percent of people get the benefit of the country at the cost of 95 percent. Successive regimes haven’t been able to effect meaningful and sustainable changes for the obvious reason— they are also part of the five-percent elite. For instance, why would Zardari bring land reform given that he has a quarter of interior Sindh?
Today, living a decent life has become a herculean task. No economic indicator depicts an optimistic picture. As a result, competent individuals are leaving this country in droves. Even government employees find it hard to put decent food on the table and they are doing their best to make it to any other country.
If one takes a look at the speed at which the population is rising, there is a dead end waiting for us. Teeming with an ocean of problems coupled with unabated population growth, things are murky. Almost 25 million children are out of school, and those who are in school find it hard to read and write, let alone solve mathematical problems.
Today, Pakistan is rightly called an old sick man of Asia. Politicians don’t find ways to come together on outstanding issues such as poverty, inflation and political polarization. The army doesn’t want to stay within its own constitutional boundaries; the judiciary is more interested in anything but dispensing justice; the masses are fooled by clever politicians on issues which have zero significance for them.
The fact is that we don’t need a PhD in politics to understand and do something about the current state of the country. The experiment has already been done by the West over centuries. A thousand years ago, the West was going through the same crises, which we are facing today. They took some radical decisions to put their houses in order. Any elementary book on the subject in question can make things clear. Secularism, strong institutions, meritocracy and inclusive growth based on science and technology are some of the mainstays behind the prosperity of the West. We have the formula, and we only have to apply it.
