Our democratic elite

Quaid e Azam won freedom for us through a long struggle using legal and constitutional means. He was a big proponent of democracy and power to the people. Unfortunately, the Quaid did not live long and the affluent class comprising landlords and businessmen grabbed power in the name of democracy without an iota of intention to practice it. While other world leaders laid foundations of strong economies in their countries as per local needs, our leaders set on the path of amassing personal wealth. With lingering poverty in the country, our leaders adopted policies of self-glorification and enhancement from borrowed money. They kept borrowing to run the government in royal ways and to make money through corruption without taking measures to strengthen the economy. The country slowly kept falling into the debt trap with little or no capacity enhancement to retire the loans. Seventy years on, we have extremely rich politicians and a country that is buried under loans with staggering poverty. We still don’t see light at the end of the tunnel. Our politicians are as self-serving as ever. They keep playing blame games accusing each other of destroying the economy while they take turns looting and plundering the country. They are always conspiring to topple the government and get to power, not interested in fixing the problems we face. I am afraid that if our leadership does not realize the gravity of the situation and mend ways to work collaboratively for the country, we will not survive too long as an independent nation. History tells us that military power alone is never enough to remain free and strong. The sooner our leaders realize it, the better it is, or they might not have a country to lead.
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad