Re: Current Pakistan
Interesting article on the state of Pakistan
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=40871
Sorry state of affairs
Pakistan faces grave challenges today in all areas of its life as society and state. These challenges range from issues of governance to problems pertaining to social and economic progress. In the area of governance the central problem is the repeated failure of the rule of constitutional law. In the area of social life the real challenge is to create institutions which can help steer it into the contemporary age of science and technology without severing its link with its religious, cultural and sub-cultural traditions. In the area of economics, Pakistan needs to broaden the industrial and technological base of its economy, both urban and agrarian, to ensure its competitiveness in this age of globalisation and also its ability to provide the basic amenities of a modern life to its citizenry.
Repeated failures of the rule of constitutional governance, through interference of the military into political affairs of the country, has resulted in the following grave consequences:
- The image of Pakistan as a state governed by laws has been shattered in the world. Nobody treats us with respect on this matter. The west in particular looks at us with distrust and scepticism when it comes to the rule of law and guarantee of the rights of the citizenry to choose its own rulers. 2. Our own people have lost hope in the ability of their leaders to govern under a system of law. There is widespread pessimism in the society in this regard, which is further reinforced by the overall lack of direction and visionary policies in the works of political parties. 3. Absence of constitutional governance and rule of law has led to unprecedented levels of corruption and nepotism in the society, demolishing the merit system in all walks of life in a major way. 4. Gradual erosion of the writ of the government in interior Sindh, Karachi, tribal areas of NWFP and Balochistan have led to ethnic and sectarian strife. 5. Massive increase in violent crime and in the number of illegal weapons. 6. Systematic mishandling of foreign relations, especially bad relations with India and Afghanistan.
In the area of social life also we are in the grip of huge problems. Our educational system is divided from the middle into the so-called modern and so-called traditional institutions. Modern institutions lack the academic standards and rigour of their western counterparts and the traditional madressahs lack the ability to come out of their medieval mindset and out-dated curricula. As such both sides do not have the academic capacity to interact with each other in a balanced and productive manner. Religious leaders in the madressahs and in politics thrive on the confusion about and misunderstanding of modern concepts and ideas. Modern institutions and political leaders have little understanding of the historic traditions and significance of their own civilisation. For example, we find religious leaders in Pakistan systematically confusing “secularism” with “irreligion” and “political sovereignty” with God’s metaphysical power over the universe. On the other hand, our modern leaders have very little idea of the details in which modern science and philosophy in the west have been shaped and influenced by the work of philosophers and scientists from the classical Islamic civilisation. As a result the secular and the religious in Pakistan are fighting on non-issues most of the time, and resolution of such non-issues is not going to help us much with genuine social progress.
This division of the so-called modern and the so-called traditional has continued to spill over into the political life of the country in a rather harmful way. All societies have progressive and conservative opinion camps in all walks of life. However, in Pakistan our religious and modern leaders accuse each other of “posing grave danger” to the society and the state. In the context of the erosion of the constitutional rule and its grave consequences, this sharp division and shared inability to understand each other has created waves of extremism on the one hand and serious mistrust of the tradition on the other.
On the economic side, we keep congratulating ourselves on this or that good harvest and slight improvements here and there in foreign exchange reserves. But have we created the requisite scientific and technological infrastructure and know-how to move our economy into the 21st century? Are we anywhere near our neighbour India in this field in terms of trained manpower and infrastructure? What is the current comparative state of our industry and where is it going to stand in relation to our neighbour in ten or twenty years from now? Where do we stand in terms of producing value-added goods in relation to states similar to us? It goes without saying that a broad vision in this area for the future of the country has not been created and implemented so far. Indeed, our agriculture is yet to mechanise on the scale which exists today in the developed countries or even comparable developing countries.
Another problem is the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. More and more of the national resources are steadily shifting from the poor of the society either to the local rich or to the multinationals. Close to 50 per cent of the people, living below the poverty line, subsist in distressing conditions with very few amenities of life. The economic resources of the country are not being utilised properly to alleviate poverty and improve the living conditions of the have-nots.
Pakistan’s population, its greatest asset in a way, is not being developed into a skilled and trained labour force for manning a modern industrial economy at home or abroad. Unemployment is rampant in the society and the quality of general industrial production has not shown much improvement in recent years.
Given these and related challenges that the country faces today, it is natural to wonder about possible solutions as well as their implementation. A dialogue needs to be initiated, therefore, between the major power brokers of the country. Political parties, military, bureaucracy, and civil society all need to address the problem. The simple question for the military is: where does it intend to belong in the future set up of a constitutionally governed Pakistan? Does it want to continue its role as the self-styled ‘saviour’ of the nation, paving the way for further erosion of state power? Or does it want to really save the country from steeping deeper into a quagmire and launch it on a path to becoming a viable modern society and state? Similarly the political parties need to clearly spell out whether or not they are genuinely committed to a democratic and modern Pakistan. This is particularly a challenging question for those who want to help perpetuate military rule or those who suffer from the confusion that a modern secular state is essentially antithetical to religion.
It is in the interest of all power brokers in the country to initiate a national dialogue for restoration of a constitutional democracy under the 1973 constitution. Some of the major political parties have taken steps in this direction in the recent past. The entire nation needs to be involved in the process and all sides should jointly confront this issue. In particular, the military establishment, with all its leaders including General Musharraf, must face the ground realities of the constitutional crisis in the country and help the country rehabilitate its constitutional existence.