AT the cost of sounding like a broken record, I will type this once more, and probably not the last time because hey! What do you do other than hope in this beautiful Islamic Republic? So here it goes: Pakistan today is at a tipping point. The country is facing unparalleled challenges in an environment fraught with political polarisation, institutional decay, economic fragility, and of course the non-issue of the changing climate. In this era of poly-crisis, which by the way is nothing new for the inhabitants of this dear land, the country is getting it from all sides possible; governance, economics, politics, security, and human development just to name a few. What is, however, worse this time around is that all of these issues are coming together and creating an overall challenge more formidable than any single crisis. Mind you, to make things better this is at a time when the national self-confidence is at a new low with hundreds of thousands leaving the country and others engulfed in a swatch of pessimism.
So what do we do? You may ask. Some may argue that this is not the first time that the situation is this bad and that Pakistan has weathered many storms in the past and rebounded from them so why does this time have to be any different? And I hope that is right and our national resilience does help us this time around as well. However, the only little problem that I see now is that the challenges of today are a cumulative consequence of decades of misgovernance and squandered opportunities. What is important now is that we can no longer delay the solving of our problems. We are already paying the price of postponed reforms especially economic reforms to deal with structural issues which lie at the root of its perennial financial crises. In short, all of these challenges have to be addressed if Pakistan is to move forward and embark on a path of economic development and political stability to meet the needs and aspirations of its population of 250 million, mostly young.
In simpler words, the poly crisis of today is a result and a reflection of the persisting gap between challenges and response, between rule and governance, and between power and purpose. Governments have come and gone, one after the other, with barely ever a plan or strategy in place to deal with any of the long-standing problems. In this young country, politics has always been about power, prestige, patronage, and vanquishing opponents rather than offering any concrete program of policy actions. Hardly has there ever been a time when effectively and holistically the right people have been put in the right positions. Merit and competence have rarely taken precedence; the premium mostly being the proximity to the ‘boss’ and other ‘connections’ and not on who was actually qualified to get the job done.
In a quick look at countries that have faced economic crises but used it as an opportunity to bounce back stronger and more resilient, the factor that seems to stand out is the quality of leadership in place. Success, obviously among other things, did heavily depend on leaders who ran a competent government that was committed to structural reforms and had the motivation, political will, and credibility to take measures that were painful in the short term but yielded rich and enduring dividends in the longer scheme. The politicians, those in power and out of it, and those sitting in all important institutions must take this point seriously as even the most resilient have a tipping point. So a broken record this article may sound like it is another cry for help desperately waiting to be heard.
– The writer is the digital team lead and associate editor at daily Pakistan Observer
