PRESIDENT Dr Arif Alvi, who has all along been making sincere efforts for resolution of political differences through dialogue and discussion, has once again called for national reconciliation, embracing the path of forgiveness in line with the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). After the hoisting of the national flag at the main ceremony to mark the Independence Day celebrations, he emphasized that Pakistan’s progress and development were contingent on unity, justice and meritocracy. He stressed that unity is what makes a nation and said that it was not too late for the country to make changes. In his well-prepared and delivered speech, the President also pleaded the causes that are dear to him – education, health, poverty alleviation and rights of women.
The President’s address, indeed reflected aspirations of the entire nation as there is consensus that the country cannot progress and prosper while the society remains highly polarized on political and religious basis. The country and its people suffered hugely due to self-centred policies of some politicians and political parties without caring for the future of the motherland. Theoretically speaking, all political leaders and parties stand for welfare of the masses and development of the country but their actual policies speak otherwise. On his part, the President made repeated attempts to bring the Government and the Opposition PTI on the negotiating table during the last one and a half year but his efforts could not bear fruit because of lack of required cooperation from the two sides. A positive response to his sincere efforts aimed at promoting national reconciliation could have changed the entire political landscape of the country. However, they say it is never too late to mend and we hope all stakeholders would listen to the latest impassioned appeal made by Dr Arif Alvi for this purpose. This would require an honest self-appraisal by all political forces that should lead to public acknowledgement of their failures and blunders and a commitment not to repeat them. The President has rightly pointed out that in a country where there is no justice, the entire system will collapse. In fact, the system has already started collapsing because of the classic failure of the judiciary to deliver justice as per demands of the Constitution, the law and aspirations of the people. Meritocracy is deeply linked to good governance and, therefore, urgent reforms are needed in different spheres of life to promote merit and service delivery. Unfortunately, the successive governments have paid only lip-service to the cause of education as required allocations, especially for higher education and research, are still not being made and the quality of education is wanting. It is a matter of shame that twenty-seven million children are still out of school and the number is feared to increase in view of more and more people falling below the poverty line due to unprecedented price-hike. As has been emphasized by the President, women constitute almost half of the population and their active involvement in nation building is important to achieving a high growth rate. We hope that the points highlighted by the President would form the basis for the formulation of prudent policies and their implementation to foster national unity and accelerate the pace of socio-economic development.
