At a time when morale among the people is low due to a multitude of factors, credit goes to Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir for taking pains to present a true and realistic national perspective before the masses, reigniting their hopes about the future of the country. He has been doing so ever since assumption of the coveted office both through his well-thought-out statements and actions, therefore, his Friday’s address at the National Farmers’ Convention was in continuation of his mission to lift the sagging morale of the people.
There can be no two opinions that crises beset nations from time-to-time but these are normally overcome through unity and collective wisdom. Pakistan too witnessed numerous challenges during its chequered history of 76 years but the nation displayed maturity and resolve and, as a result, came out unscathed because of national cohesion. However, the situation changed tremendously during the last few years as some leaders caused division in the society for the sake of their lust for power. There is so much polarization in the society that even families are split on political or other lines and a full blown propaganda campaign is going on in the social media even against the national institutions, which, otherwise, constitute the strength of the state. It was in this backdrop that General Syed Asim Munir expressed serious concern over the environment of pessimism and chaos being created on social media through fake news that the state was losing its writ. The COAS acknowledged that the country faced challenges but highlighted the fact that it is endowed with immense potential and abundant resources and therefore, we will navigate through these challenging times, by the grace of the Almighty, and attain our goals across every sector, hopefully. To augment his point, General Asim Munir referred to the historic reality of Pakistan experiencing rapid growth in the sixties, but unfortunately, it lost sight of the fundamental principles of Quaid-i-Azam – Faith, Unity and Discipline and as a result faced a decline. What the General said was not verbose or an attempt to play to the galleries as his institution is already providing its all out support to the Government in tackling all the challenges and this is borne out by the sustained campaign launched to tackle smuggling of goods as well as dollar/gold, uncalled-for devaluation of rupee and a firm policy on deportation of all foreigners living in Pakistan illegally. As part of the efforts to help address the perennial issue of lack of resources, the Army leadership is not only using its good offices to cultivate important capitals but also takes keen interest in policies and programmes to clear hurdles in the way of smooth investment through the platform of the newly-created Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). Based on his intimate knowledge of what the Council has so far done and what it intends to do on a short and long term bases, the Army Chief expressed the confidence that its initiatives would help Pakistan come out of the economic crisis. He shared with the audience some of the measures envisioned for the agriculture sector, which has the potential not only to help achieve the cherished objective of food security (saving precious foreign exchange) but also produce enormous surplus for exports. The Green Initiative was aimed at boosting agriculture and a major chunk of the income so accruing would go to the provinces, strengthening their resource base and affording them an opportunity to invest in human capital and infrastructure. Mindful of the fact that no such scheme can succeed without active involvement of the farming community, which is the major stakeholder in the sector, the COAS held out an assurance that the rest of the income would go to farmers and on agricultural research. This is important because Pakistan could not exploit its resources in agriculture and other sectors mainly because of criminal negligence on research and development. The concept of agricultural malls, to be set up at district level, is also a step in the right direction as these would be instrumental in extending all agriculture related facilities to farmers. At the same time, provision of easy agricultural credit, cold storage chains, climate change-resistant seeds, and genetically engineered livestock will be ensured for the farmers. The plan can surely revolutionize the agriculture sector, enabling Pakistan to stand on its own feet, but what we need is commitment to implement it in letter and spirit.
