Ibn Abdul Razzaq
PAKISTAN has sustained and survived the brunt of various challenging governments whether democracy or an army rule; direct or indirect. We are in the seventy third year of independence but woefully failed to flourish the state and society. Each passing year brings a fresh experience of grief filled with lamented episodes of spite. Governments in the past had dragged this state in the vicious circle of debts and deficits by practising their flawed policies. As a result, the country was on the brink of political and constitutional crisis for long. The incumbent federal government under the command and supervision of the respected Prime Minister Imran Khan is experiencing this heat of piled up insolvency. Enough with the fantasy of words as it is high time to mould the status quo into benevolence. Without a doubt, it is a call of action by all the institutions and stakeholders involved with the present government to pay serious heed in understanding the severity of responsibility.
Pakistan is having no space for further tests and experiments or else it will label herself as a rogue state. Starting with the essence of democracy, a system of governance which is based on the will of the governed must ensure all fundamental rights and liberties for the people. It shouldn’t be the “art of possible” alone but imbibed with certain mechanism which fosters the most universal ruling passion of mankind of guaranteeing people’s weal and welfare. Undoubtedly, democracy forever teases us with contrast between its ideas and reality and between its heroic possibilities and sorry achievements. The present scenario of the government is fabulous in its theory but invariably miserable in practicality. Although his majesty Imran Khan and his cabinet ministers are striving from the scratch in surfacing the filth of the previous governments but the governance must be seen by every individual which is real crux of democracy. The federal government has to work hard in grappling the menace of below mentioned domains by exploring such heroic possibilities.
The politicians sitting in Parliament have to understand their foremost responsibility of charting down pro-poor policies in order to provide certain aggregate of relief to the most oppressed ones in the society. The role of opposition is to criticize the mindless policies of the government by addressing the agenda. Political parties in the opposition have to adopt constructive discourse of critique by curtailing the blame game of barbing words. Constitutional supremacy is the only remedy of prevailing polarized politics in the country. It is essential for the state to be run by mutual cooperation over the bills and drafts of policies in Parliament than by an ordinance or edict. Political will of working as a public servant must be restored in both the houses and it can only be done by practising a promising atmosphere of confabulation. The political workers have to transform themselves into statesmen as it is rightly said by James Freeman “A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman of the next generation”. The incumbent government must set this trend by leaving a watermark of leadership upon which the future generations can move ahead raising the green flag high. A nation can do wonders in all walks of life if ruled with good governance and provided an economic security. One cannot vanquish other and declare victory as both traits are part and parcel of the state and the relationship must be viewed as not a zero-sum game. Pakistan has been crippling and crawling in the economic sphere since its inception.
The government has played its part effectively in this domain by overcoming the current account deficit. Although Pakistan is still having an inflated budget but the efforts done by the federal government is applaudable. The country’s exports are now gradually improving along with the halt of irrelevant imports. Despite shattered economy, Pakistan has aggressively countered the recent hit of novel Covid-19. In this regard, Imran Khan’s vision of stabilizing the all ready prevailed economic distress has been appreciated internationally. Despite less productive mechanism, the country’s accountability bureau has been successful in diminishing the grand corruption. However, the government has to toil incessantly when it comes to economic security. The most essential among all is the proper implementation of workable economic policy armored with rigorous accountability mechanisms.
Standing and functioning institutions are the symbol of economic prosperity of any nation. Unfortunately, Pakistan is encompassed by defunct and loss making firms due to politicization of institutions. It is essential for a country to grow domestically strong in order to achieve economic relief by retooling state enterprises. It is high time to launch key performance indicators in the industrial milieu by gauging the parameters of regulation and growth. Public-Private Partnership should be promoted in the country’s national fabric as it will assist the government to achieve its economic aims. In a nutshell, Pakistan has to launch the Quaid’s Vision in order to attain a glorified standing in the comity of nations. The incumbent leadership needs to adopt a comprehensive approach to employ the above mentioned measures i.e. retooling institutions, revitalizing political maturity to fortify remarkable governance and economic wellbeing of the state and society. Long Live Pakistan!!
—The writer is a concerned citizen who is an engineer by profession, having a research-based knowledge and interest in the polity of Pakistan.
