Pakistan

Pakistan is not a country with no hope, and no future; it has a wealth of resources, natural as well as human and the capacity and importance in the region that change can bring about a prosperous nation. Weaknesses are generally self-created and second are those triggered by the external factors as have been highlighted in the preceding chapters of this book. Pakistan urgently needs to address the issues of governance to strengthen democracy and deal with the culture of truth-hiding conspiracies that allow for extremist elements from within the country as well as those dictated by external factors, to harm the country and its advancement. The key to success lies in implementing the vision of Jinnah to make Pakistan a modern democratic Islamic state. The advent of the independent judiciary in Pakistan that began in 2007 has fortunately continued and is showing its presence at the level of the higher courts. However, it has to consolidate at the level of the lower courts, to ensure speedy justice to the common man. There is also a need to commit to test the courts in terms of trying those who have damaged the country while sitting in the executive positions of the government and the other instructions and to establish the real strength of a judicially free country. For a prosperous and secure future of Pakistan, however, the necessity of transparent governance needs no emphasis. Following the path shown by Jinnah, to develop a strong identity as a democratic Islamic state, it is vital for Pakistan to break off from two politicised factors; religion and military, as well as pave a way for a stronger political system that is free from kinship and is open at all levels, including election of president of a political party in a more open and democratic way, which is contested rather than selected. An independent Election Commission would help ensure the free and fair elections for the future legislatures of Pakistan and the power of the Pakistani people to cast their vote for electing the honest and upright candidates in the future elections for the national, as well as the provincial assemblies of Pakistan. Hopefully, the people of Pakistan would no longer allow themselves to be herd around for casting their vote for the influential, malevolent and corrupt individuals. Through the conscious use of their vote, the people of Pakistan should clean-out the corrupt and incompetent politicians from the federal and provincial assemblies. These stagnated politicians who have been occupying the federal and provincial assemblies generations after generations are like the stagnant water spreading the unpleasant smell and poisoning the democracy in Pakistan; they were actually a burden on the exchequer and a curse for democracy in Pakistan. This dark side of the political culture has blocked the entry of the competent and reliable individuals into the houses of parliaments to serve the nation. At the same time, this whole exercise would only succeed if the Army top brass would devote themselves to their constitutional duty. The military needs to be transformed into delivering in compliance with their constitutional responsibilities i.e. the defence of the homeland from external as well as internal threats. The military also needs to integrate themselves with the civil society and not fostering a greater mind-set in the military of being better than the civilian governments, as well as the ordinary civilians. The time has come for the Pakistan Army to change for them, the accountability system to tackle the ambitious generals to shun the politics in uniform for all times to come for the sake of the promising future of Pakistan and promoting professionalism in the armed forces of Pakistan. This whole process once managed by the reliable and honest people would help building the public confidence leading the cleansing of the legislature, executive and bureaucracy to help support long-awaited transparent governance to the people of Pakistan. The future of Pakistan is also contingent upon rectifying the past mistakes and exploiting the national strengths. The most dangerous of the past mistakes is hiding the truth from the nation that needs to be corrected if Pakistan is to progress and to regain its honour and dignity in the comity of nations. The culture of secrecy and conspiracies is the mother of all evils since the wrong-doers could get away with their failures, corruption, injustice committed to other people and abuse of power. Pakistan has only been in existence for 65 years which is not a long period of time for a country that was born with surmounting problems with its territory divided by a thousand miles of hostile land and lacking infrastructure and where-withal in almost every sphere of life. The real misfortune of this nascent state came about with the demise of the founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah soon after the creation of Pakistan. The Pakistani nation and its leadership in particular were quick to forget about Jinnah’s vision and his motto, which should have remained the guiding light for seeking the future direction for Pakistan. Pakistan requires only three things to become a prosperous nation particularly a self-respecting nation. Firstly, the transparent governance by strictly following the 1973 Constitution as has been highlighted in the preceding paragraphs, secondly, a foreign policy based on the national interests emphasising the theme of friends near home and thirdly and most importantly Pakistan requires the economic security by exploiting the rich resources at its disposal. Indeed, the nation eagerly waits for the leader who would make Pakistan economically independent and that day to be included in the list of the few days that Pakistani nation treasures today; like March 23, 1940 (Pakistan Resolution passed), August 14, 1947 (The independence day of Pakistan), April 19, 1973 (National Assembly passed the 1973 Constitution bill almost unanimously which was implemented on August 14, 1973) and May 28, 1998 (Pakistan going ahead with the nuclear test despite the US pressure). It will be the perfect defining moment for the Pakistani nation, the day Pakistan would reach the economic security.