The writer is associate professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Boston University
As is customary in nations that value democracy, we should also ensure that our current and aspiring leaders share their vision of the future in a civilised and rigorous debate, which while it may be hard, is not impossible. After all, who would have thought that a government would finish its tenure in Pakistan?
I believe that the citizens of Pakistan deserve to hear more than just the political mud-slinging and the maligning and vicious personal attacks. I believe that the media and the caretaker government should create a platform for a series of nationally televised debates that are civilised, moderated and provide a platform to all major political parties to share their views and answer tough questions about their vision for the future of Pakistan. I propose three debates, with the first being on domestic development and economic issues, including education, health, science and technology, and poverty reduction. Let us hear what our leaders have to say beyond the absurd statements that promise us the moon and more in the first 30 days after being elected. The second debate should focus on foreign policy. Respected and impartial journalists should push our leaders on policy with nations that share our borders and nations that share our economic interests.
The final debate should focus on national security and defence. Let us hear what the leaders have to say about the complex challenges facing our nation today and how they plan on addressing civilian-military relations, deal with various insurgencies, ensure the rights of minorities and create a stable and prosperous Pakistan.
Great leaders are not just the ones who complete their tenures; they are the ones who take the country to a better place, who have the vision to bend the arc of history in the direction of a more prosperous union of its people. Let us judge our leaders, not by the size of their political jalsas, but by the depth of vision and the size of their commitment for a better Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2013.
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Most politicians are too scared or too incompetent to debate against Imran khan -- do you really believe that Fazlur Rahman or even anyone in MQM knows anything about national debt or energy or health or education or defense???
I think it would be wonderful to see Sharif, Zardari/ Raja sahib, IK, some MQM leader, Munawwar Hussain and Fazlur Rahman on the stage at the same time -- I would certainly watch it and see how some of these so called leaders handle questions about the army, America, energy and health. I think, at the very least, it would be remarkably entertaining to see their real understanding of the issues, particularly maulvi hazraat on energy and economy!
As Falcon said Geo is already conducting such debates. But people, specially from PTI, should push for debates between the presidents/chairmen of the different parties. Whereas candidates matter, we would also want such a party to represent us whose leader can represent us adequately on the global stage.
The main points to debate are we ever going to spend more money on the poor masses or not? How would we increase the budget share of education, healthcare, support to poor families, power generation and likes? What would be decreased from the budget and transferred to productive activities? There are lots of fake and generalized talks about increasing the amounts on public welfare by cutting down on corruption but nothing that can be obvious in a pie chart. When would poor public see the benefits of billions of aid money and the benefits of nuclear technology used for power generation?
Debates? Like Nawaz Sharif would ever dare to debate Imran Khan
I have noticed that educated Paksitanis make too much hoo-haa about policies but rarely read what gets published, because their next excuse is what is the point of reading policies if they never get implemented. PTI has released more than 7 policy papers, I would be surprised if many people have read all of those. Similarly, Geo is already doing a series of debates on taxation reforms, education reforms, foreign policy, etc, but I don't think many people know about it.