KARACHI:
In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the word ‘republic’ has lost its virtue. The basic definition of this forgotten word is a state in which power ultimately lies with the people and their elected representatives. The current socioeconomic conditions and political affairs of the country illustrate that Pakistan has deviated from the republic aspect of the country.
The flawed educational curriculum of Pakistan has played a huge role in this. Intentionally or otherwise, the focus of primary and secondary education is to create robot citizens who rely on memory instead of understanding. Thus, we have not been able to produce Nobel Prize winners despite the innumerable PhDs, which were distributed during a so-called period of ‘educational boom’. Once a home to diverse cultures and religions, Pakistan has now become polarised to the extent that certain unelected factions have always held the key to the country. A nation that required a pluralistic regime was socially engineered to benefit centralised regime systems. History teaches us that social engineering inevitably leads to chaos. To create sympathy for the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and to gain support for a dictatorship, the nation was socially engineered to favour selected groups. If the said continues and the politicised pawns of the ruling elite are neither dealt with nor utilised for the greater good of the country, Pakistan will be stuck in a perpetual Dark Age.
The pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for Pakistan as it provided us with the opportunity to reconfigure settings while the rest of the world was falling behind. Thus, those at the top of the hierarchy have to revisit their drawing boards and impartially pay heed to the economic and social rights of citizens, guaranteed not only by the Founder of Pakistan, but also by the Constitution.
Sajwar Channa
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2021.
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