KARACHI:
The father of the nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted Pakistan to become a democratic welfare state with the Constitution as the supreme law. Unfortunately, since 1953, Jinnah’s vision has been trampled upon and today we are on the brink of a crippling economic quagmire. Those involved in power politics are playing upon political polarisation, exploiting religion, and ethnicity, which is impeding the process of economic recovery.
Had the PTI not been removed through the no-confidence vote, they would have faced the brunt of the anger from the electorate. The no-confidence vote helped PTI’s resurgence and shifted blame upon those who had to take tough decisions required from Pakistan to meet the International Monetary Fund’s conditions. Now that the Punjab by-elections have been held, and people have released their anger, it is time that sanity must prevail within the political elite.
The government must put an end to the amnesty schemes for the real estate sector, otherwise, investments in the productive industry would shift to land development and the documented economy will shrink. Our exports will decrease, fertile agricultural land will decrease, unemployment will rise, and the tax collection that funds the exchequer will reduce. All the stakeholders including the political leaders must realise that we cannot continue this way and must revert to Jinnah’s vision to put the country on the path of growth and success.
Ali Tariq
Dubai
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2022.
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