Pakistan is still looking for a leader who can truly lead nation; not representative of those who hijacked this nation
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: Pakistanis must have felt proud when watching Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sitting in between US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the opening session of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague. World leaders expressed satisfaction on the stern measures taken by Pakistan to ensure foolproof security of its nuclear arsenal and curb illicit trafficking of radioactive and nuclear material. Pakistan is one of the eight sovereign states that has successfully conducted nuclear tests and is believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons in three digits.
Obviously, for many Pakistanis, it is a matter of pride for the country to excel in technological advancement, which many states with all sorts of resources still dream of. However, when we see what is going on in real life, we wonder whether Pakistanis have placed their priorities in a sensible manner. The other day, officials of the World Health Organisation certified India and 10 other Asian countries to be free of polio, declaring this to be a momentous victory for millions of health workers, who took the pain to reach each and every corner of their respective countries to ensure eradication of this menace.
But where do we stand in this regard? Next to Afghanistan and Nigeria! During last few weeks, a number of health providers and their guards were gunned down while serving this thankless nation. This week, one anti-polio health worker, a mother of five, was kidnapped and murdered in cold blood in Peshawar. A recently issued United Nations report on children’s education in Pakistan should trigger alarm bells but a country which spends less than two per cent of its GDP on education should not expect miracles. As per the report, over 6.5 million Pakistani children are not even getting primary education. Pakistan is far behind many Asian and African countries when it comes to the imparting of basic education at the grassroots level.
For the last few days, we have been celebrating the breakthrough in talks between the Pakistani state and the Taliban. Perhaps, we have missed something here; Prime Minister Sharif is negotiating with world powers on nuclear security in The Hague while his government officials are talking of peace deals with militants. Pakistan is still looking for a leader who can truly lead the nation; not a representative of those who have hijacked this nation at gunpoint.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2014.
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