Where is political leadership taking the country?

There seems to be little realisation by the political leadership of the dangerous direction in which they are leading the country. Pakistan’s image and standing among the comity of nations is already seriously affected by the chaotic conditions prevailing in the country. It is perhaps one of the most difficult periods through which the country is passing. Day in and day out we are reminded of the precarious condition of the economy and how desperately we are seeking assistance from the IMF to bail us out. Taking advantage of the state’s vulnerabilities, hostile elements like TTP, BLA and IS-K have stepped up their activities. The killing of the Chinese personnel working on Chinese projects have understandably raised serious concern about the safety of Chinese citizens, reflecting sadly on our state of commitment to ensure their safety. Similar apprehensions of safety are expressed by other foreigners and even our people working in remote areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are deeply concerned. Most of these problems could have been handled more deftly and even solved but the focus of political leadership especially the opposition is pushing their narrow agenda of bringing the government down rather than pursuing goals for national stability and betterment.

The regional and international situation also remains unfavourable. There has been no let-up on the tense and hostile attitude of the BJP government toward Pakistan to cover its brazen policies in Kashmir. But Pakistan racked by its own doings has lost the international standing to raise genuine issues even where its position is morally and politically on the side of truth and justice.

So how is it that these issues are sidetracked? Is it not the responsibility of political leadership to focus on national priorities rather than pursue a single point agenda of somehow getting back into power irrespective of the trail of adverse consequences that will follow? It is also worth reflecting if politics should just centre round character assassination. Are not the courts and people the best judge? In the larger interest of the country the whole thrust of politics should shift from character assassination of the opponents and personalise politics to issue-based challenges and resolving the hardships of majority of our people. The unfortunate aspect is all the three major political parties in retaliation or otherwise belittling and projecting the weaknesses of each other’s leadership. Not realising that this type of politics lowers the image of political leaders in the eyes of the public. And in a country like Pakistan where dictators have engaged deliberately to demolish democracy these attitudes are particularly harmful. No one person can be a judge about the character and conduct especially when he is the political opponent. Neither any one can become a prosecutor and a judge of his political opponents. It is the people who have the right to exercise their choice of electing those whom they consider to be the best to serve the community and their interest. One cannot be a political rival and also a judge and jury. If the entire politics of the country centers around accusing opponents and demonising them then the leaders would be doing great injustice to the people of the country.

Pakistani people by and large are looking for result and issue-oriented politics wherein political parties introduce measures and bring about changes that improve the quality of their lives. How long are we going to remain dependent on foreign assistance? Imran Khan has rightly raised issues concerning the self-respect and dignity of a nation. But is perpetual dependence on IMF and major powers for economic and financial assistance not a matter of self-respect and pride of a nation? How can we close our eyes to these major weaknesses?

Our leaders should address the real core issues head-on, preferably with government and opposition taking a long-term view of it. By focusing on education, health, infrastructure and projects aimed at improving the status of women and alleviating mass poverty at the national and provincial level, they should solicit support for these programmes and ensure their implementation from the people. Empty rhetoric and mutual accusations would take us nowhere except to political chaos and further lagging behind from even South Asian standards. The present fate of Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan should be an eye opener for us.

The easier part is to solicit advice but how to make them listen to it seriously. It is leaders who are supposed to give direction and change the destiny of nations; but in our case and that of several developing countries, it is people’s pressure and people’s generic movement that have changed the destiny of nations. In this the role of the media, social media platforms, civil society, and opinion-makers can be critical if used diligently.

The fundamental question is: how can we change the direction of our leadership so that they take a more mature and balanced approach and result-oriented direction. Populist approach can take leadership only that far if not used with a clear and defined aim of improving the lives of the masses. The precious asset of Imran Khan of having such a large following should be channeled for placing the country on a stable and prosperous path. Otherwise, it could be very divisive and lead to anarchy. The oldest and well-established democracy of US even went through a period of serious turbulence when former President Trump took to a populist agenda with mass rallies and confrontational politics. In Pakistan, where democracy regrettably is still anemic, not fully rooted and averse to using political institutions; taking a path of confrontation and preferring street to parliamentary politics does not augur well for the future of the country.

What one fears is that if the elected representatives in opposition and government abuse power, it would certainly lead to both sides taking harsh measures; and an unfortunate cycle of confrontation and countering it would emerge. We are already seeing these ominous signs.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2022.

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