Political will required to surmount challenges: experts

Discussion by experts organised at the Institute of Regional Studies

ISLAMABAD:

The absence of a collective political will is at the heart of governance challenges in South Asian countries, particularly in Pakistan.

This was the crux of views expressed by the experts at a discussion on 'Issues of Governance and Developments in South Asia with a Focus on Pakistan's Political and Social Developments' organised at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) on Thursday.

The panelists were of the view that while there were varying levels of improvements across various sectors, the pace of development in Pakistan had been painfully slow. They underlined that it was predominantly due to its issues but not limited to the persistent rise in corruption, maladministration, and misuse of resources by successive governments.

The panelists comprising of Ambassador Ghalib Iqbal, Dr Salma Malik, Quaid-i-Azam University Assistant Professor Taimur Shamil, former Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi shared the opinion that politics in Pakistan had turned into a contest of sloganeering and polemics against political opponents, overshadowing the actual aim of serving the people and developing policies and frameworks to improve their livelihoods. The solution to some of the main governance challenges lies in developing people-centric policies and approaches instead of needless political point-scoring, they claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2022.