Political power sharing is not equal to the challenge

Pakistan's economy sliding, with poverty, unemployment on rise; leadership devoid of any sensitivity

In a truly democratic country, the people are supposedly the masters of their destiny. Of course, this is the ideal state, but many democratic countries in the West such as Britain, France, Germany and the US have over the years developed systems of governance that largely represent the will of their people. Similarly, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore are democracies and are prosperous nations forging ahead. In India, despite the failings of its leaders and PM Narendra Modi’s prejudicial policies against minorities, democratic governance has acted as a check. China, a socialist country based on a system of people’s congress and a Marxism-Leninist state, has become the world’s second largest economic superpower in a short span of forty years. A major contributing factor for the rise is its people’s overall satisfaction towards the central government which remains very high.

But Pakistan’s leadership is indifferent towards these transformational regional and global developments. On the contrary, our economy has been sliding, with poverty and unemployment rising and our leadership devoid of any sensitivity toward the plight of the people. It is so preoccupied with self that for months the PML-N’s main fixation has been the return of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan. No doubt, individual leaders do make the difference and Nawaz Sharif has a standing and a legacy but his health and the innumerable court cases against him are likely to stand in his way. The present state of PML-N and its recent performance and quality of governance have failed to inspire even their dedicated followers. The disillusionment of party stalwarts Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail and few others does not augur well and may reflect adversely in the coming elections.

With Imran Khan in custody and most of his party leaders facing trial or have left the party under pressure has created a vacuum and further distorted the political system. Unsurprisingly, Imran Khan and his party continue to retain their broad following and are likely to make a comeback after the elections in February next year.

In a country where democracy remains fragile and state institutions specially the army enjoys a dominant position in influencing policy and functioning, a weak political leadership will lead to further emaciating the state. There seems to be little realisation of these adverse consequences. The stability of the state and its image depends to a great extent on the quality of leadership that is inspirational and adheres to well-established democratic and ethical values. Most of our leaders are neither motivating nor do they have a dedicated commitment to democracy and human rights. It is critical that a leader leads “from the front”, as they say in typical military parlance. This is as much a requisite not only for a military commander but for civilian leadership also, in steering the state. They should have the ability to deal with the difficult circumstances the country is facing. And the people while voting for the coming elections should look for these attributes in their leaders. The onus lies as much on people to identify their interests and work towards attaining these goals.

Pakistan today needs leadership that is best suited to specifically handle its sinking economy and to actualise the latent potential of the nation by countering the present state of despondency and state of disrepair. The leadership so far has failed to lead or inspire and made little contribution to improving their lives. In short, their ability to deal with the difficult circumstances the country is facing is fairly limited. Not surprising national statistics of health and education keep going down, further burdening the society. Experience shows that those countries whose leaders adhered to a set of established principles or were gifted with a forceful personality did succeed in transforming the condition of their people. Nelson Mandela changed the destiny of South Africa and Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore, a small island, into a potent economic state. Of course, we are not fortunate to have leaders of that caliber but by strengthening the system and adhering to well-founded principles of democratic governance and a fair judicial system Pakistan can forge ahead. Presently, most of our leadership feels insecure about its image and suffers from self-doubt, thus leaning on undemocratic practices and on the military. Our present dilemma is that some of our leaders are even uncertain of the authority that they command or derive from being elected by the people due to complexes or a blemished political system. In fact, when institutions are weak leadership acquires great significance but there is little realisation of it.

Adding to our woes the security situation, in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in particular, is also getting worse as terrorist incidents are on the rise. Causalities of civilian and military personnel are increasing and should be a matter of serious concern for the present and incoming government. The latest attack in Mastung cost 52 precious lives and left 70 others injured. Unfortunately, Mastung has remained a hotbed of insurgency and groups like Islamic State are active for quite a while and not sufficient attention has been given to the increasing incidents of insurgency. There is also a view that the Islamic State by virtue of its inimical relations with TTP is not targeted that forcefully.

Weak governments and distorted democratic structure have prevented us from taking difficult but correct positions on matters of foreign policy and security issues. Wisdom in hindsight reminds us how we rushed to support the US invasion of Afghanistan for temporary gains, whose backlash we continue to face even now. Pakistan’s influence and prestige diminishes when it pursues policies that entangle it in unforeseen situations as has been the case by supporting the Taliban in the past. A security-prone country is a great drag on the country’s economy as we continue to experience over the years. Our foreign and domestic policies need to be based on what we have learnt from our past mistakes. And focus on reducing poverty and eventually eliminating it. This is no easy task and only possible if our government seriously concentrate on turning the economy and strengthening the infrastructure.

Democracy, human rights and a self-sustaining economy are not just the prerogatives or ideals of Western countries but are also the aspirations of people of Balochistan and those of other provinces. And yearn that with fair elections a better leadership will emerge.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2023.

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