Touch the right cord for healing to begin

Pakistan went several levels down in human development, which is reflected in how we choose to resolve our conflicts

Now that the PPP and PML-N have formed government at the Centre, and the provinces have also chosen their respective governments, the healing process needs to start.

Before we go into the details of this healing process, we need to see what made the country suffer the wounds, the agony and the thousand cuts that we were supposed to inflict on our neighbour, which is, whether we like it or not, one of the fifth largest economies in the world and is eyeing to become the third largest in a matter of years.

However, we have our priorities, all of which are linked to our romance with the real estate sector. While the government borrows billions of dollars from international and domestic banks for survival, the Punjab government has announced a housing scheme for government officers, to be developed using cutting-edge technology. Part of the copy of a relevant advert goes: “The plan involves creating a meticulously crafted gated community comprising 27 Type-A residences specifically designed to cater to Grade 20 officers.”

Several cases are pending in various courts on the illegal occupation of lands by the housing mafias. One remembers Sindh Rangers’ crackdown on the land mafia in Karachi, in which the KMC was also raided several times. The only news out of this conundrum we received was the release of culprits on the grounds of insufficient evidence. But that’s how the system works. The essential part for the healing process to be effective would be to allow the institutions to work independently and without interventions.

For the healing to be effective, it better addresses both the soft and the hard skills.

Pakistan has gone several levels down in human development, which is reflected in how we choose to resolve our conflicts. Whether the spat is between two political parties, between two individuals, or two institutions, the method adopted is exchanges of fists laced with hateful, abusive language. We have seen the parliament, courts, universities, and even hospitals turn into a boxing ring because we, many decades ago, closed the doors of rational discussion. It did not happen accidentally. We nurtured it and made it happen carefully. Two tools came in handy: the threat to the national security narrative and the blasphemy laws that turned religion into a toxic source that, instead of liberating people from taboos, delusions and directionless life, bogged them deeper into them.

PM Shehbaz Sharif has ordered his economic team to make a five-year plan. We have had several of them previously. The new finance minister is one of many who have worked in multinational banks and financial houses. All those plans and ministers failed to resuscitate because they failed to touch the real issues. We cannot progress unless we set the roadmap to build our education system. We have to make quality education accessible, affordable and omnipresent. We cannot progress unless we rid people of inflated energy bills. The first task of any government should be to unravel the country’s most complicated energy production system. When the existing industrial infrastructure is not responding, how do we expect a new intervention to respond?

Another area that needs immediate attention is making law enforcement agencies apolitical. Some questions need to be asked. Does Karachi still need the deployment of Rangers? This duplication of law-and-order enforcement is a burden on the exchequer. How can a force that is supposed to be on borders manage a city? Let Karachi and other cities, especially in Balochistan, build their police ranks. It would be a stepping stone to reforming the criminal justice system.

Without technology, Pakistan cannot even consider taking the first flight towards progress and the expected healing process to begin. Internet in most of Pakistan is either out of order or not functioning to full capacity, while investors have pulled out of this sector.

Without electricity, educated citizens, investors, and a budget spent on development rather than security, we will only waste time planning and faking people by appointing foreign national finance ministers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2024.

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