Inertia casts dark shadow over development

There is simply no will in addressing major economic challenges.

KARACHI: Newspapers, magazines, and television programmes are overflowing with analysis, ideas and solutions by experts to address our critical nagging economic and social challenges. The problem does not seem to be the lack of resources or creative solutions, but inertia. There is simply no will and effort visible in addressing our major challenges.

It is easy to pass the judgment that the government is incompetent and is not doing its job, which is true. However, the question is why does the government continue to be so paralysed and hopeless after being in power for four years? Two opposite views precipitate when we look impartially at this question.

One comes from the diminishing number of defenders of the government. Their explanation include, that there are no extraordinary issues, it is just the opposition’s propaganda, the government has accomplished some unique milestones like the Benazir Income Support Programme, built a political consensus, prevented political victimisation among many more.

The other version comes from the opponents, which place personal greed, dishonesty, corruption, and incompetence of the rulers at the top of the list for causes of ‘bad governance’. Followed by, the accusation that a small bunch of crafty individuals have hijacked the main ruling party as well as the government, led by the president.

Both schools of thought create so much noise and distractions that suck the attention of the masses into what mostly turns out to be transitory non-issues. Most of us have lost the site of the real issues.

The backbone of success for any government is its economy, which ensures adequate opportunities of livelihood for the people through economic activity. The second set of the real issues concerns long-term goal setting for the uplift of our huge population through an overhauled education and healthcare system.

The opposition is supposed to be the government in waiting. When we look at them for remedies and plans, we are equally disappointed. Salvaging Pakistan is doable, although it requires a diligent collective effort led by the government.

Just to make a point, let us suspend our hindsight wisdom for a moment and focus purely from a management perspective on the indigenous feat of building of our nuclear capability. The project was initiated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1972, consolidated by General Ziaul Haq and kept thriving through several other diverse rulers including Benazir’s government and culminating with the successful testing by Nawaz Sharif’s government in 1998, after India detonated its second nuclear test.

We became the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapons, on our own. All possible shades of governments – civilian, marital law, secular and religious – united to work together for twenty-six years to achieve a common national goal. The project was as high-tech as they come, requiring complex struggle and huge resources. Not to mention that it was accomplished in the face of opposition from the world powers, so credit also went to our foreign policy handling. It would merit high grades for a project management model, by any standards. It required finances, knowhow, political acumen, determination, and consistency and attested our capabilities beyond any doubt. What prevents us from demonstrating the same dedication and unity in tackling our real issues mentioned above?

Where there is will there is a way. It seems that the inertia factor is casting its dark shadow over our dream of liberation.

The contributor writes on socioeconomics and has a background in trading and exports in the private sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2012.