Hour of reckoning

The signs are ominous to say the least: an insurgency that does not seem to be fading, the population in the tribal areas faced with a holocaust, floods ravaging towns, villages, crops and houses all around; corruption peaking at all levels, the Baloch up in arms as never before, an inept and incompetent political leadership that cannot or does not comprehend the whole dynamic of the current crises and a less than visionary opposition which could lay down an alternative. Has the Pakistani state fallen by the wayside or are these symptoms of a still more frightening scenario?

The biggest challenge is to restore the confidence of the masses in the continuing viability of the state. When a people lose faith in the destiny of a country it is a moment for deep reflection. Rhetoric, slogans and an appeal to emotions will no longer work with a population that has been fed lies for six decades and which is traumatised, bruised and now pulverised by the elements. The concept of social justice has remained hollow and devoid of substance for most Pakistanis as poverty has increased.

Have we paused and considered what price we are paying for neglecting to provide quality education for everyone? That is one area which should have attracted attention at the highest level. Human resource development is a key ingredient in the socio-economic uplift of a people. In the region, we seem to be spending the least amount as a percentage of GDP on education.

Rule of law, since the inception of the country, has passed us by. There can be no architecture of peace and prosperity without the rule of law and respect for institutions.

For over six decades now, we have accepted Kashmir as a core issue. We have confronted India,fought wars and invested an awesome amount of resources into building our defence capability, all at the expense of the common man, education, health care and the eradication of poverty. The teeming millions of Pakistan, the hungry, the dispossessed, the illiterate have nothing to do with the Kashmir policy that has cost us dearly. The debilitating effects of ill-conceived, expediency-driven policies that have no rationale and serve no national interests have begun to corrode and shake the foundations of Pakistan.

The hour of reckoning is close. There is a need for new, far-sighted, courageous leadership that has vision and that can launch the country on a new trajectory of social, economic political reforms, provide a new social contract and that would design and craft a new bold approach to normalising relations with India.

The alternative to this course is the continuance of a debilitating status quo.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2010.