An open letter to Shahbaz Sharif

Bringing discipline in our lifestyles can go a long way in bringing stability, sense of good governance in the country

Dear Sir,

I write to you as a Pakistani citizen who has been born and raised in Lahore for most part of life.

I have nothing but praise for you for the work that you have done in terms of making Lahore a modern city — a symbol of progress under the new international paradigm of ‘cities as engines of growth’.

While many complained that you only invest in infrastructure, and that too only in Lahore, you responded and proved your good leadership by leading the way on education reforms in Punjab and infrastructure development in all the major cities of the province.

While there is a lot of good that is being done on the macro-level, I would like to bring a few small, yet impactful things to your attention. As you may be aware that the fuel crisis has significantly tarnished the goodwill and efforts of the government, there is a lesson that has to be learnt out of this — an opportunity in crisis, as I would like to see it. Pakistan’s foremost enemy, I believe, is the growing population of the country and our living style that cannot be sustained by our economy and resources.

While the economic turnover of the country is not your mandate as a provincial chief minister, how the cities in Punjab are organised, and lifestyle of the people is very much under your control.

Just take, for instance, the way you enforced the 10pm cut-off rule for weddings in Punjab. Initially, there was a lot of hue and cry over the rule; but in time, people realised the advantages of the organised system. Before this law, marriage ceremonies would go on till 3am in the night, with food served no earlier than 11pm, just how it is like in Karachi and rest of Pakistan today. Sheer waste of guests’ time, loud noise in the neighbourhood, and waste of resources was the eventual result.

My Chief Minister, the overall lifestyle of our country has to be fixed; and it has to start from Lahore because that is the only place which can become a prototype for rest of the country under your leadership.

Governance, as you are well aware, is not only about bureaucratic or financial reforms. Good governance of a country is also about psychological aspects of how things are organised, operated and felt by those observing it. To bring some level of discipline and governance to our cities, to reduce wastage and to cut down on crimes, you, Sir, have to start by enforcing the strict opening and closing hours of businesses.

In a developing country from the Third World, like Pakistan, if shops and business can open up at 9.30am and shut down at 7pm sharp, we could save four to five hours’ worth of energy, reducing the burden on our economy.

Secondly, there has to be a rule that students are only allowed to enroll in their neighbourhood schools so that traffic congestion and travel time in cities can be massively reduced. Additionally, schools should be made to provide transportation for students. Every functioning school bus means 50 less cars on the road.

People naturally revolve their lifestyle around becoming part of an organised system — a society. After 9pm it is hard to witness any traffic on the roads during weekdays in any major city of the developed world.

While, you once did implement strict business hours, and the effects were exceptional, it was later revoked. I am of the opinion that most of the problems faced by our country today, be it terrorism, economic decline or the energy crisis, is a product of our misplaced lifestyles in an unorganised society.

Bringing discipline in our lifestyles through strict enforcement of business hours, student enrollment in neighbourhood schools, and other minor changes including road discipline can go a long way in bringing stability and sense of good governance in a chaotic country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.

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