It seems quite awful when we think of the progress of Pakistan. The internal and external security
threats, dying economy, industry taking its last breaths, political instability, worldwide humiliation and
what not. The first expression that arises in the mind of a patriot is definitely that the present condition of
the state is poles apart as it was pictured by its founders. The dreams seen by those great people, the
sacrifices offered by the masses and a united passion seems to bear no fruits. However, there is always a
space behind a case and what we have to do is to figure out the real problems that are to be eradicated.
We cannot pay a deaf ear to these matters by blaming it a typical ex-colonial state. Apparently, information bubble of NEWS, will tell us that there is inflation, load sheading, primitive system in Pakistan, and some others major problems are listed above. A matter of fact, these are things needing less heed to be sorted out. These are just the effects caused by the actual hindrances in the approach towards progress. So, dire purpose will be to point out behind the layer things.
The first and foremost problem that is the root cause of all the fuss is the aimlessness of our
nation. We as a nation can never decide what we want from the state. The dream of Iqbal is presented in a
crippled manner by the extremists of one side and fascinated by the fanatics of the other end. The people
in between these extremes have different fractured versions of their ideas that drive them to support the
ruling or opposition party. They are entangled in the words like constitution and mandate, thereby
forgetting the reality and truth. They can easily be hijacked by raising the confusing slogans of democracy
and dictatorship. Why the same faces are elected to the assemblies repeatedly, with zero performance and
a bundle of new slogans? Is it not a ‘democratic dictatorship’? The only answer to the bunch of these
questions is that they have art to mold, fold and fake the idealistic personas of the nation. This dilemma of
our nation produced innumerable problems; “A huge part of budget goes on defense”, “unappreciable
patronization of scientific organizations”, “Scattered face of our democratic values unveils outside of
continent”.
Moving one step further, let us talk about the lefties and the righties of Pakistan. Left side is just the
reaction of the right one. From the very first day, the right wing of Pakistan is trying to keep the controls
of the country in its hands to Islamize in a way they want. However, it could never achieve a position
more than a pressure group or used as the chess moves to save some other king. For example, the
Pakistani version of the Taliban arose in a small area, hijacked the emotional affiliation of the inhabitants
with Islam and forced the government to acknowledge its existence in 2009. They could not withstand
before the armed forces, but created intense security threats to the country. The same is occurring these
days. Such movements started with terrorism to report their existence and ended with terrorism as a
revenge of unaccomplished ideas. This was one side of the righties. There were others who supported the
dictators to transform the country to an Islamic one, but they were used just like cards of other’s game.
No need to talk about the lefties, they are just playing the politics of reaction.
One of the major reasons of our dying economy is this instability of political structure. The
terrorism has not only blocked the way of investors to Pakistan, but an uncertainty in the minds of its own
people. Not even a single cricket team can visit our country for a friendly match because of the adverse
impacts of terrorism. On the international platforms, our country faces hatred and humiliation due to the
terrorism and in-firm foreign policies. So, evils due to political volatility, economic disturbances and
other such vices are due to this lack of a wider vision of our people.
The other scary hound of issues that haunts a lot and is a major impedance in our progress is the
Instability of our institutions. They state inducts proficient officials in bureaucracy to run the system of
government. We cannot dare to say that their vision is not broad as I listed this as a fault for the masses.
Undoubtedly, they can set the examples of perfection in every institute of government by the virtue of
their insight, but the preference of personal motives over the national gain block the road to better service
for the people of our state. This is what we call the red-tape. Political interference is not only the reason
that leads to the shakiness of the institutes. We cannot ignore the fact that higher officials can dictate the
politicians in a better way what is good for the long term progress of the country. Clash of institutions
instigates when limits of power are crossed and every department is ready to interfere the other. This
leads to a chaos; nobody from public knows where to go in the darkness. The state of lawlessness gives
birth to illegal bodies of power in the society and the rule of law is challenged deliberately. Courts fail to
separate falsehood from the truth and extend the cases for years. Hence, anarchy prevails in the society
due to the mismanagement of bureaucracy along with political intrusion.
The third major problem is the lack of leadership neither on the intellectual grounds nor on the
practical side. A true leader leads its nation by giving it a philosophy and a rightful approach. It is his duty
to figure out the nature of society and formulate a long term action plan for the people to strive. The lust
for supremacy or rule is not his true priority; he has a greater role to awaken his nation. Lack of true
leadership in Pakistan after its creation led the nation to the dilemma of vision. The spirit of becoming
something extra-ordinary which was the hall mark of our nation in 1940s was no more there. In such
circumstances, the different extremist parties emerged at the scene to hijack the ideals of the nation. The
obsession of the superiority, the feudal lords, bureaucrats and military chiefs started an unending tussle in
the corridors of power. The vicious circle of their rule is still running even after seventy years. We are
watching a face change drama after few years but the policies and priorities remain same.
The anti- state activism, that we see in three provinces of our country are all the fruits of unequal
distribution of resources, which is truly a political fault. The people of Baluchistan having sense of
deprivation, the Sindhis with racial bigotry and the Pakhtons hijacked by the Taliban are not ready stand
side by side for the one big cause. These severe problems are to be solved with great sensitivity, rather
than thinking of a red revolution which will leave nothing but blood. The road to glory is to be paved by
discernment, not by the politics of revenge. In order to come out of this state, our nation needs a
charismatic leader with a far-reaching vision. He will be able to transform the dream of our founders into
reality by giving people a right line of action.
Another big problem that leads to the ferocious cycle of the same wrong doings is that we, as a
nation, have not learned from our mistakes. The support of the Ayub Khan, was a good chance to grasp
the fact that such a rule is against good of the country. We never figured out our fault, we repeated the
same mistake again. Similarly, the detachment of Bangladesh was a big lesson to learn, but we neglected
the factors that lead to its separation, that are no more hidden, Hamudurehman commission report hasn’t
appeared on the scene yet. Hence, we still have seen problems in the other provinces of Pakistan, where
lack of regulation and rules is barking like wandering dogs.
To the pen off, the list of the sniggering issues on the way to progress goes on to an endless
debate and it can never be solved only by discussions.
What we have to do is to develop our sense to discern what is right and what is wrong. We have
to stand by the one, who is capable enough to give us a united idea of progress. We are not lack of
resources, but of people who can truly lead the nation to the rising edge. As far as our duties are
concerned, we have to keep it in mind that charity begins at home. Instead of blaming this and that, we
are to make ourselves ready for the betterment of our own country. The true leadership only rises when
there are people with right approach to stand by them.
“A nation becomes truly strong since it defeats the dragon of troubles by facing them.”
Dr. Allama Iqbal.
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