Pakistan in impasse

IMPASSE OF PAKISTAN.

Pakistan is in a grip of the most unfavourable circumstances both internally and externally. The free electronic media send signals that next morning that there is no tomorrow for Pakistan. No doubt the patient is critical but the obituary is being written by our anchors before the sad demise. Every critical patient needs an intensive care but it seems that none is available.

The electronic media is full of despair and disappointments. Sowing the seed of inability in the masses to rebel or struggle to live. We cry for better leaders but shrug our shoulders to lead ourselves. We want to be obedient but mischievous pliable followers. We are scared to take a dangerous but decisive steps. We blow out our miseries out of proportion to get sympathy. We have lost faith in ourselves to earn respect but demand respect irrespective of our attitudes. We deny every crime and we are caught red handed every day.

Our priorities are upside down and our preferences are at antagonising our expectation. Our present is at odds with our future like our past had the sole responsibility to land us in the present awful state. We shy away from our past and have no courage to challenge our future. We are looking for contractors to shape our destiny and walk away to pay the debts of the past.

We are scared to accept our responsibility and the greater responsibility is to choose to live. We want a system or a culture that ensure our right to speak out but at the same time to make the others deaf to what we utter. Because we are scared to look in the mirror. We criticise but refuse to rectify our selves. Self criticism is dangerously fatal to us without trying it.

None of us know our job but we are doing multiple jobs at the same time. We have made amendments in our constitutions but resist amendments in our intentions and attitudes. We contradict what we have done and accept the responsibility what we have never done nor have the courage to do.

We have no faith in the enormous capability of human mind. But we are always out for shopping to buy crutches to walk around. We live beyond our limits and aspire beyond our capabilities. The wide gulf between our expectation and aspirations is driving us crazy.

We want democracy without democratising our mind. Our words are always higher than our deeds. We are addict to self deception.

We want to live half life and expect the reward of full. We don't live with our full potentials but expect the harvest of the full potentials. We compete with incompatible and equate with unequal. This is the most difficult mental state to be treated. Self realisation is the key to our problems. We have lost self esteem to give us courage to accept the things we cannot change and the strength to change the things we can and the wisdom to differentiate between the two.

Our past is in the robes of divinity, we live in today by impulses and expect tomorrow to have a reality. Nature cannot follow our whims but have certain fixed rules and regulations. We don't obey nature, expect nature to toe our line.

We view things either totally wrong or totally right and resists that the two can exist together. We had some basic amendments in our constitution which will have long repercussion on our future but we are not ready to accept our failures in delivering good governance. We expect a short cut to the corridors of power and never miss a chance to demean the good with the bad and devalue the human values.

Our legislators are busy to do the job of local government but at the same time we forget to realise that majority of them are unaware of legislation. Electoral system is for the "haves" and is not tailored for "have nots." It is the only trade with no risk at all for loss. Invest to day in millions and get tomorrow in trillions. They were awarded the grants for this very purpose to take over the job of local bodies.

Our judiciary has no parallel in comparative history. It surrendered its freedom and was won back by lawyers and civil bodies. It is savagely politicised and Incapable of alleviating the problems of the general masses. They are deeply involved in political decisions. Unfortunately they are selective in that as well. Judiciary has taken an extra judicial responsibility of transfers and postings with additional responsibility to work as police, as lawyers, as jurists and as executioners.

The army is involved in protecting our ideological borders leaving the ground and aerial sovereignty of the country to ABABEELS. Instead of professionalism they dictate the foreign policy and are more worried about the allocation of funds. Nothing internally can be done without their tacit approval.

The journalists, particularly the electronic Taliban are running parallel courts, carry out character assassination and act as anti corruption judges and have sacred duty to demoralise the public to loose faith in the future of the country, preparing them mentally to surrender before the war has started. Their Pakistan is limited to three cities, Islam Abad, Lahore and Karachi. They are on "pay as you go contract." The composition of the panels is against the basic character of federation that shows their mind set.

We have a dummy government with chairs but no authority living on day today strategy to face scandals. Their incompetence has compounded the problems. The shadow cabinet is without vision supporting government when it comes to their interest and oppose for public consumption. The nation is cheated that without Jim no body can fix it. Jim is waiting for sonami to get momentum.

In this state of affairs, is there any possibility to think of better tomorrow? No sane person will call the present set up a democratic system. But one thing is sure that unlike dictatorship there will be no vacuum when the tenure is over.

It is the result of prolonged military rule that there is paralysis of thinking process and inability to frame a strategy for the long run.The masses cannot be fooled for more than twice. If every thing is washed away from Indian parliamentary history, Nehru will be remembered for establishing the parliament and till early eighties the members of Indian congress used to act as opposition. Froze Gandhi was one of the arch opposition leader to his father in law.

No doubt that problems are enormous but it is of utmost importance that public morale should be boosted rather than shattered. National wisdom and courage cannot be defeated. It is better to have incompetent civil rule than the competent dictatorship of the armed forces. Lame democracy is far better than general Franco stable government for thirty year.

Have we the moral courage as a nation to opt for life and stop to sign our death certificate before it actually happens?

Dr. Khurshid Alam

14/04/12. London