Is Imran Khan a dreamer?

You can hear the thunder long before the storm. Or so they say. We witnessed the ‘much anticipated’ dethroning of the Nawaz dynasty before our eyes. Thanks to the Chief Justice of Pakistan who made sure that justice be served and irrefutably, this time around in the history of Pakistan, justice was after all not delayed.

However, to the displeasure of many, the fact is we should not overlook the effort Imran Khan put in to ensure that justice is actually served. His incessant but tenacious whistle-blowing and assertions along the years led to glistening of the hope for a new or ‘naya’ Pakistan in the eyes of every Pakistani. There was a reason for the downtrodden nation to rejoice, to believe and more importantly be optimistic about their future and the future of their children.

Now, Imran Khan is indeed in power after unremitting struggle and it sure has been a bumpy ride all along for him. But despite his readiness and desire, would he be able to straighten up a disheveled nation and the inherited topsy-turvy system? Is he a dreamer or would he be able to make Pakistan get up on its feet and start anew?

But before we seek answers to these questions, there is a dire need to identify the needs and issues of a common man; whose population constitutes to be a majority in our country.

Though the newly elected PM has unquestionably presented the nation with one of the most viable manifestos in recent times that actually favors the ‘man on the street’ for once, there is still an impending need to look into the matters that should preferably be dealt with within the first 100 days of Imran’s premiership. So, there is a need to identify goals and target the ones that require instantaneous attention. Hence, while key points like accountability, austerity drive, selection in any discipline on merit, parity to the education system, depoliticizing and strengthening the police, right to information, etc. are equally important, to me as a common man, the following critical eight points are the ones that should be part of Imran’s immediate ‘to-do’ list:

1. Education Fee

I would term this a heinous crime being committed by the educational institutions fleecing parents ferociously. The uncontrollable rise in the school fee has become parents’ worst nightmare. Although most of the private schools have already been charging exorbitant fee, the situation is worsened further for parents when these schools conveniently raise fee on annual basis with unreasonable and illicit increase in the fee structure. There are title heads such as Advance Tax, Security Fee, Other Charges, etc. while some schools only have the Total Amount printed on the fee chalaans without bothering to specify items they are charging to constitute the monthly fee.

The helpless parents have nowhere to go and no one to help hence making it one of the most pressing issues needing to be dealt with at once.

2. Rising Prices

Previously, there have been absolutely no checks and balances on the prices of consumer goods. Producers, retailers, wholesalers, suppliers, etc. have had the liberty to go on a rampage and toy around with consumers manipulating prices to their pleasure and will. Have the previous ‘custodians of democracy’ ever realized, out of their princely lifestyles, how much it costs a common man to feed his family with merely necessity goods like milk and eggs – not to mention how beast of a burden are items such as education, housing, transportation, medicine, utilities and the likes must have been on the common person. The new government should establish consumer societies that actually have the authority to monitor and regulate prices of goods and services.

3. Water Crisis

While the availability of water is becoming more and more scarce each day, but because the regulatory authorities have failed to do their due, people are at the mercy of the water/tanker mafia swindling the common man no end. For example, in Karachi, for a 1,000 Gallons of water, they charge a hefty amount of between Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000 per tanker and the rates indiscriminately increase as the does the quantity of water purchased. It is commendable that the new government has been exerting full concentration on building dams but this tanker mafia in different cities must also be curbed in order to control rates.

4. Salary Concerns

Salary delayed is salary denied! Numerous private companies have been exploiting their employees with no appraisals/raise in salaries to offset inflation. This is a grave issue as the livelihood of people is directly dependent on their earned income. These organizations, including most of the renowned and prominent ones, unjustly:

i) Delay monthly salaries of their employees and reimburse upon their convenience. The length of delay may be extended to days, weeks or even months!

ii) Withdraw or indefinitely postpone appraisals/raise in salaries that adversely affects a common man and makes it difficult to make ends meet.

iii) Make employees sit long hours without paying them overtime or any other equivalent compensation.

5. Trust Deficit

Let’s face it. The people of Pakistan have had no trust in the previous governments all these years. In fact, the trust deficit gap had been vastly widening owing to the impervious attitude toward people. People have been greatly mistreated in civil offices and looked down upon instead of being respected or valued.

There is a dire need, by the current government, to rid these civil offices of red-taping their policies and procedures and instead simplifying them to facilitate the common man. Application or renewal of CNIC or passport, payment of vehicle motor tax, income tax returns, and similar activities, have been made so inconveniently difficult that people dread even the thought of initiating them let alone proceeding to the get them done.

6. Medicine Misfortune

As goes with the prices of consumer goods, the medicine costs a fortune as well. The pharmaceutical firms manipulate their prices as they please and whenever they please. There is no one to keep a check on them. Earlier this year, a “drug pricing policy 2018” enabled and empowered pharmaceutical companies to increase prices on their own and as a result, the prices of as many as 10,000 medicines were increased. So, whether given the excuse to off-set prices with inflation or aiding these companies unscrupulously, it is still a crime to make medicines unobtainable for people – not to mention that this unaffordability causes countless deaths. Bearing the cost of medicine or good medical treatment in Pakistan have also (almost) been made to become a status symbol in this country!

7. VIP Culture

There is a clear class distinction prevalent in Pakistan and metaphorically, there are people on ‘this’ side of the bridge and the ones on the ‘other’ side. One extreme example of this class difference is the VIPs with big, shiny vehicles barricading the streets and making the lives of the commoners absolutely miserable – blocking the traffic and many a time letting people die in the traffic-trapped ambulances. But nobody is to care!

8. Rising Unemployment

Joblessness is one of the biggest issues the youth of Pakistan has been facing. Unemployment makes way for crime and corruption leading to further instability in the country. The current government can counter this crucial issue, on a rudimentary level, by establishing boot camps for vocational training that can offer readily available skilled resources in specialized areas such as mobile repairing, car, bike and A/C repairing, plumbing, electronics, carpentry, cooking, driving, farmhand, etc. thus increasing employability.

So whether Imran Khan can deliver or get Pakistan out of the financial, economic, environmental or social quandary depends entirely on the people of Pakistan as well as Pakistanis outside Pakistan – everybody will need to do their part in their own capacity to see the light of day. From as simple as having compassion and respect for their fellow citizens to fulfilling higher-level responsibilities like respecting and obeying federal, state and local laws, participating in the local communities, paying taxes and bills honestly and on time, eradicating corruption at all levels, reporting irregularities to the concerned authorities – the list is endless. But yes, the contribution will need to be reciprocal with the government supporting the people and strengthening trust between each other – and vice versa.

Imran Khan is a proponent of change and the ensuing prosperity that is in the offing, but we all need to knit together to come out as a nation desperately desiring to change the course of this country in the right direction for once.

Speaking of whether Imran Khan is a dreamer. Well, Allama Iqbal had a dream that became a remarkable reality. So let’s just start doing our bit one step at a time - I see light at the end of the tunnel!

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The News.