The state of Pakistan

A thorough analysis of Pakistan’s chequered past makes it abundantly clear that the country has spent much of its history in political instability, a downward economic trajectory, educational backwardness and security malaise.

The 1973 constitution, our credible nuclear deterrence and the incumbent democratic setup are our main achievements since Independence. The constitution has continued to provide a comprehensive legal framework to the democratic institutions of the country. Since 1998, our nuclear power has stopped India from launching a full-fledged war against Pakistan despite the 2001-02 and 2008 border standoffs between both the countries.

Although surrounded by a range of complex crises and uncertainties, the current democratic system provides a glimmer of hope for inclusive, responsive and transparent governance in the near future. More importantly, the present military leadership under General Raheel Sharif has categorically reiterated the army’s unflinching support for democracy – which bodes well for the “government of the people” to take stronger roots in the foreseeable future.

The entire picture is not satisfactory, however. Persistent bad governance has brought about a raft of multifaceted issues for the country. Almost all political parties have been dominated by dynastic, plutocratic and hereditary rulers. Massive horse-trading and floor-crossing are still being widely practised.

Besides, staggering political and bureaucratic corruption has reached its pinnacle as clearly exposed by the Panama leaks. So-called public representatives often display indifference to active parliamentary debates and discussions. The main organs of the government spend much of their time in creating formidable hurdles for one another rather than facilitating and complementing the tasks each other.

Since its foundation, the country has miserably failed to make any laudable economic stride. The faltering economy cannot sustain itself for a month without timely bailouts from international financial institutions and donor countries.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data shows that the country’s total debt has jumped up to Rs19.040 trillion indicating that every person in the country is burdened with Rs105,777 debt.

Despite reforming the stagnant economy, it has become an established norm for the party at the helm to heap blame on the previous governments for all economic ills.

And despite lofty promises and tall rhetoric of our governments including the current one, the looming energy crisis continues to increase, leaving some parts of the country without power for 18 to 20 hours in the scorching summer. Lack of power has resulted in industries having to be shut down, soaring unemployment and poverty, thereby stunting proper industrialisation and making it a pipedream. The CPEC, the much-touted economic corridor, is facing ever-increasing political, economic, administrative and geo-strategic hurdles.

Much of the bureaucracy still functions as an agent of obstruction and impediment rather than instigating needed change in the country. Its obstructive red tape, elitism, gigantic corruption and nepotism have created stumbling blocks for the toothless local bodies to acquire requisite administrative and financial powers so as to serve the people at the grassroots level.

Since much of the bureaucracy works in direct complicit with the government in siphoning off dwindling public resources, the latter has so far deliberately refrained from prudently reforming the institution of civil services.

Education remains perhaps the greatest challenge, with the state-run education sector still massively underfunded and poorly resourced at every level. The burgeoning youth population – making up some 60 percent of the country’s inhabitants – has yet to be endowed with quality education. The federal government’s education data shows that 5.7 million children are out of school at the primary level in all four provinces, and 6.2 million children are out of primary schools overall including AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata. In a recent report prepared by Unesco, Pakistan ranked 106th out of 113 countries in terms of providing education to its population.

Though Operation Zarb-e-Azb has resulted in the elimination of 3,500 terrorists, destruction of 992 hideouts and an area of 3,600sq km cleared in North Waziristan, the spectre of resurgent terrorism and militancy continues to pose an existentialist threat while causing irreparable damage as seen from the recent deadly attack on lawyers in Quetta.

Despite sacrificing around 50,000 lives and losing approximately $100 billion in the ongoing war on terror, the state has dragged its feet in terms of reviving Nactaand executing NAP.

 Despite the ominous presence of Daesh in the country, the government has flatly denied the oufit’s links to terror attacks in order to avoid having to initiate stringent measures against it. At present, outlawed militant and sectarian outfits of all stripes continue to organise rallies throughout the country with impunity. The police force is under-resourced, poorly-trained and impotent to tackle even a small group like the infamous Chotoo gang.

On the foreign policy front, despite possessing a vital geo-strategic and geo-economic location, the country is largely isolated. Due to lingering economic issues, the country has dismally failed to reap the benefits of the GSP Plus status provided by the EU.

Alarmingly, some regional powers are bent upon blatantly fomenting insurgency and militancy inside Pakistan to maximise their nefarious designs. But the country neither has a full-time competent foreign minister nor a well-articulated external policy to elicit and mobilise adequate international support against such flagrant regional terrorism.

The leadership has yet to grasp the oft-cited example that there are neither permanent friends nor enemies in the game of international politics; it is only national interest which makes all-weather friends and arch foes in the international arena.

India has nimbly exploited our flawed, ill-conceived and directionless external policy to bring energy-rich Iran, Afghanistan and some Arab countries into its regional bandwagon. The world does not pay heed to our repeated complaints against India’s brazen atrocities in Indian-held Kashmir and its clandestine role in Balochistan because we do not have an experienced foreign minister to convince the world. Despite us blaming India, the world watches us with a sneaking suspicion as the incubator and exporter of terrorism and militancy in the region.

The above-mentioned myriad issues of the country cannot be resolved by piecemeal and thoughtless measures. Resource-rich Pakistan desperately needs patriotic, sincere and competent leadership to bring it back on track. Unluckily, the incumbent political setup does not seem to possess the will to steer the country out of its unending adversities.

The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Karachi.

Email: ayazahmed6666@gmail.com

Twitter: @ayazahmed66665