Caught In A Cobweb Of Challenges

We are entangled in a cobweb of multiple challenges that are hampering us to break out of our current serious situation and move forward. The lack of leadership; the want of political will; the political divide; the dichotomy of power; the hybrid governance; the social and economic injustice; the injudicious use of financial resources; the elitism; the corruption; the politicized anti-graft institutions; the managed elections; the engineered electoral outcomes; the absence of the rule of law; the crumbling prosecution system; the policed state; the religion-induced terrorism; the festering insurgency – all have combined to push us to the precipice.
The extraordinary situations need extraordinary measures combining all the elements of national power. We have to do this in a holistic bid to confront the challenges to ensure the survivability of the country. Some of these problems need long term strategy and could wait for another day. The others require immediate attention lest they may help exasperate the other challenges that confront us. Any political leader with some ability and wisdom could pick up urgent challenges from the long list of problems and confront them in all earnest.
The government could prioritize the urgent ones, take the nation on board with a view to creating national consensus and start addressing them over and above political considerations, institutional resistance and party politics like an honest and ruthless savior. What the government needs to ensure is that the force of the national power should seem to be moving in the right direction to achieve the objectives set by consensus. The harshness of actions will indisputably cause pain. The hard days will be forgotten when this national campaign starts yielding dividends. Nations have gone through such challenges and come out victorious through the wisdom of the political leadership.
The de-escalation of political confrontation; the economic rehabilitation through structural reforms including equitable levy of taxes, the review of the agreements with the Independent Power Plants, privatization of the loss gathering State owned enterprises and a drastic cut in governmental expenses and the allocations of MNAs and PMAs for so called constituency-based development; the revamping of security; the restoration of the rule of law by overhauling the judiciary and prosecution systems and focusing on the direct foreign investments are some urgent problems begging for bold, serious and earnest attention. These problems have been discussed threadbare in the national media and need no further brain storming.
A ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ of Judges of the Supreme Court can review the causes of the political tension and suggest ways to address them. The recent landmark judgement of the Apex Court has cleared the blurring haze on the political landscape and restored PTI as a parliamentary party in the National Assembly. The judgement itself is a sad commentary on the role of the Election Commission. Making the judgement controversial will further exasperate the political confrontation. Hundreds of politically induced cases against the founder chairman and other activists of PTI cannot stand up to legal and judicial scrutiny. These could be disposed of in light of the findings of the Commission. This will create political goodwill and bring the current political temperature down.
Keeping Imran Khan in Jail for five years or banning PTI as insinuated by some senior cabinet members will serve no purpose nor help bring political stability in the country. The democracy’s noise is more secure than the silence sought by state coercion with the horrible consequences of public apathy, political polarization, internal turmoil and external isolation as manifested by the USA House of Representatives Resolution. Though non-binding on the US administration, it has brought our internal turmoil in focus.
The economic rehabilitation would be a distant dream if the non-essential expenditures of the government are not drastically cut which have been progressively becoming unsustainable rising from Rs.1500 billion in 2013 to a staggering Rs.11, 000 billion in 2023. We cannot afford to have such an expensive government. Secondly, the subsidies allowed to the elite for decades, said to be over $17 billion as per a UNDP Report, should be withdrawn forthwith diverting these funds for poverty alleviation which has risen to over 45%. The teeming millions of poor cannot have two meals a day.
The loss incurring State Enterprises including PIA, Railway, WAPDA, Steel Mills and others should be privatized and the agreements with IPPs reviewed forthwith. The clauses for capacity payment are no more sustainable. The levy of taxes needs to be made fairer and equitable. It is high time that we bring high agricultural incomes within the tax network The IMF bailout is a temporary relief and a means to help achieve economic stability. We have to come out of the addiction of depending on economic aid and assistance and financial borrowings.
The growing menace of security challenge is having a domino effect on domestic and foreign investments in the country. The menace has stalled the progress in CPEC projects. The Chinese friends are seriously concerned about the security of their people working on the China-funded development projects. A recent UN report has declared the TTP as the largest terrorist organization based in Afghanistan duly assisted by Al-Qaeda with the connivance of the Afghan Interim regime. They have been aiding Afghan Taliban against IS-K which claims to have franchised branches in 20 Muslim countries including Pakistan, and has emerged as a threat to stability in Afghanistan, Iran, the Central Asian Republics and Pakistan. We also have the sleep cells of many other terrorist groups in our country. Hence, a holistic approach to terrorism threat is needed with the nation on board.
The security forces of any country could not address a threat of this magnitude without the whole-hearted support of the nation. The national army of a country should be beyond political controversies freely operating within its constitutionally mandated jurisdiction focusing on internal and foreign security menace. We have a well-trained, disciplined army committed to the internal and external security of the country. The terrorist menace emerging from across the border could be effectively handled by it provided the nation stands by it. The federal and provincial administrations’ role in anti-terrorism war would be crucial.
The earlier military operations against terrorists were successful but their efficacy was undermined by the failure of the civilian administrations to provide effective governance. A large population of the North and South Waziristan was displaced. Still large chunks of the internally displaced population have not been able to return to their ancestral lands living in Karachi and other parts of Sindh. The people are both weary and wary of the presence of terrorists in their lands and want peace and peaceful living. The Bannu disturbances are reflective of the local population’s weariness. The situation can take an ugly turn if it is not handled adroitly.
We are, indeed, entangled in a bad situation standing on the precipice of an abyss. It needs to be handled with political acumen and prudence.