Economic isolation

Pakistan is in turmoil is stating the obvious. The country is without any sports at the international level. No cricket team is willing to come here as a result of the law and order situation. The NZ got it first at the Sheraton and then as if that was not enough the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Lahore. That was in sports. Now the economic impact of the attack on Karachi Airport will be felt in the passenger movement. The airlines are rethinking their strategy of landing at the airport. Are we a rogue nation? Is this a mere propaganda by our enemies against us? I would like to think so but the evidence is against us. We are not part of the comity of nations. We blow a lot of hot air but really speaking we are chattels of one nation or the other. We are told that we are a proud nation. What are we proud of? Are we doing anything worthwhile on the world scene? We blow a lot of hot air and just that nothing else.
What is the representative government doing to allay the fears and fault of the nation? Are we doing something in terms of sending emissaries to solve the complex issues that have come out of the Karachi situation? Is the government representative of the people of this country? Political parties have a considerable amount of points on the issues. The Pakistani personality is really a subservient one and it seems that we have not been able to get out of our colonial legacy. What can one do? The haul is a very difficult one but it has to be done if the country is not going to be in the same category as the African countries. Is it doable? It is, provided the policy makers understand all this. The parallel I want to draw with, is the 1973 when ZAB brought the country out of turmoil that was worse than what it is today. Alas we do not have ZAB today and all we have are hangers on and a political system that is based on anything but the best management practices.
The worth of ZAB has never been really documented. He was a person who was with all his faults a million miles ahead of others. He was the only one who worked his files and who was able to catch the essence of governance. Petty and little minds did what they did to him. Our loss was great. Since Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari left the top positions we have non-entities holding sway and they have yet to sit on the table and chair provided to them. Their expenses are more than their contributions. First things first is this a politically representative democracy? Are decisions taken with consensus and with the citizens in the know and knowledge of what is going on? Was any party taken into confidence when the critical decisions are to be taken? Did he confer with any one when he went to India? Did he confer with any one when he attacked the residence of a citizen of Pakistan? Is the sanctity of the house intact? Telling questions? But what is worse is the fact that the political party is busy justifying all these acts through a series of lies and innuendos. The credibility of the government already pretty low has suffered even more. Is here any bottom line to the loss of credibility? Two areas where the government's credibility is always affected when the police constable does his job in a botched manner and the second when the petty revenue official is at the beck and call of the chief executive of the province. The third lives with the general reputation of the top political family.
How do we patch up the fragments of our fragmented society? Where are the social psychologists, the ones who really matter are not the economists for they have anything but any humane symptoms? We have seen them as responsible for the debacle that has taken place. There were important Western thought provocateurs in Ropke (Germany) in Tawney (England) and in Yoshida (Japan) who took their countries to pristine heights. Can we get to pristine heights? Do we have capable people in position or are we still the imbeciles that we were when we were in the Stone Age? The political system does not appear to be one if the power is concentrated in one hand and if all the decisions are made by that person. This isolation will become even more grave unless we put our act together. The current situation is against the run of globalisation. To be relevant the requirement is to be a regular player of global views and actions. But Pakistan is against itself. The number of times we have hacked our own feet is unbelievable.
How is responsibility played out in our part of the world? Do we deny everything that we do that is against humanity and we will continue in this state of denial. So is the responsibility of public demand met by our leaders that represent us? The short answer is that there is no assessment of demand by the political parties. What responsibility is shown by the representative governments is to decide that they have a better knowledge of requirements and demands that the public wants. It is curious that mis-allocations of scarce resources continue due to feeding of ego projects of the representative governments. The result of this self-styled knowing is catastrophic for the general public. The metro bus service is being thrust down the public throat. Now the Planning Commission is asking a foreign firm to develop Pakistan's vision 2025. How will they do it? Are they aware of the plurality of Pakistan's culture? Are they aware of what is happening in the peripheral areas of Pakistan and here we are embarking on a document that will be neutral to culture and the requirements of the country's people. The Planning Commission has lost its utility mainly because of lack of professionalism of its personnel. I was there the other day in connection with the award of the competitive grants system for research. The award is provided by the USA and is indicative of our own ability to work our own sums. Our political system is played out by attacking the policies played out by the outgoing political system. The rational for this is the inability to work our own way. They all talk of a legacy of government that is weak and has developed structural flaws. There is no exception.
But how will our social system work out? Will the people be happy with regional interventions of the kind that have developed of late? Is the use of force conducive to good governance? Has the use of force in Karachi delivered? Will it deliver elsewhere? Where is reason and rationality in the system and where's the tolerance to the views of others in the system. I am sorry but my view is colored by what I witnessed in former East Pakistan. The memory of those days is still vivid in me.
Development by exclusion is not going to help. Development requires a much better ability to develop equitable policies for the entire nation; policies that work for the many rather than the few. Politicians will always be on short fuse unless they start playing the game better. But analysis is easier than doing. Politics is not about power but about responsibility and playing the game not for relatives but for the citizens of Pakistan. A view not many would subscribe to and not in the political system.