REVISITING NATIONAL INTERESTS
COMMENTS:
This is for Action Research Forum of public wisdom;
The author, what is he looking at this stage and point, which is of course an yield of last over 60 years road map. The perpetual deficiency was in basics of our negligence’s and delusions which are popping up after typical experimentation without institutional road map. Adhocism prevailed throughout and trail of adventurist doctrine was indispensability of their existence, the nation was rolling like football kicks.
The author, what is he looking at this stage and point, which is of course an yield of last over 60 years road map. The perpetual deficiency was in basics of our negligence’s and delusions which are popping up after typical experimentation without institutional road map. Adhocism prevailed throughout and trail of adventurist doctrine was indispensability of their existence, the nation was rolling like football kicks.
Mining back pre-birth events of this nation intoxicated with so called delusions, on record there was no comprehensive study of our national focus which the nation should not budge. It was mear chance that Mr. Jinnah had fallen on this land with high lucks, and he availed the vacancy with no one in competition.
There was vast intellectual gap between Mr. Jinnah’ intellect and his followers like mob which Shakespeare has defined. His commandments were idol and taken for granted with judicial assessment. In his last speech he announced in Aligarh University Stretchy Hall that I sacrifice 60% Muslims over 40%, an act of ruining British India Muslims.
Nevertheless, they were polarized into three convictions; nationalist, secularist, and feudalist. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-104714-Revisiting-national-interests . Had he not born than see the links have not been so.
There was vast intellectual gap between Mr. Jinnah’ intellect and his followers like mob which Shakespeare has defined. His commandments were idol and taken for granted with judicial assessment. In his last speech he announced in Aligarh University Stretchy Hall that I sacrifice 60% Muslims over 40%, an act of ruining British India Muslims.
Nevertheless, they were polarized into three convictions; nationalist, secularist, and feudalist. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-104714-Revisiting-national-interests . Had he not born than see the links have not been so.
Maulana AZAD: https://be4gen.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/speech-of-abul-kalam-azad-aboyt-separation-of-indo-pak/ .
ASGHAR KHAN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K57q_914QAU&feature=shareAsghar Khan
SAGA OF KARACHITES: https://be4gen.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/saga-of-karachi-impasse-dynasty-corruption-ko-democracy/
FINALE: Our legacy was not competent to the intricate situations due to lack of education, industry, technology, and management skill. Some of these were pointed by the than outlier forces. No-doubt, we were inferior to the rest of the world. Fallacy was and is our conclusive engine, by natural existence we are always the backbencher and proclaim worldly prejudices. Our thinking engine is hearts’ whims while rationality prescribes Greeks’ logic. We are on our natural course what we got since early days. Our new generations, which are grooming in west, are grooming on reasoning, as such they are the hopes. Our Revisiting is nothing but adoption of Fallacy thought engine.
Revisiting national interests
Zafar Hilaly
Zafar Hilaly
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
One thing is crystal clear and it is that we have to resurrect ourselves as a state and a society. And that, with luck, we might be able to do so but only if we can get our crumbling house in some respectable order and do what it takes to restart our faltering economy. And of the two the state comes first because it is more in tatters. Civil society is still in better shape despite the extremists.
We must return to Pakistan’s core national interests, which is making life liveable for all citizens alike within its established and recognized borders. And it also means putting aside our complicated old world dreams/ambitions that have thoroughly impoverished us and got us into this crisis in the first place.
We must return to Pakistan’s core national interests, which is making life liveable for all citizens alike within its established and recognized borders. And it also means putting aside our complicated old world dreams/ambitions that have thoroughly impoverished us and got us into this crisis in the first place.
Our core problem is almost entirely internal now. The state can’t deliver on any front and non-state actors are running wild, emboldened by our derelict system of governance. Such is the nature of our existential crisis that we have even lost all sensitivity about our own appalling condition of life. It’s the kind of numbness that sets in on a body part when the blood has flowed out of it. The rest is neither here nor there. It’s so much hot air.
No amount of nationalistic prattle, bluster or oratory will cut much ice or lift the spirit. It is impotence par excellence disguised as machismo. But for how long can we carry on like this? The world cannot be fooled anymore because it is there for all to see, not on a weekly or monthly basis but tragically every day. The narrative hasn’t changed much and that is our primary problem as the clock ticks away.
Political parties are beginning to recognize the problem but somehow they are unable to raise the level of discussion as they seek petty advantages over each other in the struggle for power, relying more on bombastic speeches than substance to convince the electorate. Our political parties are amorphous entities dominated by personalities and designed more for seeking and retaining power at whatever cost than for delivering governance. Their leaders do not appear to see beyond their noses or can’t see the forest as they are lost among the trees. All of which, in our politically perverse environment, gives rise to very depressing thoughts. Alas, we have no option but to work with whatever we have inherited and try to make the best of a bad situation.
No amount of nationalistic prattle, bluster or oratory will cut much ice or lift the spirit. It is impotence par excellence disguised as machismo. But for how long can we carry on like this? The world cannot be fooled anymore because it is there for all to see, not on a weekly or monthly basis but tragically every day. The narrative hasn’t changed much and that is our primary problem as the clock ticks away.
Political parties are beginning to recognize the problem but somehow they are unable to raise the level of discussion as they seek petty advantages over each other in the struggle for power, relying more on bombastic speeches than substance to convince the electorate. Our political parties are amorphous entities dominated by personalities and designed more for seeking and retaining power at whatever cost than for delivering governance. Their leaders do not appear to see beyond their noses or can’t see the forest as they are lost among the trees. All of which, in our politically perverse environment, gives rise to very depressing thoughts. Alas, we have no option but to work with whatever we have inherited and try to make the best of a bad situation.
Democracy is the only system that can give the people control not only of the political process but through it the main instruments of state power. We have seen how in its absence we have been tumbled and tossed from one dictatorship to another and how much blood and treasure has been lost along the way.
Democracy, imperfect as it is, and often a sham is still better and offers more hope if we can learn to make it work. At the very least it encourages reason and resistance to abusive authority and oppression. And it enables the people to know who is with them notwithstanding the packaged opinions we are fed by sections of the media. And, above all, it can help to ensure that no longer can a leader consider himself above the law; and even if he does, he has no legal immunity and nor is he above public censure boldly expressed in the print media and loudly proclaimed on private television channels.
We had a well-designed administrative system before we ran it into the ground. That can be revived, though not restored in its entirety, because it was designed for a different purpose and a different time. And it is important that we work at fixing the administrative system during the brief snatches of political stability. Respect for the system of checks and balances that democracy makes possible between the executive, legislature and the judiciary can help take us in that direction. This is important so that when the political machinery stalls that of the state does not also come to a grinding halt. That would make it possible for governments to come and go without the wholesale changes of personnel and policy that occur and the dislocation it causes once a government changes hands.
But forging a new mind-set for those who run the administration is an important starting point. Far too often government servants believe they are just that, and not servants of the public who are their true masters as they are paid out of the public exchequer to advance the collective good. And although the government of the day may have the decisive say how public money is spent, there are laid down procedures for its disbursement which transcend governments and must be adhered to.
Similarly the system of postings, transfers and promotions are also governed by rules; and procedures exist, and can be further reinforced, to prevent violation and punishment for those who do. This is a basic principle that applies as much to the exercise of authority as it does to an over-speeding errant driver.
All this, however, is the easy part and requires no more than tinkering with the present system. Basically it means simply implementing laws and procedures which already exist. What however will require immeasurably greater effort and is supremely important and urgent is the delivery of speedy justice to the people. The lack of justice and the absence of basic security are the foremost challenges we face, even more important than fixing the economy.
Actually, the only guarantee of security is justice but obtaining justice in Pakistan is often an exercise in futility. It’s a delusion and a snare which can end up punishing the weak and further strengthening the powerful. Although the lawyers’ movement promised much in this regard these hopes remain unfulfilled. Access to justice continues to be restricted in practice to those who can afford it. While court procedures and practices are so complex and dilatory that delays in obtaining judgments can be interminable.
That said, our best efforts could be in vain if the economy collapses because there can be no meaningful individual freedom or progress in the presence of economic insecurity. The people were told they must put up with rising unemployment and recession because that was the price of keeping inflation down but alas, that has not worked. Meanwhile mishandling of the economy, corruption, a significant drop in local and foreign investment and exports has debased the currency.
Furthermore, the population is growing exponentially. The number of those less than 35 years of age in the country has crossed the 65 percent mark of the total population. It is bad enough that nearly 100 million people are unemployed but what is infinitely worse is that they are virtually unemployable because of fake degrees, rampant cheating in exams, the breakdown of the state education system, the absence of technical and teacher training centres and other self created deficiencies.
It is clear, for example, that borrowings along with the interest to be paid often exceed the sum that is actually received from international financial institutions. Collecting taxes from those who dodge them, expanding the tax base and levying higher taxes on the rich is a far better way to raise funds and become self-sustaining. That would, of course, entail sacrifices but if levied imaginatively they would only be required from those who can afford them.
Moreover, if the truth be told, the amount so levied is likely to be trivial considering the fines that would have been imposed had taxes and defaults been properly assessed in the first place.
Actually, there is no reason why all these challenges cannot be addressed at the same time. Acquiring a modicum of self-respect, shunning the beggar’s bowl and trying to make democracy work will take us there, but we need to get there fast, having already lost much precious time.
Moreover, if the truth be told, the amount so levied is likely to be trivial considering the fines that would have been imposed had taxes and defaults been properly assessed in the first place.
Actually, there is no reason why all these challenges cannot be addressed at the same time. Acquiring a modicum of self-respect, shunning the beggar’s bowl and trying to make democracy work will take us there, but we need to get there fast, having already lost much precious time.
The writer is a former ambassador. Email: charles123it@hotmail.com
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