Near to the edge of cliff for plunge

By Gul Rehan

Every Pakistani is in quandary when the country has reached to the precipice of the cliff for freefall as to who is to be blamed for this dangerous fall.Foreign exchange reserves dipped $5.6 billion from $16.6 billion within days, IMF has stalled its tranche, the whole country has fallen into darkness due to non-payment IPPs dues and shortage of cash for importing oil. There is buzz in the air of being declared default.There isn’t one but many a factor, having cumulative effect over the years. Political engineering engineered by mullah-military nexus, resort to instantwealth accumulation by majority of unprincipled turncoat politicians are one prime reason. Off and on in the chequered short political history, establishment carved counter forces like IJI, PML(N) to discredit opponent political forces at play then. General Ayub left no stone unturned to discredit and defame MaaderMillat-Fatima Jinnah and PML(N), a product of Zia nursery; did the same with daughter of the East-Benazir Bhutto. To counter rising socialist sloganeering of PPP, PML(N) got created and some whisper the emergence of PTI to counter the duo.

Founding father and Quaid-e-Millat died unnatural deaths through implicit connivance of some shortsighted wisdom. At times the country had become bloody ground through state-sponsored religious fanatics, hell bent on ruthlessly cutting throat of other sect and faith followers. I believe bad politics and public both have their fair shares in the present mess.

A country which is naturally resourceful, rich and diverse culturally, but its majority population lives in abject poverty, turmoil and anarchy. Unmeritorious political recruitment is cause of downfall of PSEs of an otherwise ambitious social economic plan of Bhutto. Compounding the conditions were expediency and exigency of state organs and institutes; lack of long-term planning,polices, strong negotiations, healthy debates and decisions based on merit. Micro versus macro-economic reforms, revenue versus capital expenditure were carried, those pegged to short-term political gains.

A layman is flabbergasted in a great dilemma when MQM; which was found by common chord- Urdu and pre-partition immigrants (Muhajirs) gets splintered into many a faction. After its formation in 1981, it got fragmented into MQM (Haqiqi) led by Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan- top members of MQM’s armed wing, and MQM (A) led by Altaf Hussain. Now it is managed by two competing factions, one based in Pakistan and the other from UK. The MQM-P was also further split into Pak Sarzameen Party in 2016 being led by Mustafa Kamal. Now fearing further dilution of control, power, depletion of the voter bank, all factions are re-realigning under one umbrella.

Was MQM also created as a bulwark against PPP? The former dominates the urban landscape while the latter is in Rural Sind. Though their relations have remained an uneasy course while facing two major operations, one during the tenure of PPP.With the majority of political parties and politicians, there is a dearth or even death of ideologies or distinct party manifestos. If there exists, which must be, these distinct lines are blurred by common threats, especially in the current scenario.

PML also split to L, M, N, Q etc. This fragmentation necessitates an honest answer from politicians, who is responsible for this, and why it has become convenient? This works for some vested interests, bureaucracy, militestablishment, religio-political parties but leaves the public in the lurch. Prime facie there is no ideological inclination in the unnatural alliances or subgroupings.In currency political parties of all hues under the PDM are synergizing their cumulative energy to keep Imran khan at bay by any means, while distorting and dismissing their cases underlying with NAB.

Couplet of HoshJuanpuri is relatable here

جو اس ضمیر فروشی کے ماہرین میں ہے بڑھا رہا ہے مری سمت دوستی کا ہاتھ

وہ آدمی بھی سنا ہے مورخین میں ہےضرور بات کوئی اس کی آستین میں ہے

What is the political landscape in GB? Except the nationalist parties, more or less it gives the same rotten-smell. There is no clear political stance or opinion of their own. Politicians are seen swaying and switching gears with those at the helm of affairs in the federal parliament, where lies the string of the purse. Come the election fervor, there is also an additional tinge of sectarianism, tribalism and beradirahism(clanage). The GBLA members can’t take any common or combined independent decision peculiarly befitting and beneficial for the area.

The second grave factor is our holistic national psyche. It has been proved that any country’s fair-ness, quality, respect depend upon the mass’s behavior, habits, ethics and civility rather than solely depending on the political governments of the day. Since nation is the sum up of the conditions of its individual inhabitants. And a nation’s civilization is actually dependent upon the children, men, and women, which make up the nation. National progress is sum total of personal effort, self-respect, individual honesty and personal empathy. And a nation’s downfall is the result of personal dishonesty, selfishness, wrong-doings, uncivilized attitude and mutual social evils. Which is result of the people own astray lifestyle. If we try to uproot these evils through external effort, these evils would resurface more vigorously in any other form.

To overcome and get rid of this decaying economic state, steep decline in nation’s moral, degrading ethical values, lowering psychology and rising suspicion about viable future, it needs honest leadership at the helm of affair, who couldensure provision of good public services, network of infrastructure and governance. To salvage it from its problematic marshland, it need an honest assemblage of technocrat and selfless leader the likesof Imran Khan. This man has of late exposed the unholy nexus of all and sundry; political and apolitical entities; generals, judges, journalists, militesblashment, who have become nouveau riche at the expense of the state. Hadhrat Ali(AS) says “trust those who have proved themselves faithful”.

For economic revival, putting tab on brain-drain, attracting foreign investments need restoration of lost trust of the system, bridging deficits, removal of deficiencies and continuity of true democratic system. Which needs telling history truthfully, accepting harsh realities, learning from past errands and shenanigans.

The writer hails from Ghizer, currently teaches international baccalaureate(IB) in Gulf country and is pursuing her doctorate in Mathematics.