Pakistan needs an honest and sovereign leadership. I insist on only these two qualities as my priority. I accept that this may have a personal bias based on my own experiences and knowledge. So what follows is built on the above premise. For some of us, far more important would be ‘left or right’, or the ‘stance on war of terror’ etc. But a choice we of selection we have to make, and urgently.
There is so much confusion in our minds regarding leadership which is further magnified by our media (see Talat Hussein’s show on AAJ TV on leadership http://pkpolitics.com/2010/09/28/live-with-talat-28-september-2010/ ). Even at this critical juncture we are not able to select our directions, indeed the majority of Pakistanis do not know what to do. Most among the literati still take pride in stating that they are a-political. This is understandable that because of rampant corruption politics has become a dirty word. Aristotle in his 8th book ‘Politics’ stated as long ago as 350 BC that man by nature is a political animal. He ridiculed the idea of people being non-political. He stated that though ‘by statement’ they can, be but actually they are not. At least they are on the receiving end of all political decisions which effect their lives every day
I have recently espoused a logical binary decision making process for Pakistanis which goes as follows:
1. Do you want to work for ‘yourself’ only or for ‘society’ also? If the intention is to work for society then…
2. Do you want to do social work or participate in the political process (beyond voting only)?
If the answer is social work..it is commendable but at the same time if your house is on fire, rather than establishing a ‘burns ward’, the immediate priority should be to make an effort to extinguish the fire and prevent further arson. However let me also say that our Edhis, SKMTs and LRBTs at least provide a major band-aid for the dying ‘patient’ and ‘country’. Those who want to take part in politics the next question is:
3. Do you want to look for a leadership or party which serves your interest personally or that of the country? (to narrow down your choices).
This is a question to be answered truthfully to yourself, because a lot of people do make decisions with this bias or a mixture of personal and country interests. If you have decided to serve your country then the choices are narrowed down considerably.
4. At this stage you input your own priorities for your search. For example mine are a ‘sovereign and honest’ leadership, others may have different choices. I urgently request all Pakistanis not to wait for an ideal leader, a sort of ‘knight in shining armor’ to come along because finally there may be no ‘maiden’ waiting to be rescued as she would have been raped and plundered by the ‘dark forces’.
I do accept that the above process is too simplistic and there is many an argument and decision making in between the lines, but among the silent spectators that most of us are, and those who are watching the fires burn (though not playing the flute like Nero), there must be some anxious ‘wanna be’ doers who are drowned out by the din created by the chattering classes and the negative nabobs of negativisim. Actually those are the ones the country seeks.
To repeat…I commend the social workers and the civil society but more directed effort is urgently needed to extinguish the fire. Indecision at this stage is suicidal for Pakistan as some of us may vanish and re-emerge in a new country but most of us will get burnt.
Comments
11 responses to “Pakistan needs a Sovereign & Honest Leadership”
I think the best answer for all three questions is:
Join Imran Khan. Join Paksitan Tehreek e Insaf. to work for Pakistan. To work for humanity. and Imran Khan is the last hope for pakistan.
Awab, Sovereign & Honest leader is pipe-dream and a product of acute idealism but a good-thought. I personally believe that there’s a vested interest by security establishment to have a weak prime minister so that it could be manipulated.
Remember, the security & foreign policy doctrine is made is GHQ. So technically it’s the armed forces which doesn’t believe in sovereignty? No? Remember for a strong & honest leadership we need to defend the whole idea of ‘democracy’ with all it’s pitfalls and strings attached (the current corruption, nepotism etc…) The system has to go-on and with 4-5 elections you would see the results.
There can-not be binary 1-0 solution to the mess we are in: patience my friend is needed for, prosperity.
AKC – you are not answering the three questions – for your self – you are addressing the issue with your own pre-conceived notions – forget GHQ – what DO YOU WANT TO DO ……
Imran Khan is a man of anything but principles. He has no clear cut agenda to deliver and has a history of more than a decade of rejection by public. Through electoral process, he is doomed to fail. His only chance is to piggy-back some dictator or by the mercy of TV channels to keep himself showing up. If Imran is the last hope, I think there is no hope.
I think whether Imran Khan is the last hope or not is off topic here. It might be more constructive to critique the author's approach to the problem.
However, to fuel the fire: Imran Khan does appear to be going here and there without a proper sense of direction. I think it's interesting that he has a single point agenda of "justice" which is very correct. You are incorrect in saying 10 years of rejection. He is gaining ground slowly, but unfortunately at the wrong places. PML-N (especially its candidates in Lahore) is not the most urgent of enemies, but PTI has gained ground on them. What seems to be lacking is a mafia-like heirarchy where there is devolution of governance.
I agree with Ali Chishti, its a dream.
For Dr. Awab here are my three answers:
1- Most of us can not afford to just work for the society. We are middle class people , we don't have wealth like Imran khan or even Dr. Alvi.
2- Well if social work is band-aid then the only politics you can do is open your own One-man party like Imran Khan and die like Mr.Hukka. (BTW, I still think Imran is better than Zardari, Peer Sahib, Ganja Bros)
3- Does any politician or party claim that they are working for themselves and not for the masses?
My blunt opinion: The author is naive, he has no clue about PK Politics. Bhijan, if you can not kill and are not ready to get killed then better be the nurse at EDHIs to take care of the injureds. You can not make a fortune there like our politicians, but you can atleast buy 'mahndee'.
As much as I'd love to be optimistic on the matter, it is difficult to do so. Some thoughts here:
– For good leaders to rise, there needs to be a system in place that allows such leaders to rise on the political scene in the first place.
– The prevailing system of politics of Pakistan is not conducive for leaders with a 'clean chit' to rise.
– The current system is well entrenched in the status quo. Any attempt to alter its present state is often made with vehement opposition and in some cases physical violence.
– As much as I'd like to be an advocate of the democratic cause, the medium has been gamed as a license to loot & plunder with close to nil accountability exacerbated by a virtually neutered judiciary.
Good and honest leaders will never be allowed to rise in Pakistan. As the famous saying goes, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Similarly "when engaging in Pakistani politics, do as the Pakistani politicians do" …. unless one's to change what Pakistan is about.
-M
Answers: yes,no,yes
The ‘knight in shining armor’for me is the military (minus later years of each Marshal Law!).Make a 19th amendment in constitution & let army contest in elections. Every amendment is possible in Pakistan. Than why not elect army the "democratic way" for change!
As regards, political parties, anyone who genuinely wants to lead Pakistan WILL HAVE TO work on a "military-GIK model". For any leader dreaming of rescuing the "maiden" solely is absolutely impossible considering that we are sort of a security state.
So, GHQ is and will ALWAYS remain imperative for governance in Pakistan. Whether it may sound harsh, but we must accept this reality now.
Yeah, and why not have kingdom in Pakistan? because whoever comes either from GHQ or politics they think they are the king, so may be we should have kingdom.
I have some more suggestions too:
1- Since every body is involved in corruption, why not make all those means legal. For example why can only MPA and MNA run Land Mafia, why not we encourage regular citizens to run their own land mafia?
2- Since there is no point in having police and police is always invovled in crimes, why dont' we abolish the Police department and tell the citizens to look after their own. They are doing in anyways? besides we would save tons of money.
3- Since there is no benefit in having Army, any body can come and attack Pakistan, so why not abolish Pakistan army and let Nato *secure* our borders? we can save another some billions of dollars.
4- Whats the point of spending money on universities and educatino system? It doesn't matter on intellect of people like you. Besides if someone really wants to educate themselves they can do that on their own and I think we should make one more amendment to abolish the education system too.
5- I think the list can go on and on.
@Fatima, Whom do you think is ruling pakistan for last 60 years? Militry already eats all our taxes and foreign aid.
One thing this country has a lot of is cynics we are so rich in this attribute its not even funny. How many people who have commented above have actually voted, dont knock the democratic system until you have made an effort to make it better.
i dont buy this argument that politics and leaders are someone elses job it is our job as a nation we have to get over our desire to just adjust and survive in this society we have to stand up and be counted. Stop thinking about our own interests but what is better for the majority.
So what if we our middle class people cant we have a voice and raise it, good leaders dont need a system they need a cause and if you think we dont have a cause now we shall never have one.
All the this whining about the status quo and the establishment hell bent on running Pakistan their way is the brainchild of defeated minds, if all of you accept that your mentally defeated then this argument is finished, if not then rise and find a way to get out of this mess, otherwise the alternative is all too predictable.
Well Done Mr Alvi for atleast writing on what you want to see for your country.