All government - indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act - is founded on compromise and barter. Edmund Burke The PPP-led coalition government has survived tough times by perfecting the art of compromise to a level that has never been witnessed before in Pakistans political history. Whatever its political enemies say or do - every challenge mounted by them - has been deflected by the government, indeed, successfully. At times, it seemed that the government was unnecessarily bending itself and has taken most of the decisions under pressure, which has invariably hurt the interests of the common man. While some may blame the media for creating unnecessary hype, as if the fall of the government was imminent, yet the opposition has not been able to provide a viable alternative that could justify the removal of the present administration. Throughout propagandists have propagated various ideas with ostensibly one objective, which is to see the premature exit of the present leadership. So, when the powers to be informed the incumbent leadership that a serious effort was underway that could, indeed, topple the government in an in-house change, the Gilani administration quickly swung into action and contacted the PML-Q, nevertheless, taking their political adversaries by surprise. Although this effort may have delayed a serious challenge by the propagandists, yet the forces of change are gathering strength certainly due to various government policies that are classic examples of ineptitude. For example, the government seemed to be surrendering to the donor agencies, like IMF. In addition, they have also failed to extract a proper price from the US and NATO for the efforts that Pakistan has undertaken in its fight against terrorism. While the US has left no opportunity that results in cornering Pakistan into difficult positions, yet our foreign policymakers blow up the trumpet about its relations with Washington. The fact of the matter is that the US has tilted favourably towards India, and have also allowed it to interfere in Pakistan through the puppet regime in Afghanistan. Above all, it is unfortunate that the Pakistani government has failed to persuade Washington to force the Indian leadership to stop extending financial and material help to the insurgents, who are engaged in acts of terrorism in our country. As far as the economic front is concerned, the western world has either offered peanuts or mere lip service to Pakistan, while the latter has been spending out of proportion as far as its own resources are concerned just to help the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Even the recent concessions announced by the US and Europe, as far as the provision of certain facilities to the Pakistani textile industry are concerned - the items that have been identified form more or less than one percent of the imports of the western world - still have to be materialised due to certain procedural wrangles that have not been removed by the West. In this backdrop, the government is seen compromising not only with its political adversaries, but also with the outside world. However, the only area where it has shied away to compromise is with the common man of Pakistan. The government has not taken a single decision that could be termed as an effort that would alleviate the sufferings of the poor. On the contrary, it has allowed prices to skyrocket creating immense misery and hardship for a vast majority of the people. Meanwhile, the irony of the situation has been that only muted protests have been mounted by the mainstream political parties, who feel that all these unpopular steps are being taken by the Peoples Party. The leaders of the mainstream political parties must understand that failure to raise their voices for the poor man would tantamount to being an accomplice in the present state of affairs. Anyway, it would be prudent and pragmatic, if the government of the day realised that while they survive the onslaughts mounted by their political adversaries by striking deals and compromises, their failure to identify the problems of the common citizens and to address them in a positive and fruitful manner is bound to damage it politically in the future. So, while the incumbent leadership may earn kudos for their smart moves in the political arena, but if they suspect that some of their political allies may ditch them for an in-house change, they must understand that if they have to survive politically, they must address the problems of the common man before it is too late. Another issue that the political leaders of this country must focus on is its foreign policy. Earlier, some of the decisions taken by successive governments, undoubtedly, were not according to the aspirations of the people. Hence, the time may have come when the present democratic government must move forward and revisit some of the areas that have resulted in creating problems for Pakistan. While it may not be practical to pursue an aggressive foreign policy, yet at the same time there is no need to compromise on issues that can be easily avoided and on efforts to achieve all the objectives that are in Pakistans interest. For example, the Gilani government must take immediate steps to blunt and nail the lies being spread by the Indian leadership about the presence of Chinas armed forces in the northern areas of Pakistan. In addition, the Pakistani leadership must also move to educate the people about the developmental efforts that the government has undertaken for the betterment of the people before India succeeds in misleading the international community about this issue. As a last word, the policy of compromise may succeed, to some extent. However, it is a time that the rulers of this country should stand firm and not barter any interest of the people and the motherland, even at the cost of political survival. The writer is a freelance columnist. Email:zarnatta@hotmail.com