No matter how good a plan is on papers, but if the same is devoid of sincere practical approach, nothing tangible would be achieved. The tragedy with Pakistan has been that on papers we have framed wonderful plans for the social, political, economic, religious, cultural and moral uplift of our citizens during the sixty-three years of our independent political history; but nothing practical has been done to ameliorate the lot of such downtrodden people of this country. Lack of vision, professionalism, sincerity, commitment, self-belief, continuity, honesty, political will, etc. are some of the reasons due to which even best framed plans have not been able to take Pakistan towards a sustainable development. Now it is really time to convert our thoughts into realities. The nations which solely depend on doing things in theory really lag behind to those ones which convert their strategies into actual happenings. The example of South East Asian countries is before us. The countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thialand, Korea, and Taiwan were poor in every aspect of life some four decades ago. But the achievements of the Second Five year Plan of Pakistan (1960-65) really inspired all these countries and they put basic ingredients of the plan into their ones and implemented them sincerely. With the help of such plan they achieved what they were really looking for. Look at these countries now. They have left Pakistanbehind in every field of life especially in education and economic sectors. The success of the above mentioned countries clearly shows that good framed plans can only be successful when sincere efforts are applied for their implementation. Actions speak louder than words. Anything that is good in mind can only be good when a practical shape would be given to it. And it require great sincerity, honesty, professionalism, commitment, efficiency, hardworking, political will, etc. for putting things into practical form. If Pakistan has to move forward, then practical steps are to be taken to achieve excellence in every field of life. Every effort must be made for achieving the desired objectives of the framed plans. Certainly hurdles will come towards the implementation of such plans but with vision and sincerity such can be overcome. Once we started converting our plans into realities on national level, we would be in a position to remove from our country serious evils that confront us today. ABDUL SAMAD SAMO, Karachi, May 9.