People have gone back to the dark ages with power cuts from eight to 18 hours every day. Thousands of industrial units and factories have closed down leading to massive unemployment. More than 900 innocent citizens have been killed in Karachi during the last eight months alone in targeted killing. Prices of commodities are skyrocketing and are beyond anyones reach. The separatist movement is gearing up in Balochistan and Osama Bin Laden has been killed in the country. Happy Pakistan Independence Day Pakistanis across the world are celebrating their countrys 64th Independence Day today despite the fact that the country has gone into the intensive care unit and now only fresh blood can revive it. Their optimism has kept Pakistan going. The situation has gone so bad in recent years that some 70 per cent of the people in Pakistan can barely make both ends meet and 35 per cent of them live below poverty line on less than $2 per day. They are desperate for a healthy change and would heed the call of anyone promising change. To start with, the legal system in Pakistan needs to be revamped for it is very complicated, time consuming, expensive and pro-rich. The voice of the poor is never heard and it is always the privileged who win court battles because of their wealth and power. The masses need to wake up and vote out those damaging Pakistan. While the performance of politicians has always remained questionable since the country was founded, the current regime has crossed all limits of depravity. Destabilising effect While the rulers and their associates multiply their wealth, the ordinary people are sinking deep into poverty. The parasitic and incompetent rulers are least concerned as they are so engrossed in adding to their own bank balances abroad that they accept each and every wish of the United States, which is bent on harming Pakistan. Instead of giving hope they are spreading hopelessness by sticking to their corrupt and anti-people practices. Given the situation, people are hoping for a leader blessed with sterling qualities of the father of the nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, commonly known as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) who can remove the blanket of despair and usher in true democracy to make Pakistan a truly Islamic welfare state. Until September 11, many Pakistanis were quite well off and the country was progressive but its complexion changed once it became Americas ally in the war against terrorism. It seems that war on terror initiated by the US was designed to destabilise Pakistan and not to root out terrorism. Let us have a close look what Pakistan has lost in this war. Pakistan has become defensive about its nuclear programme and has been confined for years without making any further progress. The weight of the war on terror has been craftily shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan, and even more so after the killing of Bin Laden in the heart of Pakistan. Peaceful and docile Balochistan is up in arms and rebellious Baloch nationalists are calling for an independent Balochistan. Non-locals in this province, especially Punjabis, have migrated in huge numbers after numerous incidents of hate killing. Volatile forces are active in all the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, several parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. Sindh is also restive and Karachi has become a killing field for target killers while southern Punjab is fast falling into the hands of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Kashmir is almost a lost cause and talks are at best confined to confidence building measures only. A large part of Pakistans army, paramilitary forces and police have got deeply embroiled in fighting its own people on its own soil with little hope of extrication in near future. Pakistans economy has become dependent upon the US-controlled IMF, thereby impacting the dignity, honour and sovereignty of the nation. But despite all these odds, there is still hope for Pakistanis have not yet given up and they must not if they want to survive. The redeeming features are that the judiciary has become an effective restraining body to check unbridled wrongdoings of the rulers and elites and is doing its best, despite huge constraints, to maintain some semblance of the rule of law. The civil society and the youth have become active and are deeply concerned with the malaise afflicting society and are keen to get rid of the status quo and bring about healthy change. The youngest Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, has given a new twist to Pakistans foreign policy. She is new face of modern Pakistan. It is time that young and educated Pakistanis living inside the country and abroad take control of the situation and play their role to save their country instead of being silent observers and critics. Pakistani business tycoons, who have escaped the country in fear of their lives, must go back and invest in their own country to help ease economic woes. It is time that the government takes drastic measures to restore confidence of its people and protect their lives and property instead of playing politics with dead bodies in Karachi. It is time that every Pakistani considers the slogan of 'Pakistan First to bring the country back on track and reject all those elements trying to split the country. Gulf News