Ever since the incident of 9/11 of USA, our country is in great mess due to poor leadership and wrong policies by the respective governments. At the time of 9/11 in the year 2001, unfortunately the country was being ruled by a military dictator with a handful of his close cronies and a few generals to advise him or say "Yes" to his decisions. The US government wanted help of Pakistan in their war against terror and demolishing the government of Taliban in Afghanistan which had been recognised by Pakistan. The option given to Pervez Musharraf was "either you are with us or against us in this war against terror".Pervez Mushrraf's nod of"Yes, with you" started the rot of our country. Thereafter, the USA took over the control of Pakistan government and there was no independent policy of the country. The government that came into being after the general elections of 2008 was no different to that of military dictator rather it became worse as far asPakistan's nationalinterests were concerned. The dollarsmade our rulers to bow before the Americans and accepted every thing wrong or right for the country. If our rulers really want to get out of this morass and are serious to make the countryto prosper, they have to takecertain steps immediately otherwise we are boundfor a disastrous end. Followingsteps are very hard to take but there is no other way out to save the country:- 1. Have independent and impartial judiciary to dispense justice to all especially at the lower courts.Ensure that all its judgments/orders are implemented without any delay. There are over a dozen orders already passed by the Supreme Court which are either being parried by the present government or are not being implemented. 2. All appointments on key posts should be made purely on "Merit"and their selection made transparent.This includes the ministers as well where we find either square plugs in round holes (e.g amedical doctor is having charge of ministry of information or a businessman is looking after ministry of defence) or a known corrupt person. 3. There should be no political interference in the court of inquiriesor commissions. Once constituted, there should not be any posting out of its members till the completion of the task given to them. 4. There should beno complacency in the application ofrule of law. The influential people get away with the crime andfor the same offence, the poor people are prosecuted. Whether it is the president or the peon, there should be one law for both. If the law provides immunity to certain people in the constitution, it should be amended as it is against the spiritof its objective resolution i.e no law would be framed which is repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah. 5. All political partiesshould hold elections within their parties with secret ballot.At present, except forJamaat-i-Islami, all parties are either family affair or one man show.All party heads should resign and those holding the top position for more than 4 years should not contest again at least for one term. This would ensure that there are no splinter groups within one party. It is funny to have half a dozen groups of Muslim league. At least this would ensure Muslim leagueas one party. 5. To improve economy, the law and order situation must improve. For this, we have to revisit our foreign policy which is against the wishes of the nation. There should not be any interference by the USA andother western powers in our governance. We should learn to live on our own resources. People who have assets abroad must bring back their money to the country and invest here. 6. The national budget is always in the deficit. This means we spend morethan our income. For this the rulers have to tighten up their belts who are mostly free loaders and live a life of Mughal emperors. The strict austere measures must be takenimmediately especially by the President, PM and ministers. Their perks and privileges must be curtailed like no personal jets, no designers suits, no lavish parties, minimum foreign trips with minimum staff and staying at the cheapest hotels, no medical treatment abroad, no salary to the parliamentarians and senators except TA/DA for those who travel and stay privately. Dr Farrukh Saleem has the complete data of the lavish spending by our rulers. 7. Re-invigoration of our police force. Our police needs immediate reforms without which we cannot improve our law and order situation. Thana culture and extra judicial killings must be stopped by awarding exemplary punishments to theperpetrators. 8. Finally ensure accountability above the board. For this we have toform a Commission with members having impeccable and sterling character. There is no shortage of such people in our country.It should work directly in cooperation with the supreme court/respective high courts so that cases are quickly disposed off. MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA