The mess

Marvi Memon Pakistan is in a mess. Most of the common Pakistanis are suffering from this increasing mess for some time. It is my firm belief that none other than the small ruling elite of Pakistan is actually responsible for creating the mess and for turning it into a failed State. What is even more disappointing is that very few are willing to come to terms with the fact that this is the worst possible turmoil Pakistan has ever been in because their threshold for the mayhem has increased beyond reasonable proportions. Acceptance of a problem is always the first step to resolving it, but Pakistanis seem to be in denial. The bad news is that currently Pakistans future is firmly in the hands of those who have created the problems. All political parties represented in Parliament are responsible for the chaos. They enjoy a camaraderie between themselves to continue the existing loot. They are, indeed, part of the problem. They cannot be part of the solution. They have only been complaining about the problems. All of them are in government somewhere or the other and they have made each Pakistanis life more expensive and less safe. And yet Pakistanis are such forgiving nation that they keep supporting the same parties. They still consider these political party leaders their saviours. How many chances will these parties get from the people of Pakistan? Have they not sufficiently proved that they are only in it for their own bank balances? Have they not destroyed the country bank balance to bankruptcy? Pakistan is in a mess today because there is no real government in Pakistan. If in the traditional sense a governments function is the protection of life, liberty, and property, together with all other functions that are necessary to the civic organisation of society, then clearly Pakistan is a unique nuclear power that has in effect no government. No services, civic amenities actually work for the people. Everything is less secure, more expensive and government services are non-existent. Self-denial has cost us our prosperity and safety. The psyche of we have been wronged by America, India, half of the Western world, some Arab countries, the neighbours, the mother in law etc etc has made Pakistan lose its place in the comity of nations. Nobody is buying our story because frankly our story is that of 'self-inflicted chaos versus what most politicians are wrongly trying to sell as 'foreign forces inflicted chaos. Every political party in Pakistan today thrives on whipping a frenzy against the foreign forces. And I have to confess I have done the same in the past. But no more. Its time to do the right thing now. And that is to accept that Pakistan is in trouble because Pakistans elite is mortgaging our future and selling our sovereignty itself. Pakistan is in trouble because we have allowed government after government to steal from us. Our terrorism issues are equally self-inflicted. We created the genies, we tried to use them for influence in the region and now they are either out of our control or the use of them is no longer being allowed by the world. Nobody is buying our story. We need to realise what is wrong with us before we die under the rubble of our own self-denial. We have, in essence, lost our ethos. Our Islamic values preach humanity, humility, forgiveness, fairness, tolerance, respect of minorities, acceptance of differences, and sharing. Look outside and see if you recognise any real Muslims. We have become a nation of liars, cheats and short cut takers. That is far from Islam. We cant even get through a drive on our roads without cheating others of their right of way. We as a nation have become short tempered, rude, angry, frustrated and complainers. We dont wish to stand in the queues, we dont wish to wait our turn, we dont wish to do anything according to the rules. We take great pride in breaking the rules, making special rules for ourselves. And then we expect our leaders to be exemplary. The leaders are just an extreme version of us. How can we expect Pakistan to prosper, governments to give us services when we are making no efforts to set the right expectations from governments. Politicians from all these parliamentary parties must be very smug right now. They must be thinking We fool our people well. We give them hunger and insecurity and they still vote for us in every general election. So, in essence, there is only one choice left. Soul-searching as to how decadent we have become. If we want a prosperous Pakistan that has security, more jobs, better services, we will have to reject the old and create the new from amongst ourselves. Not all the old politicians are part of the problem. Some of them are honest, sincere, non-VIP, not full of themselves, humble, down to earth and therefore needed for the solution. Pakistan needs a political party, which has such a collective leadership. Which doesnt run on a one man show approach. Which takes leaders from all provinces; where their leadership is rotational. The old leaders have a chance to come together. To come out of their existing political parties, join hands and give Pakistan a collective leadership which can challenge the looters. If they do this they are change agents and if they dont they are part of the problem. They have a chance to save Pakistan truly. Such leadership, including political and the best of experts/technocrats, need to seek each other urgently if they believe Pakistan is in ICU mode. They need to believe in their own power to be able to provide the alternative so urgently required in Pakistani politics. They need to give Pakistanis from every province an equal stake in the new Pakistan. A complete vision, an implementation strategy and Pakistans real leaders coming together. Coming together under a large umbrella rather than joining a one man show umbrella or being part of existing one man shows. This is Pakistans only saving. The writer is a former Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.