Let’s Put our House in Order
By Nosheen Saeed

IT was shocking and disturbing, to read about an advertisement published, in an English daily, showing Pakistan’s Northern Areas and occupied Kashmir, as part of India. The advertisement was given for publication by the Export Promotion Bureau, Ministry of Commerce, for the 7th Saarc trade fair at the Karachi Expo Centre.

This is the second time that the Ministry of Commerce has displayed incorrect maps of Pakistan and India. “Surely the Commerce Ministry has the capacity to acquire a map of South Asia from the Survey of Pakistan.

It is unforgivable for any institution of Pakistan not to give out its own country’s correct map.” Shirin Mazari the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies told the press.

The Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Mushahid also expressed his surprise and annoyance at the Ministry of Commerce. The Prime Minister’s House Wednesday received early morning calls by the dozens, protesting against the advertisement.

Some parliamentarians are also expected to raise the issue during the current session to ensure that the Ministry does not go for a hat trick.

Shouldn’t an enquiry be conducted on the issue? In my opinion heads should roll for negligence and for embarrassing the Government and the people of Pakistan.

It is an unpardonable offence! It’s high time the government sits up and starts noticing the “blunders” that are occurring frequently on the “national landscape”.

When things go wrong or go against our wishes and thwart our plans, we blame our troubles on fate, the economy, bad luck, the media and even the positions of the planet—anything or anybody except ourselves.

Responsibility is the willingness to accept the consequences of our own actions and performance; it means living up to your commitments and knowing your obligations.

And the first commitment of any Government should be—the public. Home-land values must come first in security and in spending, which means maintaining law and order and providing justice and equality; secondly attending to the problems in the shattered lives of the commonman and strengthening ones bond with all humanity.

But this has not happened in Pakistan; why not, is the million dollar question? We have changed governments frequently, tried both the Presidential and the Parliamentary forms of government; the theocrats, secularists, civil and military oligarchs, feudal lords and politicians have reigned but we have been unable to bring about a change or ameliorate the misery of the people.

Since the birth of Pakistan the positions of prominence, both federal and provincial are in the hands of dynasties that have saddled themselves comfortably and ruled over Pakistan with the same mindset and policies.

They are all related to each other whether in the ruling class or opposition. They have changed loyalties conveniently to remain in power.

Pakistan suffered and bled because policy-making was left in the hands of these well-entrenched “special interest groups” who contained internal empires which were powerful enough to dictate and run “parallel governments”.

All governments succumb to their pressure, both economic and political. As long as the same faces remain and fresh blood is not injected in the infested political and social environment of Pakistan— nothing can ever change.

These are groups who have come to rule over the people not to serve them. The will of the masses is the last thought in their minds. With empty slogans they have filled their coffers but not once attempted to fill the empty stomachs of the poor. In fact these groupings are so powerful that even the Army that has intervened several times to provide relief to the people, has succumbed to their pressures.

Even Military leaders could not reform the wicked ways of our politicians by powerful example. Our cupboard is over-flowing with problems; there is great pressure from within society to remove dominant players such as old elites and dynasties, feudal lords and religious quacks, self-seeking politicians, clichés and mobs who have eroded the very edifice our fore fathers erected.

We need to take bold decisions to strengthen our house on sound foundations; to put our house in order; no super natural forces are going to come to our rescue; we have to unravel the tangled threads ourselves.

We need to reorganize the entire foundation of our domestic politics. We need to take bold decisions to put our house in order and move towards nation building.

There is a dire need for unity, fraternity and national consensus on issues threatening our sovereignty; it is time to analyze our failures and to rectify blunders of the past. It is time to devise and promote policies that strengthen our structure not weaken it, anymore.

We talk of progress, how can progress take place when our conscience is dead? Justice comes from people living up to their obligations towards one another; each generation has responsibilities to its successors; what have we done to secure our future generations?

We are all leading selfish lives and in the past 59 years we have not been able to cultivate national characteristics such as unity, discipline, loyalty and patriotism and above all commitment to our motherland. Israel and Pakistan both came into existence at the same time; Israel in 1948 and Pakistan in 1947; both were ideological States and both were established against the strongest opposition.

Their leaders passed on their accomplishments to their successors and every generation renewed their commitment to Israel and strengthened it. They allowed democracy to flourish never derailed; made institutions more powerful than individuals.

Unity, education and a visionary leadership was their hallmark and every Israeli strived to do his bit. Today it is the most powerful State in the region and technologically the most progressive—from weapons to agriculture.

It is our desire to promote the soft image of Pakistan internationally; how can we preserve that image when our own people on their visits abroad sketch such horrifying images of human violations in Pakistan, just to accumulate wealth, power or sympathy.

And even the government representatives lose their focus and indulge in shenanigans that damage the government’s image. May I suggest selecting a team of goodwill ambassadors to be sent abroad whenever required, who win the hearts and minds of the people they meet, on foreign trips, instead of sending representatives only because one by one it’s their turn to go.

Lastly the Government must enhance collaboration with the civil society and develop mutual relations to obtain people’s input to tackle the “real life issues” such as poverty, employment, violence, health care, illiteracy etc.

A Ministry of Civil Society should be established which interacts with people, accepts their recommendations and submits a monthly report to the President and the Prime Minister highlighting the problems and solutions of issues, being confronted by people, representing different walks of life. Developing such a partnership with civil society, can be significant and fruitful.●

© 2006 Nosheen Saeed