By Mudassar Changwani Part-II
Not just economic, but political institutions too are benefitting the few and burdening the many. Parliament has become a club of the rich as the cost of contesting an election has become so high that it systematically excludes the poor. Having no say in political decision-making, the average citizen in the country is increasingly being marginalized. They are becoming hapless victims of an economic and political system that is rigged against them and over which they have little influence.
It is one thing to make tall claims in air-conditioned rooms and conference halls, but dealing with real people is quite another. One report says that half the country’s children are deprived of basic education, and a third of the population has no access to a primary medical facility. According to a recent estimate by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), nearly 37.5 million people in Pakistan are not receiving proper nourishment. In simple terms, it means that there are millions of children who bodily and mentally will never develop fully because they were malnourished as infants.
Especially in the contemporary world when multilateralism and globalization are the main themes and when the international system is heavily impressed by political volatility and fluidity, the writing on the wall is scrupulously unreserved that every country has to make the best of whatever it can count in its possession. However, one doesn’t need to be an expert to infer from the above statistics that somewhere within the polemics of politicians and the pointless plans of policymakers there is something inherently rotten in the country and that the value of the life of an average citizen has lost.
A country’s role in foreign affairs is primarily the function of its strength and capabilities. Without national well-being and defined national policies, no country can play an active role in the region and beyond.
Though Pakistan stands in a highly strategic geographical position astride the greatest arteries of world trade, it commands only marginal respect from its partners in terms of its bilateral and multilateral relations. Pakistan is an important part of China’s OBOR initiative since an exclusive corridor, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through it. However, corresponding to the country’s profiles maintained by Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Pakistan will not even be among the top 5 largest trading countries among the BRI members. There has also been much hullabaloo over Pakistan’s so-called ‘indispensable’ role in affairs of the Muslim world, and with these considerations in mind, our successive governments would continue boasting about the misperceived significance the country enjoys. But what oozes out as a result of authentic research is that there is little to attest to the claim. Take the case of Nawaz Sharif participating in the Arab Islamic American summit: what followed after the summit was an uproar in the media that the PM had not even been given a chance to address the summit.
In our foreign affairs, as in our domestic life, the truth hurts. But, then, the sooner we realize the true extent of our problems, the better for the aspirations of our people that in the course of their embodiment will make our country great and prosperous. It’s the only one we have got.
Our leaders must provide real solutions to the problems that are pushing a large number of citizens toward an unending cycle of poverty and deprivation. The country urgently needs to take concrete steps toward reducing unemployment, eliminating corruption, promoting economic growth, addressing disastrous demographics, and helping entrepreneurs to lead their way.
In short, there is a need to reinvent and reinvigorate the ethos of the people and defend human rights, freedoms, and dignity, while making the country more fair and equitable.
If those at the helm of affairs do not focus on pressing priorities, the problems will continue to cripple our ability to protect our interests and project our influence. We must remember that no country intends to faint but the point is some still go down the path, simply because they fail to realize it.
Concluded…..
The writer is a co-editor of the republicpolicy.com
