Articles of the year 2015
Published on April 18th 2015
Pakistan is indeed an unfortunate country. We have a democracy in name, elected as such by a people who were promised milk and honey, and have been sent back to a two year stint of worse load shedding. With a blistering summer about to begin.
The Sharif Kingdom still runs on a three man cabinet- all family members, while the 180 million people country have fifteen major corporations that do not have CEOs in place, which would make their running Ilegal anywhere, but in the kingdom of Pakistan no one can question the ruler. And so our country runs, from crisis to crisis. The leadership does not recognise that rules are made for a purpose! not the least being an orderly change. They have been formulated by our,elders after years of pondering, and experimenting , till the present system was evolved. For the Sharif brothers to reject the old and incorporate a new set of rules is a sure recipe for disaster, and is the reason for the fall of the two previous governments.
A friend of mine who served as a Principal secretary to a Prime Minister was asked by me as to how long was he trained by the Civil Service of Pakistan before he could sit in on a meeting, and how long before he could speak at these meetings to which the answer was seven years before he could sit in, and two more years before he could speak.We have a President who, unelected, presides over (and no doubt pontificates) some delegations consisting of highly qualified and trained members, unlike our Pakistani freeloaders. One shudders at the responses that may have been proffered by our shopkeeper/President. The same system of advise has propelled us to the Saudi/Yemen crisis. What the Sharif dynasty has not realized is that the Saudi kings they meet, have in place advisers and courtiers that have years of training and service before they are allowed into the room, let alone offer an opinion. Our Sharif dynasty’s rules,are based on levels of sycophancy, and are sure to fast track those who are beat at this art. This does lead to the story of the King who had no clothes! This story is so old that the author’s name has been long forgotten. The story, and it’s ending continues, and it seems we are living through another term of the same. The ending can be forecast, one can only hope for a peaceful ending, and not one riddled with blood shed. Pakistanis have not learned their lesson from history. The Sharifs are no exception. The danger to the country is the escalation of the crisis, ranging from misunderstandings to a fully blown eyeball to eyeball Saudi Dubai vs Pakistan, with the livelihood of millions of workers in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia under threat. Notwithstanding the insults being heaped upon the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan being called a liar. This alone is cause enough to appoint a proper Minister of Foreign affairs, and enough to sack the Prime Minister. We cannot afford any more such crisis. What good are our nuclear toys, or our prancing about on the world stage if we give command of the nation to inept and incompetent leaders.
This last crisis has involved us in a shooting match with the Yemenis and Saudis locked in a bitter struggle. The Prime Minister of Pakistan should not have been involved, and we have no idea what was committed behind closed doors. The office of the Prime Minister has said the matters are too delicate to be divulged to the Nation, or,even the National Assembly. Without the foreign Ministry input, can the Sharif family assure us that the interests of Pakistan are being protected as per our historic protocols, and not the Sharif family protocols! We are in a very dangerous situation where years of training are being replaced by a whimsical, ‘thought of the moment’ arrangement. This ad-hoc system of governance ignores the rules of conduct, and can only result in disaster, with the stakes rising with each stage of governance. The Prime Ministership of Pakistan being the highest this country has. The dangers are as grave.