‘Vision 2030’ draft calls for ‘unfettered democracy’
By Our Reporter
ISLAMABAD, March 9: Establishment ‘visionaries’ have advised the government to overcome the “democracy deficit”.
“This is essential to restore trust between the state and the people, who need to know that the state actually cares for them,” says a draft official document on “Vision 2030” for the country.
It asks the government “to apply unfettered democracy at its natural and optimal levels, and to ensure accountability of all organs of the state to avoid democratic disruptions as happened in the past”.
In essence, the document echoes the thoughts some retired bureaucrats and generals, politicians and intellectuals had expressed in ‘open letters’ addressed to President Gen Pervez Musharraf last summer.
An official source told Dawn on Friday that the Working Draft of the Planning Commission – Vision 2030, prepared last month, had been submitted to the president and the prime minister for approval.
The draft proposes solution to various challenges the country is facing, like political, resource, energy, food, employment, sustainability and social challenges.
It says Pakistan needs to cross three critical benchmarks to manage the modern state of the 21st century.
The first is an independent judiciary, made up of good men and women. It is important to reverse the retrogression which has taken place in the country’s judicial system. The draft says laws existed for every known contingency but they needed to be enforced.
A second important and separate dimension, the draft says, is related to the efficiency of the government and the quality of bureaucracy. “We must ensure a professional civil service, which facilitates and implements policies.”
“At the national level, a critical consensus has fortunately developed which states that no reforms or restructuring can be successful, and no vision will be achieved, unless a major change is brought in the competence, quality, and remuneration of public servants.”
The draft says one of the major causes of bureaucracy’s failure has been its instability to fully understand and grasp the impact of technology accelerators of the last few decades, which have changed the nature of work and workplace.
It says extensive administrative reforms are needed in the country to attract and retain competent officers and to establish better interaction between the government and its various organs.
“This requires ensuring improved service structures and security, opportunities for professional growth, as well as greater political insulation and higher accountability to parliament.”
