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As the PML-N government grapples with the political challenge posed by Imran Khan’s promised ‘azadi march’ to Islamabad on Aug 14, Pakistan remains an increasingly insecure land.
Beyond the threat from Taliban militants battling Pakistan’s army in North Waziristan, the ruling structure appears keen to block Imran Khan’s march on the grounds of its implications for the capital city’s security.
However, the official narrative increasingly looks half-baked. The official position suggests the abject failure of the civil administration in Islamabad, creating the urgency to invoke Article 245 of the Constitution for seeking the army’s assistance. At the same time, however, there is a more serious risk to Pakistan’s future in the shape of worsening socio-economic conditions at the heart of a largely dismal outlook.
In a country with a stubbornly growing population of poverty-stricken have-nots stuck in energy-starved neighbourhoods, policymakers must first and foremost focus on tackling the most vital human needs. In brief, this is the fundamentally vital gap between the official philosophy seeking to modernise Pakistan through a quick fix, as opposed to measures to deal with the complicated reality that clouds the country’s future.
The challenge of ‘insecurity’ goes well beyond Imran Khan’s march
Not too far from the ‘D’ chowk — the proposed venue of Imran Khan’s protest — stands the road network that has been badly disrupted as the Sharif government pursues another monstrous project to establish a metro transport system linking Islamabad to Rawalpindi. Eventually, an elevated road system is planned for running a bus network, emulating a similar project already in place in the PML-N heartland of Lahore.
Each set of criticisms of the regime’s infrastructure projects are immediately rebutted by the ruling PML-N stalwarts on the grounds of their essential utility for Pakistan’s future. Indeed, the Lahore-Islamabad motorway built in the 1990s often crowns such defence. Drive without bumps on the motorway and the journey is worth your while, goes the argument.
And yet, it is the very policy direction behind this approach which will likely enlarge the many bumps along Pakistan’s future outlook. In addition to the fancy bus project now well under way in Islamabad, the PML-N’s other similarly controversial choices present a compelling gap between Pakistan’s glaring realities and whimsical policies.
In the past year, the government has come up with spendthrift plans to supposedly kick-start a largely moribund economy. These notably include a train network in Lahore, the Lahore-Karachi motorway and a train project linking Islamabad via Murree to Muzaffarabad. In an ideal world, pursuing such grandiose projects alongside taking care of the needs of Pakistan’s impoverished population could have presented the best choice.
And yet, Pakistan does not live in an ideal world. Pressed to make careful choices due to chronic budgetary constraints, the country’s top planners must carefully sift through the array of plans on the table, taking note of the multiple pressures all around.
For instance, as Pakistan grapples with mounting electricity shortages and growing scarcity of water in many parts of the country, does it not make sense to fix these two essential problems before embarking on the many infrastructure projects?
Reconsidering Pakistan’s economic priorities is fundamentally vital for two inter-related reasons.
On the one hand, a push to tackle the fallout from poverty across the country is essentially the only way to begin blocking an oft-proven source of breeding militancy. Time and again, it has been proven beyond doubt that it is often the widely ignored shanty neighbourhoods which provide the human cannon fodder for militant groups to thrive than the upper-class neighbourhoods.
Pakistan’s continued neglect of key social services, notably in healthcare and education, has fuelled discontent across its increasingly marginalised neighbourhoods. High-profile infrastructure projects will never work to rejuvenate those neighbourhoods, while strengthened social services will indeed make a very visible difference.
On the other hand, laying the ground for Pakistan’s sustainable reform must begin with an overhaul of the country’s tax collection system that effectively lies in tatters today. For too long, privileged Pakistanis from both rural and urban areas have gone scot free without paying their dues. The evidence surrounding the all too visible underpayment of taxes by Pakistan’s top tiers of politics and society is indeed overwhelming. Without forcing the well endowed to pay their dues, the idea of making Pakistan a sustainable country will remain a pipe dream.
Ultimately, a series of robust reforms to turn Pakistan around is the only way to secure Pakistan beyond the upcoming political turbulence in Islamabad.
The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2014
