PAKISTAN celebrated its 70th birthday on Monday. In August 1947, we had the charismatic Quaid to lead our nation and our political elite was neither corrupt nor power-hungry. Fast-forward to today and we find our top political leadership —almost entirely perhaps — is self-serving and covets pelf and power. Clean politicians today are a rare breed.

I pray that Pakistanis become more tolerant, pluralistic, progressive and forward-looking as prosperity beckons from our country participating in the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. For this we have to abandon our fetters which are feudalism and tribalism. We cannot afford to delay as the world continues to progress and modernise at a fast pace.

Abbas R. Siddiqi

Lahore

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017