‘Khairal-Umoor Awasatuha’ (The best of ways lies in the middle) — Rasul Allah (PBUH)

FOR most of Pakistan’s existence its elites and the institutions they dominate have governed, controlled, deceived, robbed, and suppressed its people. They continue to do so. Instead of being servants of the people they have become their masters. As such, they are the principal obstacle in the way of the development of the country including the rights and freedoms its people are guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, in both letter and spirit, the Constitution has been systematically violated and rendered almost irrelevant. Accordingly, these irresponsible ruling elites and their cohorts have demonstrated a hostility towards their own country few external adversaries could match. Mor­eover, the near fatal prospect they have created for the country does not particularly bother them.

And yet a ray of sunlight seems to break through the dark clouds over the country in the shape of a courageous and defiant person considered too young, too poor and too honest to be the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. KP now has a leader who represents the hopes of the youth and the poor of the entire nation. He also has the confidence of an imprisoned national leader in whom an overwhelming majority repose their hopes. Byzantine conspiracies are accordingly afoot to thwart these hopes and possibilities for the freedom, prosperity, and survival of Pakistan. Nothing could be more outrageous and tragic.

Moreover, the critically important Pakistan middle class intelligentsia has, by and large, prioritised their personal comforts and security over their responsibilities. They cleverly deploy specious arguments for a status quo they know to be fatal for the country. Their conscience apparently does not deter them from willingly or unwillingly serving their cynical superiors and benefactors.

Nevertheless, hopeful questions surface: can a callow young man induce a transforming epiphany among practised cynics? Will the power of hope disperse cynical calculation? Will a failing state reconstitute itself in unity, resolve, struggle, sacrifice and success? Despite an ocean of distressing developments I cannot accept hopeless answers to such questions. Nor should anyone.

We are at a ‘to be or not to be’ moment in which common moral sense must prevail.

Externally, the puppet show in Sharm el-Sheikh including the fawning flattery of Trump should have instilled a modicum of sharam in us. Celebrating the conclusion of the genocidal first phase of the expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine (which is the ultimate goal of the monster leaders of the US and Israel) as a saving of the Palestinians has been a new low for the Arab/Muslim world, including Pakistan. The coming apart of the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan at the first exchange of fire between Afghanistan and Pakistan is hardly surprising given the colloquial epithets of ‘miskeen’, ‘rafiq’, ‘siddiq’, etc that the Gulf clients of America confer on their poor Pakistani ‘brethren’.

The omission of any commitment to Palestinian statehood in the Trump Declaration demonstrates the ‘peace of the graveyard’ that Jewish and Christian Zionists led by Netanyahu and Trump have always had in mind. This renders UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 inoperable. As such it also renders both the recognition of Palestinian statehood and the reiteration of a two-state solution by European and Arab/Muslim leaders very bad jokes.

Pakistan’s association with this charade has direct implications for UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir which call for a plebiscite to determine the wishes of its people. Despite Trump’s meaningless heaping of praise on Pakistan’s leadership, will he revive the long-abandoned US commitment to a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir? Absolutely not! Modi or no Modi, India is too important for the US.

Moreover, Modi has made clear he will not be pushed around by Trump, who is now pandering to him. Trump will nevertheless insist Pakistan prioritise his interests over its national interests with regard to Bagram, CPEC, the quashing of democracy, and the selling of Pakistan’s priceless resources for ‘a few pieces of silver’. Long ago, Kissinger referred to the fatal cost of American friendship!

Hopefully, the restoration of the sovereignty of the people of Pakistan will end such charades. Once the constituent elements of Pakistan’s ruling elites and their apparatchik intelligentsia cease to ‘live in bad faith’, a whole world of exciting possibilities will open up. There need be no individual, elite or institutional villains. The challenges confronting the country will remain in place. But their nature will change from fatal to manageable to resolvable. That alone will inaugurate an era of confidence, energy, and innovation. Instead of risking their lives to escape Pakistan our youth will realise their potential to reshape Pakistan.

All of this may be idle fantasy today. But if those at the helm introspect they may find the better part of their natures commanding them to desist from frustrating and undermining the possibilities of Pakistan. They will find personal fulfilment in bowing to the dictates of their conscience and serving the dictates of khair instead of sharr. We are at a ‘to be or not to be’ moment in which common moral sense must prevail.

Accordingly, the people’s mandate of Feb 8, 2024, must be restored. Only then can the Quaid’s Pakistan be progressively restored in friendship and cooperation with Bangladesh, and maybe eventually, principled accommodation with India. This would be a blessing for more than two billion of the most vulnerable people on earth. This would facilitate constructing a relationship with Afghanistan and Central Asia that our history, culture and values demand. Only then can we begin to realise the colossal potential of our relations with China which is rapidly emerging as the best hope for all oppressed peoples and nations.

Isn’t this a breathtaking prospect? Why would any decent person choose to gratuitously ruin it? None of the foregoing is fantasy if we believe we are a nation and our people are politically sovereign. Accordingly, we should be confident we can address and overcome all challenges and thereby transform our possibilities into our reality.

The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China, and head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2025