The Balouchistan Conundrum..!

The current situation in Balouchistan can not be fixed without finding a complete solution of the current socio economic problems of the country, as a whole.

We can not keep our eyes closed from the fact that the deliverance and governance has miserably failed to meet the needs of the fast growing population in  providing proper facilities of health and education, eliminating poverty and delivering justice in its true meanings, particularly to the weaker sections of the society.

Our whole system was designed to serve just the elite class population of about 1-2%. So, to expect from the remaining 98-99% people to keep themselves bonded with the idea of nation hood, for such a long wait, was just like living in a fools paradise.

Another huge mistake which we are again committing for quite a long time, is to think and relax that our armed forces are there to fight the enemies inside and out side the borders. Firstly, the size and resources of our forces are extremely small for such a huge task and secondly, no armed forces in the world are created to deliver in the governance field. They are part of a country’s system, not the system.

It is the major responsibility of the civil society to immediately revamp the faulty system, for automatically serving the teeming millions, if the country has to sustain, grow and develop as a progressive society.

Give a country the system suited to serve its poorest of the poor and no enemy can succeed in harming that nation.

We must realise without any doubt that the salvation of Pakistan lies in the economic emancipation of the down trodden Pakistanis. If military might was the guarantee of the integrity and solidarity of any nation, the USSR would never have disintegrated into 15 states in 1991.

Our intellectuals of the civil society while drawing up a new new system of governance for Pakistan, should write in the preamble, the following motto for the civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan.
“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”

The burning question of the teeming millions of Pakistan is that why not to change the ENTIRE decadent system and why we are still living in a quasi one unit system?

The fact is that even after 70+ years of age, Pakistan is still standing at a dead end. The reason being that almost 98% population is totally disconnected with the concept of Pakistaniat or our nation hood, which means “the state or quality of having a status as a separate and independent nation”. Alienation of such a huge population from the main life stream of Pakistan, is virtually, a fatal disease.

This alienation of 98+% country’s population is tearing apart the country which has already been economically and socially blown to the smithereens by terrorism and other violence.

The terrorism can never be eliminated from its roots, if the society cannot provide justice and social security to its poorest of the poor. In fact, injustice and social inequality, breeds violence and terrorism.

As such, our current system, is the biggest enemy of our statehood.

However, the fact which is more dangerous and perilous is that we have turned ourselves into a more fragmented society than our forefathers could have ever imagined.

The schism (division or disunion), is so intense that if immediate corrective steps are not taken, God forbid, this country may even see, more turbulent times.

And from this divided society, the hydra (Greek myth a monster with nine heads, each of which, when struck off, was replaced by two new ones) of sectarian violence, is massively shaking the foundations of Pakistan.

The writing on the wall is clear for all to read. The decadence of Pakistani society in every sphere of life, is abysmal, to say the least.

Hardly, any day passes without reports of suicides committed by the poor, due to the economic hardships. Children did not not die in dozens, but in scores, due to the measles outbreak and; strangely enough, no soul moved and not even a single person was held accountable.

imagine the level of meanness and corruption that children were provided fake polio medicines to mint money over the haplessness of the poorest of the poor.
Years after years, hundreds of hundreds kids, women and men are dying in Thar area, just due to diseases and malnutrition, but our ministers and public representatives made sure to enjoy their feasts, right in the middle of the starving population of Thar. These beasts are more callous, than the Changez Khan.

To top it all, the worsening conditions of law and order, excluding the war on terror connected problems, with particular reference to the violence on ethnic and sectarian grounds, is a matter of highest alarm, which deserves top priority tackling, not only by the government and its law enforcing agencies, but by the civil society, as a whole. Such problems can never be resolved till such time we abolish different  educational systems and traditional systems of police and  justice serving only the elite class.

The current frame work, under which the country is being run will not take Pakistan any forward, even if it is allowed to continue as such, for another 100 years. All small and big nations in our region and the world have overtaken us, in the basic fields of health, education, justice, law and order and food security.

On the other hand, the exploitation of the country’s resources by the powerful elite has made them the richest rulers of the South Asian region.

It is high time that all stakeholders in Pakistan must wake up, as the nation is moving fast towards destruction; and business as usual, can do no good for Pakistan; our survival is directly linked with the existence of our nationhood, whose essence is vast vanishing in the thin air.

Pakistan needs a turnaround; for which the basic need is our adaptation and readiness for the CHANGE, not in cosmetic but in the most real sense. We need a complete change from one era to another, like the one witnessed during the past 4-5 decades by China, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, Malaysia and Indonesia. And the secret of their rapid success was keeping the self interest and politics, subservient to the national interest.

Hence, for all Pakistanis, failure is not an option, but success is also not automatically guaranteed. In this regard, I would like to suggest that we formulate a new social contract, for the common people (95+% of the country’s population) of Pakistan, who always pays 100 percent bills and taxes; and never defaults on their bank loans.

Let us make a new Pakistan, which is redesigned to practically cater to the needs of the exploited masses.
In this connection, we must know that the biggest ailment of Pakistan and its governance is the order of the CENTRALISATION, which started from the concept of the ONE UNIT. Still, geographically and population wise, these four provinces are so huge and un-manageable that for all intents and purposes, they are still ONE UNIT, for the general masses.

We have to realise that the very survival and interest of Pakistan is far more supreme than the political interests of some large and small political parties of Pakistan.
All crime centers can be easily located, controlled and eliminated, if the administrative units are minuscule. I wonder ever in their life time, a CM or an IG has ever visited Minchinabad, Maroot, Panjgoor and many such far off Pakistani towns. In fact, in such far flung areas, the SHO, is the IG for the local population and the Assistant Commissioner, the Chief Minister.

However, If we have to put the politics of the vested interests before the national interest, then forget about the survival of the country.

What we have to and we must do, is to first determine the national interest and then keep it supreme over all other considerations.

In my opinion now a time has come for taking the following decisions IMMEDIATELY:

– To create easily governable administrative units or provinces. In this regard, there should be no discrimination or injustice with any province and ethnic or linguistic group; and each division of the country repeat each division, should be converted into a province, which may for political reasons be given the name of an administrative unit or RIASAT etc. Moreover, in order to remove any semblance of ethnicity or linguistic bias, these provinces/administrative units/RIASATS should be named like the NA seats; and mentioned as PK1, PK2, PK3 and so on.

No need to panic in creating about three plus dozen provinces in Pakistan. Turkey has 81 provinces and same is the case with Iran, Afghanistan, China, India and Thailand etc.

This will also work as a panacea (an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties), for the eradication of linguistic, sectarian and any other type of frictions and doubts, about the hegemony of one class of the people, over the other.

In fact, it will work wonders in the speedy development and unity of Pakistan; and kill instantly, any secessionist (particularly in Balouchistan), linguistic, or sectarian activities, currently prevailing in some parts of the country.

– Moreover, the current election system is so flawed that any Tom Dick and Harry can easily manipulate it to defeat the basic purpose of the democracy. Just imagine in the current system, one can easily get elected by getting even less than 10% of the total registered voters. So, if the basic electoral process is retarded, how can it give birth to genuine representatives of the authentic democracy?

Changes must be also be made in our constitution, to make it a presidential form of a democratic set up, where the whole country directly votes for the president.
However, before voting, the candidates of all political parties for the presidential post, must notify (in advance) a list of their MPAs, MNAs and Senators, who will be automatically considered elected, according to the percentage of votes cast, in favour of all the candidates, for the top post of the country.

This change of electoral system will greatly facilitate participation of expatriate Pakistanis and also allow local Pakistanis to vote at any polling station of the country, consequently, increasing the overall voters turn out.

– The decision for Pakistan’s charter of development for building dams and mega projects like CPEC etc., for the next 50 years should also be finalised, on which, later on, no politics should be allowed, for any political party.
In other words, all the registered political parties must decide now, where they would like to see Pakistan, in EACH and EVERY field of the life, after 50 years. This plan should be further divided into ten five year plans.

In view of the foregoing, may be, we have one last chance to stem the rot; to unite the people and to give them a prescription, to rise again and re-build the nation from the ashes.