TOWARDS BETTER PAKISTAN

Towards Better Pakistan

By Major (R) Khalid Nasr



The common man in Pakistan is not bothered about Musharraf or restoration of Judges. He is interested in a peaceful & respectable living. We have seen civilian dictators like Mr Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. The people of Pakistan welcomed Musharraf on his take over. Currently, the lawyers & media are behaving like a mafia. They want to force their decisions on the parliament & PPPgovernment. There are certain issues that can be better handled through Courts and Ballot boxes. Imposition of minority's decision on the majority of Pakistan's population is not justified. The fundamentalists & extremists in Pakistan may also take a lead from this. This has become a second nature in Pakistan that, whenever, some thing goes wrong, we put blame on RAW not realizing that it may be an internal “SAW” that is cutting the throats of innocent people in Pakistan. India is a stake-holder of what happens in Pakistan. Now the perception of a common man in India has improved. The fact is that there is a leadership crisis on the political chess board of Pakistan. There are some commonalities in the vision of the Army Chief, General Ashfaq Kiyani, President Musharraf and Zardari. It is hoped that they would be able to handle this situation of violence & extremism in Pakistan. Pakistan's foreign policy would have to be redesigned and more focus should be towards China & Iran. Pakistan's relations with India would also improve in the coming years. As far as the state of violence & extremism is concerned, the majority of people in Pakistan believe in “enlightened moderation.” There are few Pakistani Muslims who are unable to find a difference between Jihad & terrorism. This situation will also improve through better control on Madrassas. US funding to Pakistan for anti-terrorism operation will not be stopped but definitely it would be curtailed to a limited amount. The immediate tasks’ priorities should be better infra structure, good governance, quality leadership, economic and education growth, terrorism and extremism, Kashmir issue and Foreign policy. A common man in Pakistan is very optimistic about the future of Pakistan.
It would be better if we go through the following ground realities:


1) Pakistan Muslim league had her roots in combined India; therefore, some good leadership had been witnessed in the early years of Pakistan.

2) During Ghulam Mohammad's regime, political leaders created an opportunity for General Ayub Khan to take over.

3) Bhutto created the environments under which Ayub Khan was forced to hand over to Yahya Khan.

4) Bhutto created a political scenario that led to the debacle of 1971 and he took over as first Civilian Martial Law Administrator.

5) Bhutto used his political and military force against the common men of Pakistan as a dictator. The opposition leaders invited Army through their letters to Generals.

6) General Zia accepted this invitation that led to Bhutto's judicial murder.

7) 1988 to 1999 was the period of the so called democracy in which the nation witnessed the 'power---hide and seek' between Benazir and Nawaz.

Nawaz took aggressive actions against President, Chief Justice and Army Chiefs as a Dictator. This scenario led to take over by Army. Now when Army has decided to refrain from enterference in government affairs , the entire nation is in the state of bewilderment whether any of the political leader in the arena is capable and trust worthy enough to lead them out of the present crises on the geo-political front. The credibility of both Nawaz & Zardari is shining on the future of Pakistan. God bless Pakistan and give some 'hidayat” to our political leaders to change their mindset and bring the country out of the state of now or never. Musharraf has decided to step down in due course of time but still every political leader is on the musical chair to get the credit for it.
Problem with Pakistan is that every ruler thinks that he/she knows all and understand the people the best. People of Pakistan are never given an opportunity to decide their own fate. Ruler or combination of rulers are always thrusted on them. Therefore, they never feel a stake in the government and are not united as a nation even after 60 years. They will continue to despair unless provided a chance to form their own government on a regular basis through a free and fair election under the Constitution. Nothing else is going to work. We shall continue seeing today's villians coming back as heroes be they from military or civilian set-up. This nation has a lot of talent---it just needs a leader with vision to lead in a charismatic way.May God bless Pakistan.