Pakistan is a fragile, crisis state. The contradictions in its governance structures is leading to the decline of the state’s writ and efficacy. The contract and practice of the elite and the state’s relationship with it citizens have brought the whole edifice to the brink of a huge disaster. Years of dependency on foreign doles handed out for military and strategic services in less than legitimate conflicts have hindered the growth of developing indigence resources. Most of the Social indicators of development are viewing qualitative decline. The lower orders of the society are witnessing increasing hardships in eking out even the basic subsistence. When a natural crisis strikes the state and the society is generally not ready to cope with it. This is a repeated, unfortunate experience we witnessed on three major occasions in recent memory i.e. the 2005 Earth Quake in Northern Pakistan, and the floods in 2010 and 2022.
This kind of vulnerable situation warrants some serious reflections on reform in the country. We believe that the Pakistani state and society require major structural reforms in the following areas in order to survive as functional entities:
- Civil Services Reforms: The Pakistan Administrative Services, Police, Inland Revenue, Customs and Audit & Accounts Groups in Particular. The Planning Commission of the country too needs to be opened to more inputs from the lower strata of the Pakistani society. Similarly, the Federal Board of Revenue and the Provincial bureaucracies require a complete radical overhaul.
- Reforms in the Justice System including the processes through which recruits join both, the bench and the bar in the country.
- Gross Inequalities in the country need to be addressed through radical progressive measures. The siphoning of the wealth from the lower tiers of the society into the coffers of the rich and the mighty must be stopped. Progressive taxations, Land Reforms and taxes on the big properties are some of the measures that can address this problem. Similarly, robust measures should be taken against the flight of capital from the country.
- Corruption is a cancer that has undone the country. Local capital flies out through corrupt elite. Serious and strong measures must be taken against the corrupt in every walk of life. All public officials must declare their local and foreign financial and material assets and accounts. Penalties and punishments for the corrupt should become a reality in the society. White collar crimes and economic crimes toot should be considered capital offences and addressed through expert counter measures.
- The country needs major electoral reforms in order to enable the working people and the poor to send their genuine representatives to the parliament. The high costs of electioneering must come down before the poor people can really have genuine representatives. The capture of the political life by the rich must come to an end before we can have a genuine democracy. The option of recall of the elected officials after the first two years of their stint in the parliament should be introduced.
- The Social role of the state must be enhanced and brought under the genuine control of the people of Pakistan. The municipalities and the local structure of governance require a complete radical overhaul in our view. Basic income for all workers, unemployment coverage, free education till the High Schools levels at least, food security for all, subsidized medical services, decent transport affordable housing and a good sanitation system are some measures that must be introduced on priority a basis.
- Pakistan faces a huge Environmental and Ecological challenge. The Country’s Bio-Climatic resources are under a stress due to the local and international profligate and irresponsible use of resources. Robust measures must be taken to protect the Environment and Ecological life in the country.
- Organized crime has become entrenched in large areas of the country’s state bodies and areas where the writ of the state is tenuous. In many parts of the country it finds patronage from shadowy characters in the state. Its stranglehold on large parts of the Pakistani society must come to an end.
- Pakistan’s relations with the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the big powers must be debated more openly. They must also be brought under the real control of the people of Pakistan.
- Islam is a cultural reality of the Pakistani Society. It requires proper respect and genuine scholarship in order to enable the citizens of Pakistan to understand and practice it better. All measures should be taken to promote and advance it in a healthy manner.
This portal believes that Pakistan requires radical and robust measures in these areas in order to become a functional state and prosper in the years to come. The struggle of the progressives, the working people and the multitudes of the country must be directed towards these goals.
