The cat is out of the bag. The date for the next General Elections has been announced and the nation awaits with abated breath for the fateful day of February 8th 2024 when the nation goes to polls to elect the members of the National and Provincial assemblies. All the leaders of the political parties are now fully geared and have launched their election campaigns with public jalsas and corner meetings all over the country. Except for the leaders of the PTI the PMLN, PPP, JUI, MQM, IPP leaders at the national and provincial levels are in top gear holding meetings and talks on various TV channels to advance their political agenda and tell the electorate their future plans for the transformation and betterment of the country.
Political leaders and their spin doctors are now spinning their tales of what they are going to do when elected again but the general public appears to be rather disinterested as these tales have been aired many times in the past. The interest of the common man in the next elections appears to be rather muted luke warm and shows a rather surprising lack of interest as the public has by now learnt their lesson and they seem to have no interest in the tall claims of their leaders.Most political stalwarts are just harping on the old tune of how they were prevented from serving the people by the interference of the powerful establishment and if elected again they will turn Pakistan into a land of milk and honey. Every election in the past 76 years has been controversial and all stake holders have always refused to accept the results with shouts and howls of rigging fraud and political engineering so what should the people of Pakistan expect this time? Will it be a repeat of the past or something will be different? Politics in Pakistan is highly toxic, dysfunctional and prone to influence and political engineering by the powerful forces of the establishment.
Economically the country is still in the doldrums with heavy dependence on the IMF and handouts from the oil rich Arab countries. Rise of the dollar has been checked and for some odd reasons the stock market has gone through the roof shattering all previous records but no economic benefit has trickled down to the poor suffering masses. Our all-weather friend China has once again provided invaluable help and economic support but we have failed to take advantage of the great project of CPEC and the great economic leap forward by China should be a lesson for Pakistan when China now is outpacing even the USA in many critical areas of technology.
In the economic sphere we can learn from India and even Bangladesh. Future govt. of Pakistan and its economic managers should plan for economic self-reliance and break the begging bowl forever. About time that the country moves away from the aid based economy and shifts to a self-reliant economy. This can be achieved only and only if our future economy managers very seriously implement some basic structural reformsbased on the recommendations of the IMF and some leading economic experts of the world. Pakistan’s debt ridden economy and the heavy liability of paying back loan instalments has destroyed our economy and lowered the prestige of the country and at the same time driven millions of people below the poverty line for no fault of theirs.
Pakistan enjoys a great geographical location on the globe but this advantage has come to a naught because of a poor foreign policy, growth of terrorism and bad blood between our neighbors like India in the East and Afghanistan in the west. The rebirth of the Taliban and their increased militant activities in the Khyber Agencies and the KPK must be checked and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations rooted out for good. One of the more immediate and serious tasks for the new govt. will be the serious power shortage in the country because right now the huge import of fossil fuels for electricity generation is a major drain on our economy. More and more attention will be needed for solar energy generation and other alternate forms of electricity. Load shedding will have to be eliminated and industrial units assured of uninterrupted supply of power to reduce the cost of production.
Nobody can deny the need and importance of fair free and transparent elections in the country. An elected govt. is the only way of guiding this country on the path of progress stability and prosperity. All the prosperous and stable countries of the world have achieved their goals by holding fair and free elections with no sign of political engineering or any form of interference from state agencies, and this is the only way to produce good political leaders who can guide the nation and command the respect of the voters. Unfortunately the history of elections in Pakistan is replete with manipulations by politicians, the establishment and some state agencies with flagrant violations of the laws of the land and the constitution. Majority of the people in Pakistan are not aware of the immense damage that the cheating in elections has done to the country. This deadly cycle has to stop now so that the next general elections in 2024 is different and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
Email: tariq.aqil@headstart.edu.pk
views expressed are writer’s own.
