The question is whether Pakistan can transform itself from a security state that continues to behave with a cold war mindset whilst the past three decades have seen the world change from a bi-polar to a uni-polar and then to a multi-polar world.
Until and unless the axis of the Army, the United States and the right-wing is broken, neither the reconstruction of the Pakistani state nor the so-called democratization of Pakistan will alter the fundamental nature of the security state or bring peace or prosperity to Pakistans 170 million people, nearly eighty per cent whom live below the poverty line of $2 a day.
Pakistans elites have little interest in the reconstruction of the state because they have the most to lose if power is truly exercised by the people. The army has no incentive to break the axis of trouble (a legacy of the great game and India-centric policies) because it thrives on the perpetuation of conflicts in the region and the largess it receives from the United States.
And what about the mullahs? They have thrived due to a combination of factors.
Most important among the factors is the failure of the so-called mainstream parties to provide honest, competent, and credible leadership.
It is customary to blame Zia and his successors, including Musharraf, for the growth of the Frankenstein forces of religious extremism and terrorism, but the buck does not stop there. In many other countries, for example, in Latin America, the unholy alliance between the local military, rightwing forces and Americans had undermined democracy
but the nationalist and democratic forces eventually triumphed because they had capable and credible leadership.
Pakistan has been cursed by civilian and military leaders
who are too eager to follow the US agenda. From Ayub to Kayani, there is not a single army chief who can claim to have pursued Pakistans strategic interests independent of US goals in the region.
Pakistanis will have to break this nexus between the corrupt elites and the west if they want their country to be a self respecting sovereign state that works to promote the interests of its people and not of its corrupt and selfish elites.
A polarized Pakistani society suffers from a serious leadership crisis.
The so-called mainstream parties have failed to provide competent and credible leadership. Unscrupulous politicians has led to the demonization of politics to a degree that save for incompetent and corrupt individuals like Asif Zardari or Nawaz Sharif, or creations of the establishment like the MQMs neo-fascist Altaf Hussain or Maulana Fazlur Rehman (infamous for his double dealings), few wish to navigate the treacherous and murderous waters of stormy Pakistani politics.
The Way Forward
> The
army leadership can and must take the lead and put India, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and nuclear issues on the back burner and
focus on nation rebuilding, strengthening and helping the civilian institutions stand on their feet to perform their roles without aspiring to do the job itself.
> Pakistan needs effective governance and to create fiscal space to make investments to repair and rebuild its administrative and physical infrastructure. This can be achieved by downsizing of federal governments military and civil bureaucracy, decentralizing governance by empowering provincial and local governments, strengthening their capacity, and by mobilizing domestic resources.
> Pakistan needs to spend 8-10% of its GDP on education and infrastructure. This is not possible without drastic cuts in defense and establishment expenditure, reducing corruption, and more and better tax collection.
>
But all of the above requires peace and putting an end to all external and internal conflicts and restoration of conditions that are conducive to resource mobilization, economic reforms, and restoring order in the society.
Pakistan has no other option now but to change its national priorities and external policies to find a way to transform Pakistan which continues to be in a state of constant tension with its neighboring countries to a modern, tolerant, federal, and plural democracy with a sustainable economic development model which is appropriate for a country with one of the worlds largest, fastest growing, and youngest populations.
Excerpted by me from an interesting article from
Here
