Road to Build ‘Naya Pakistan’

Over seventy years after Pakistan came into being, we are a state with a fading sense of the nationhood that motivated the Muslims of the subcontinent to rally behind Jinnah in the struggle for Pakistan. Our corrupt and visionless ruling elite plus military rule for most of our history repudiated our people a real chance to reinforce their sense of nationhood.

Imran Khan, our former national cricket hero and Chairperson of PTI, a leading political party in the country claims that he will build ‘Naya Pakistan’ if he is given chance to form its Government in Pakistan. He also claims that he will re-establish the vision of Iqbal and Jinnah in the country.  

In my view, in order to re-establish Iqbal and Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan, we have to break our chains of servitude and rid ourselves of the disease of corruption. The governments get threatened on this account by their MNA / MPA and others to amass the illegal benefits and get the immunity from trial. This is why all the anti-corruption entities have failed in Pakistan in the past including the NAB. It has really become a weird task to ask a political government not to be pressurized / influenced by the corrupt people in the ruling party or its allies, however a start can be made in this direction.

The plan of fighting corruption has little chances of success if it is void of ethical and moral dimensions. Unluckily the moral values and norm in our society have transformed negatively over the past many years. Money and its accumulation have attained the top priority as with it everything else can be bought. This is why the corrupt persons are not even ashamed of their ill-gotten wealth. Any political party claiming to be revolutionary like PTI will have to take up on itself that the accumulation of money should be made an insignificant and irrelevant affair in the society. Once a system of social justice is in place and everyone starts getting his/her due share in jobs, income, social facilities and amenities of life, no one would like to go after the illegal means to accumulate wealth.

The ethical and moral mentoring of all including the public and the state representatives should go alongside and be validated practically by setting personal examples. Citizens must be given importance (protocol) in society based on their morality, character and virtues rather than the wealth and power. In any case, why shouldn’t we give the top protocols to our teachers / scientists / researchers instead of the bureaucrats, as is being done in many advanced countries? Once the corrupt persons know that the government is ignorant to the personal material gains they will not resort to their tactics.  A government should prefer to resign instead of being blackmailed by the corrupt lobbies. It all may sounds unbelievable but is not bizarre.

No one has ever tried it in Pakistan. Let us take the lead and start treading this difficult path. This has to be done in levels, but we must take the initiative if we really want to build Naya Pakistan as an Islamic welfare state. It all depends on the people of Pakistan to make Naya Pakistan a reality - a Pakistan which represents a strong sense of nationhood built on the guiding principle of Insaf - Justice.