If one chooses a sequence of essential elements for a nation to prosper, it would put the rationality of their thinking process at the top. I firmly believe that, without exercising this power, a State remains with little credibility to improve its lot, or that of its citizens.
It is also unfortunate that, since he won independence, the assets that we have continually committed ourselves are the credentials of that transcendental day. In addition to making them subordinated to some poorly conceived compulsions that emanate from foreign countries, we have also committed them practicing policies aimed at enlarging personal gains with preference to obtaining collective national interests. Today, we find ourselves as a captive state bank for livelihoods more about the support we can obtain from abroad than from the internal effort embedded in unity and cohesion. Such disbursement makes a cardinal sign of weakness, not of strength.
To harvest the fruits of our independence, one must visit the discourse that Quaid made of the floor of the first Constituent Assembly of the country on August 11, 1947, as well as many others, including the one who addressed the Civil Service officers in Peshawar. It was clear and sincere to spell the essentials that the newborn state should defend.
He underlined the centrality of freedom as the same citizens of the country beyond the limits of faith, caste, color or creed. Then he emphasized the sovereignty of the legislative body and the great responsibility imposed on the shoulders of the leaders to defend it. He called bribery and corruption as curses and emphasized the need to eliminate them.
Addressing public officials in Peshawar, he urged them not to be victims of any pressure and fulfill their duty as servants of the State and the people, and not to the government in power at a particular moment.
If one performs an objective analysis of the events of the last decades, one would know that these are the same values that have been barbarously for personal gains. Through a sinister process of politicization of state interests, the concept of freedom, the holiness of civil and other services and the need to protect the sovereignty of the State have committed themselves to the altar to improve the personal wealth and power of the ruling elite and its cohorts of friends.
While the State has suffered in terms of economic solvency and loss of stature among the community of the nations, it is the people who have supported the worst part of a series of these minor crimes by losing their dignity and self -respect, on the one hand, and the perspective of their growth and progress on the other.
The main cause of all these contemptions dates back to the placement of unnecessary curbs on people’s freedom of thought. Intellectual activity and commitment create the necessary space for nations to recognize their true destination and draw a course to achieve it. By degrading people to be guided as lambs without brain by the corrupt ruling elite, the national landscape would become sterile of ideas and impulse. Stagnation would be established automatically, which generates nausea.
It is the holder that such intellectual activity can cultivate multiple stories that can be quite different from each other, but each of them would entail its own weight. When the objective is clear, this diversity arises as the essence of the intellectual thinking process. We do not throw stones to those with whom we can differ. We do not whip them with accusations loaded with invective. We do not give them a load sheet, we punish them as traitors and forcing them to the alienation of the social mainstream. Like everyone else, they deserve to be there to make their contribution and help the State advance.
While this has been a constant tradition through the years of our existence, we have recently witnessed a rapid escalation in the reach of these edges, which have hindered the perspective of our intellectual growth and the consequent national salvation. A palpable fear syndrome permeates the environment, which forces people to resort to remaining enclosed in the waiting for some improvement or plan to leave the country collecting money by liquidating their insignificant assets.
With about four million people who have left in the last three years, this emigration is equivalent to a massive exodus, which manifests the shortage of hope that most citizens adhere to living here. No State can prosper in the midst of such depressing conditions.
In the process, sanity and rationality become the main victims. As the world is increasingly divided, there is a growing need to prioritize pragmatic and wise thought to build a sustainable platform to face emerging challenges. But the opposite seems to be the pattern in which a opposite opinion, born of concern and sincerity, is interpreted as an adverse to national interests and the individual is subject to the hardest treatment, without excluding the possibility of spending time in jail, using a sequence of vicious laws that are being adopted with an alarming frequency. Already, the institution of an independent judiciary has been given a default, thus burying the possibility of the provision of justice in the country.
These conditions do not lead to political stability, which imposes the perspective of economic growth. We have depended on the support of international institutions and pairs from friendly countries. Instead of providing steps to decrease and, ultimately, eliminate this shameful dependence on external sources, this scourge increases over time. In fact, each insured financial support of any quarter is promoted as a great achievement and is celebrated in brilliant terms. Such behavior is not just depressing; It is deeply humiliating.
We need to return to the basics. Not only have we forgotten our fundamental ideals, but we have built a monstrous structure that rests in borrowed pillars. In the absence of internal cohesion and unity, as well as any genuine effort to address these problems, we are likely to continue decreasing. The governance approach requires comprehensive review.
The objective of a stable and self -sufficient state cannot be achieved by blocking intellectual space with coercive measures. We should explore the power of rationality to unite people in an environment of peace and security, free from the threat of violence. Equally important is the need to stop insulting them labeling terrorists and traitors. They are not. They only exercise their right to differ.
Discharge of responsibility: The views expressed in this piece are that of writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.TV.
The writer is a political and security strategist and founder of the Regional Peace Institute. He is a former special assistant of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and directs the group of experts of the PTI policy. He tweet @raofhasan
Originally published in the news
