Revamp electoral system

"Presently, Pakistan is in the clutches of a very ruthless elite. Until and unless this elite starts thinking of the nation instead of their personal and family benefits only, we will see no ray of hope at all"

The solution to our problems lies in the reconstruction of all major national institutions. That was the consensus of the discussion on the Pakistani economy and politics. Mian Shehzada Ahmed Ali, an investor from Oklahoma, thought that all of our institutions, including politics, bureaucracy, economy, education, and judiciary, needed major structural changes. Expressing his views in Eilaf Club he said that we need to educate our nation. We must emphasise higher education and impart technical education to those who cannot cope with higher education. We must keep the national needs in mind in our education system and syllabi. Our preference in education should be from higher to lower levels. We must learn from the developed countries’ education systems. Management and IT subjects should be preferred. The theoretical, technical, managerial, and marketing needs of economic development should not be ignored. He deplored that the Pakistani government is doing nothing to improve the country’s economy. Without better banking facilities and lower electricity and gas rates, industry can’t survive. Our government system is as rusted as Ethiopia’s. We are spending lavishly on our bureaucracy and it is the main reason for our not coming up in our economy.

Nasim Ahmed said that our problems are limitless and we know their solutions very well, but we face the same old question at the end of every mental exercise: who will bell the cat? Presently, Pakistan is in the clutches of a very ruthless elite. There are five segments of this elite: landlords, politicians, bureaucrats, military, and judicial. Until and unless these elites start thinking of the nation instead of their personal and family benefits only, we will see no ray of hope at all. Generally, this is the same elite who stood with the British Empire during their rule, and immediately after their exit, they grabbed the power to serve their interests in this region. Rana Ameer Ahmed Khan opined that our system needs truth and that this need can be fulfilled by the political leadership. We couldn’t have true leadership after Jinnah and Liaqat. That is why we are facing grave problems. Justice Mian Allah Nawaz has written a book ‘How to Save Pakistan?’. This book gives full insight into the realities. He has written thoroughly about the reformation of all of these systems. Quaid-e-Azam formed different committees for restructuring Free Pakistan’s institutions, but after his death, no one ever bothered about such pivotal needs. This is the greatest tragedy of our nation’s history that we cannot have genuine leaders.

We only got dwarfs, which caused all of our agonies. Our governments have been constituting numerous inquiry committees and judicial commissions. Many of these recommendations have not seen the light of the day. Others were dumped because the bitter facts didn’t suit any of the elite groups. Dr. Muhammad Sharif argued that only a person raised in a poor family can be a real leader. The people born with a silver spoon in their mouths can only plunder the national resources for their families. After nationalising all the agricultural lands, a network of cottage industries should be built up throughout the country. Khalifa Ziauddin said that businessmen have deep-rooted relationships with the common people. They talk about the need for reforms in different sectors but are seldom specific. We are very anxious to change the education system but forget that this very education system has produced people like doctors Abdus Salam, Allama Iqbal, and Abdul Qadeer Khan. Western systems have their drawbacks. Their children don’t learn tables of math and they are not good at writing either. In Germany, every university is financed by big industry. We can look at the Japanese systems. They are much ahead in ethics and no other nation can work as hard as the Japanese. It is better if we take issues one by one for our consideration and reach some conclusion. Majeed Ghani endorsed it and said that people at the helm of affairs know everything, but they are dishonest and think about their plundering. If we keep only justice and the welfare of downtrodden people in mind, everything can be put on the right track.

Professor Dr. Mujahid Mansoori said that from the day of Independence until now we have made a lot of progress. In many cases, we are far better now. Our middle class has expanded enormously. No doubt that the elite classes and rulers have proved themselves greedy and powerful, having plundered the weaker factions of society. Every year, trillions of dollars are going out of the country unchecked. We need compulsory, free, and quality education for all. Ethical and disciplinary education must be delivered at an early stage. Nasim Ahmed pointed out the country’s progress during different stages and said that in 1960, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, China, and Thailand were economically almost at the same level. All other countries have made sparkling developments, but Pakistan has remained far behind them. What went wrong with us is the issue before us. In 1960 and 1970, we developed in industry and agriculture. But what was wrong in the coming years after that? I have strong faith that there is an international elite who controls fifty percent of our country’s capital. This elite is present in all countries and it remains at the helm of affairs in every country. The elites of other countries have been more brilliant than ours. They have provided basic needs to their lower classes; they have taken care of the people’s education and health and haven’t taken their wealth to other countries. We need true leadership. Unfortunately, we cannot manufacture leadership in factories. We need to change our election system to give true representation to all the cadres, i.e. labor, teachers, lawyers, engineers, and intellectuals. Without a genuine democracy, we cannot reap the fruits of justice and development.

With 50 years of teaching experience, Professor Dr. Shafiq Jullandhry, a noted writer and author of award-winning books, is former chairman of Punjab University's Mass Communication Department (now School of Communication Studies); also heads Elaaf Club and Pakistan Media Guild as president. He can be reached at [email protected].