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| India-Pakistan |
| Quo vadis, Pakistan? |
| 2015-06-30 |
| [DAWN] PAKISTAN'S population is probably 200 million today. It will be 350-400 million by 2050. Given climate change and the trend lines of our vital national indices the country's future is in serious question. Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's wretched plight is engulfing the rest of Pakistain where low lives in high places callously contrive to win zero-sum games against their own people! The people suffer indescribably every single day because of them. Corruption, whether political, administrative or military, is institutionalised and systemic. Political leaders alternately challenge and pander to the military as part of their degenerate strategies. They treat ordinary citizens as 'cockroaches'. Those who can stop them, but do not, are complicit. The people desperately want to get rid of them. But they are constrained by political circuses, economic crumbs, intimidation and hopelessness. An informal economy, external inflows and private charity merely delay the day of reckoning. Pakistain is still manageable. It can survive, even flourish. But not without fundamental and sustained structural change. Incremental approaches are covers for inaction. Specific transformation strategies can be evaluated. But our parasitic elite will never consider good governance which requires them to see Pakistain as larger than themselves. Instead, they prefer being tax cheats, making false promises an art form, stowing away 'untold billions' in safe havens abroad, and updating their exit strategies. Military rule -- overt or covert-- has no answer to the nation's challenges. Criminal civilian rule leads to military takeovers, as is happening once again. The concept of civil-military relations is meaningless without civilian supremacy and good governance. In Pakistain CMR is based on the military's political supremacy which is unconstitutional. Fake "democracy" does not evolve into genuine democracy. It perpetuates the rule of deceit and plunder. The military, moreover, cannot become a national institution if it remains a political institution. Pakistain's interests and Punjab's interests remain out of joint. That is why the original Pakistain died an early death. If this situation continues, either Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... will conquer the rest of the country, or the country will break up because of domestic resistance and external intervention. A soft and failing state can never become a democracy. The situation is indeed dire. During the Long March Mao Zedong wrote "So little time; So much to do!" In 1949 he proclaimed "China has stood up!" Look at China today! Deng Xiaoping believed democracy is what it does, not what it claims. Lee Kuan Yew observed "Democracy is the Rolls Royce of politics provided you can keep it. If you cannot it is the worst investment you can make." He also noted: "If you give a man a vote without providing him a stake in the nation he will ask for the moon." Professor Ernest Gellner observed that Islam is more compatible with modernism and democracy than any of the other great faiths. But unfortunately our faith has been hijacked by wily professionals and bully boyz who mislead and terrorise honest believers. They have friends in high places. It has been said 'one step in the right direction and a journey of a thousand miles is a thousand miles no longer'. We have yet to take that first step although we have travelled far in the wrong direction. The journey today is longer than ever. We must plan specifically and implement rapidly and resolutely. This requires constant public communication and inclusive feedback to maximise ownership of policies. No one person, party or institution should presume to impose a particular view of the national interest. That has ensured national disunity. Discussions and recommendations are, however, essential. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 I'll take Door #3, Frank... |
| Posted by: Raj 2015-06-30 18:26 |
| #3 Ima betting it'll be a LOT less than current population: nuke exchange, disease, famine, Islam cannibalism |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-06-30 14:31 |
| #2 Malthus and islam... Idiocy squared. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2015-06-30 06:59 |
| #1 PAKISTAN'S population is probably 200 million today. It will be 350-400 million by 2050. Hah? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-06-30 05:02 |