Still more to come?

We have never seen political stability in this country during its brief history. Pakistan lacked leadership and direction right from the word go and the things grew worse with the passage of time. But the traumatic drama that has been unfolding itself on the political chess board for the past one year or so is probably the worst that one could have imagined. Whether it was all planned or formulated, instigated by a foreign hand or just a natural unfortunate consequence of poor governance and enforced policies is anybody’s guess.

The suspension of the chief justice proved to be the flash point bringing the people to the streets but the gruesome bloodbath on the streets of Karachi exposed our claims towards tolerance and civility as a society. Demand for any serious probe or investigation into the matter still remains unfulfilled.

Lal Masjid episode worsened the critical divide between the so called moderators, so called fundamentalists and the law enforcement agencies ( wonder if there was any law prevailing at all ? ). Ultimately what followed were sheer madness, agony and insanity resulting in more than 50 bombing incidents and thousands of casualties just during the year 2007 in Pakistan, the highest ever in any part of the world to date …..correct me if I am wrong? The country plunged into a civil war rendering most parts of the Frontier province inaccessible and the events even triggered migration from certain areas.

With the sacking of judiciary there came tumbling to the ground, one of the strongest pillars of the state. Emergency was imposed, virtually confiscating any powers from the rubber stamp parliament and government functionaries.

Amidst prevailing lawlessness and brutality the call for fresh elections felt like a draught of fresh air. However, the ominous welcome meted out to BB and her ultimate assassination stands out as one of the most loathsome incidents in our political history.

The holding of the elections and an outright verdict against the prevailing powers signified change and meant some hope for the nation. Adversaries came round as they proclaimed to seek change in the larger national interest but one wondered for how long? The cracks in the government are widening and becoming more obvious with each passing day.

If it was not enough, energy crisis deepens, food shortage rises, oil crisis looms large and inflation soars high compounding our problems. What is even more worrying is the fact that there is no perceptible haste or serious bid evident in the decision making quarters to counter rapidly deteriorating situation. A bulk of the cabinet members of the state have packed their bags and resigned leaving the ship rudderless.

We have always blamed military dictatorships and totalitarian rules for our misfortunes but have the democracies ever proved to be any better? With the successive failures doesn’t it make us ponder whether we are clinging on to the right form of system or whether we have desperately failed to evolve an effective system suited to our needs in line with our social, political and cultural fit?

I hate to sound pessimistic but doesn’t the journey appear further downhill from here? What is that we can do right individually or collectively that can turn things round for us? What should be our outright priorities and what are the major challenges that we are faced with? What are the issues that we need to focus on immediately and are there any matters that can wait for their resolution until we walk out of the deep shit?

Any thoughts or clues? Any solutions?