NAME - Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
System of governance is Islamic Democracy
but in practice it's neither Islamic nor Democratic.
In 2021 and still, most populace is illiterate
[Pakistan ranks 113 in a total of 120 countries surveyed - UNESCO];
Thus, being fooled by successive rulers, civil & military both...
Who would seriously find reasons behind this catastrophe?
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THE 13TH SUBMISSION
Since its inception in 1947, the story of Pakistan in the contemporary realities went different from what Mr Jinnah had missioned and expected - a story in which deception and contradictions acquired more significance than some good deeds. Pakistan never became an ideal modern-nation state nor a complete Islamic nation - rather exists in the middle of a tight balance between the two extremes. See a script from media pages:
"(The fact persisted) that Pakistan itself never remained in peace due to its corrupt leadership, administrative inefficiencies, communal and ethnic complexities along with sub-regional nationalism. Minor issues like localized languages, cultures and sectarian radicalism became giants which raised Pakistan as an uncertain state.
An unholy Alliance between civil bureaucrats and the military during years 1951 to 1971, profoundly led to the legitimization of the Pak Army's involvement in civil issues due to which some top Generals became the sole power-keepers in the country - AND the same scheme of governance is still continuing today."
With the above hard notes of history, Imran Khan's political party, Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) entered into the murky waters of Pakistani politics in 1996. Some considered Imran Khan as the last ray of hope for progress and positive changes in Pakistan. While others, mostly his political opponents, considered him as an opportunist seeking the approval of those in the establishment for grabbing power. The Gen Musharraf era (1999-2008), the next regimes of PPP (2008-13) and PMLN (2013-18) again and again failed to secure stability and progress for Pakistan on sustainable basis.
Through 2018 general elections, with around twenty years' political struggle, Imran Khan finally succeeded in making himself atop and his party a power to be reckoned with and a qualified alternative to fill power vacuum created by the two main political parties - the PPP and the PMLN. It was in that situation that the people of Pakistan saw Imran Khan and his party as the last ray of hope for recovery of a hopeless & condemned country.
In the words of Atika Reman of PROSPECT magazine [Ref: April 2023]: At his peak, Imran Khan was a star cricketer, philanthropist and the face of major brands at home and abroad. In a cricket-obsessed nation, the Oxford-educated sportsman appealed to the military establishment's vision of 'new Pakistan' where corrupt, feudal politicians would be shunned-or jailed. Having won the World Cup in 1992 and later funding a state-of-the-art hospital in Lahore and an expansive university in his hometown (Mianwali), Khan was seen as a man who could deliver.
Imran Khan's nationalistic vision and Islamic populism found support among men in uniform. Speaking passionately in both Urdu and English, he dared the electorate to dream that Pakistan could become a country where rich and poor would be treated equally and a country that would not be a 'slave to western masters'. He vowed to fight for Pakistan's sovereignty and challenged the US on the war on terror. He pledged to make Pakistan so robust economically that 'people from outside would come to seek jobs in Pakistan'. Besides, Imran Khan was also considered as someone who was not greedy for money and his life was almost free from stains of alleged corrupt practices.
Imran Khan needed to do something tangible for the socioeconomic betterment of the Pakistani people. He needed to work in the areas such as eradication of corruption in real terms, achieving maximum literacy rate (could be 100%), assurance of rule of law and equality, reform and restructuring of existing state institutions to make them actually functional for and accountable before the people.
Since the Pakistan into being, the general atmosphere of law & order and administration of justice remained such that people wait decades for redressing of their grievances. For running large and populous states like Pakistan, institutions could have been established on modern lines - by picking up any developed country's model.
Instead of putting up 51 promises before the nation, Imran Khan could have done ONLY ONE to start with: Political & institutional reforms AND total re-casting of PPC, CrPC & Evidence Act with establishing Summary Courts in all districts - REAL & SPEEDY JUSTICE could be made available to the populace without any regard to their social status - recalling famous sayings of Mr Churchill during 2nd WW & Hazrat Ali (RA)'s words that '. society cannot go alive without JUSTICE'.
In fact, all 51 promises, economy, welfare of the poor & disabled, employment, Riyasat-e-Madina Ideology, laying down NRAA institution etc could take start automatically.
The Pakistanis needed genuine leadership to show their performance to make national institutions functional and purposeful for the people through modern administrative and procedural infusions. The people wanted and expected Imran Khan to deliver. Allegedly, the socio-political and economic problems of the country remained ignored as had been in previous eras. Preferential governance style, perks and privileges for the powerful (especially for higher Judiciary, Civil & Military bureaucracy, Cabinets & members of the Legislatures), lack of rule of law and massive corruption in high power corridors remained as such.
Why and How - the book in hand has ample references for that.
IMRAN KHAN: SIGN OF CHANGE (Tabdeeli)
How Imran Khan, the face of promised tabdeeli, changed the political game in Pakistan - see through the prism of his political journey. See how Imran Khan, defined his premature exit from PM office on 10th April 2022. To define his premature exit on his own terms, Khan kicked up a constitutional crisis and attracted blame. For some Imran Khan, as per events of early 2022, left behind nothing more than the debris of a ruthless battle. A battle fought by him against already beaten and defeated enemies, only to ensure that they were unable to rise again.
Yet, that disgruntled lot came back with plans carrying revenge & retaliation and were able to force him out of power, of course with the help of the establishment (again). In fact, all three pillars of state - the legislature, the judiciary and the executive - were diminished when he departed. Worse than that, he was leaving behind multiple crises that his successors were to grapple with for many months to come.
During Mr Khan's tenure, Pakistan experienced tabdeeli (change) in the name of NAYA PAKISTAN but not in the way it was promised or hoped. Though, Pakistan's gross domestic product (GDP) was $378 billion in 2022 as compared to $315 billion in 2018 BUT the people were expecting it becoming Norway or Denmark, as was promised by Mr Khan.
The realization of most of his promises hinged on transparent governance. But, unfortunately, Pakistan's ranking on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index fell constantly during his government. In year 2022 alone, Pakistan's rank fell 16 places to 140 from 124, out of 180 countries chosen for the poverty catalogues.
While peeping into Khan's mid-life events; the future historians would begin at the most glorious and eventful year of his life that, according to his own account, defined his life's work - world cup in 1992. By retiring from cricket in that year, he opened a new chapter in life that took him to the pinnacle of power in Pakistan. Khan used his World Cup victory to fulfil his other dreams - the construction of a cancer hospital AND the politics. Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, the 22-year-old daughter of a British billionaire, in May 1995; next year, he founded the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), finally becoming a listed politician.
See a media comment on his life:
"Having retired from cricket, Khan also started showing signs of changes often associated with a midlife crisis. After decades of a lifestyle that had earned him a playboy image, he became a born-again Muslim. Fired up with the zeal of a new convert, he wanted everyone-the whole country in fact-to embrace the new change;"
Zaigham Khan's write up Published in daily DAWN dated 10th April 2022 is referred.
On 25th April 1996, he launched his Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) as political party. Monthly 'the Herald', a magazine of the Dawn Media Group was given a chance to interview Mr Khan and his two comrades at that time - Gen Hamid Gul and Mohammad Ali Durrani.
[Gen Gul, a former head of the ISI, retired in 1992 and represented the 'ideology' of the then...
