A Manifesto For Change 2009

A CASE FOR PAKISTAN

Current situation in Pakistan

Pakistan has gone through many challenges during its 63 years of existence. Unfortunately the state of the union has constantly and continuously deteriorated with every passing year. Every time when it seems we could not sink any lower, we find ourselves staring at the new depths of ignorance, shame, corruption, brutality, dishonesty and misery.

There is no need to write about the state of misery Pakistan and Pakistanis are currently in. Citizens of Pakistan live in constant state of terror, uncertainty and disbelief every day. One can read any news paper or watch any of the TV channels and see where the country stands. It is no secret that every aspect of the civil society has been reduced to shambles in last 60 some years.

On domestic front, from sports to politics to religion to natural disasters, Pakistan is facing inept, corrupt, dishonest and cruel set of people in charge of the state of the affairs. Social and economic disparities are moving the country fast towards the civil unrest. The country is sinking deep into anarchy by every passing day. The only law in the country is the law of the jungle where the most powerful, most brutal and most fierce wins. There is no place for poor, weak and powerless which unfortunately is about 90% + of the Pakistanis.

Internationally Pakistan is treated as a third class failed or about to be failed state. Roots of almost all terrorist activities in the world end up in Pakistan. No matter how you look at it, over period of last several decades, Pakistan has become the capitol of the terrorist activities of the world.

Whenever in any given society, corruption is so rampant, honesty and tolerance cease to exists, cruelty and brutality is evident everywhere, where there is no respect for any rights of any kind, insecurity amongst the citizen is as high as it can be and when even money cannot guarantee protection; revolutions start. Whenever there is no future hope and hope in general is not an option, revolutions start from one or more corners of the society.

Usually the revolutions takes roots in student movements, economical systems based movements, religious movements or nationalistic movements. Unfortunately successive dictators and pseudo democracies have destroyed the basic fabrics of the civil society to a point where there is no hope for a coherent movement of any kind from any of the above groups. Past rulers of Pakistan have manipulated all these areas mainly through religious bigotry so much that no movement can take root in any of these usual areas of hope. Military used to be the last bastion of hope where religious bigotry and financial, political and other monetary gains were at least not as evident but now a day even Pakistan’s military has as bad of a reputation as the political buffoons.

In the current state only a
miracle can start a revolution from an existing party or institution.
Unfortunately we can’t wait for a miracle to happen because by then it might

be too late to save Pakistan.
One thing is certain that political parties, military or old “masters” can not
and will not fix the problems Pakistan
is facing because they are the actual cause of all these problems. May be what Pakistan needs
is an unconventional revolution of a different kind. May be what Pakistan needs is a revolution where
bureaucracy, politicians, military, social media and common citizens of Pakistan will work hand in hand to bring a
change for the future of Pakistan.
Only truly honest, educated and intellectual people of integrity can fix the
problems of Pakistan.
We cannot afford to waste any more time or leave it to chances. We have to stop
and reverse the trend leading Pakistan
towards a bloody disaster.

Almost everyone is saying
something needs to be done before it is too late but what, how and more
importantly when is not coming out clearly. The identification of the problems Pakistan is
facing and their solutions are no rocket science. In fact the solutions are
quite absurdly simple and clear but making them reality is extremely hard and
may even sound unrealistic. It is sad
but demanding for even the most basic rights for the citizens of Pakistan sounds
foolish. May be that is why everyone is waiting for someone else to take the
first step. So, here is the first step. Here is a list of 10 problems Pakistan is
facing along with possible solutions. Let’s call it a manifesto for change. Let’s
hope that this manifesto will become a movement to save Pakistan. This manifesto may be the
start to free Pakistan from the evils of last 6 decades. Pakistan has potential
to become a great nation but only when its citizens wake up and take
responsibility for their actions. I will forward this write up to several
leading journalists in Pakistan and start a blog to continue the discussion. I
hope this process will continue until we get rid of all evils keeping “PAK”
away from Pakistan.

This write up is not for people

who live in denial and fake glory. This is an attempt to come up with real
solutions without being politically correct towards any particular party,
class, religion, cast or even history. This is a write up for Pakistan’s
existence as a great country and a Pakistanis as a great nation.

“A mistake cannot be corrected until it is accepted as such”.

The power of principle is more lethal than any weapon and more powerful

than any army”. There can be no compromise on principles.

A stink or a fragrance can not be hidden or denied. If we want Pakistan to be noticed

as the fragrance, we have to stop hiding our faces in the sand, accept the reality
and work hard at changing ourselves to become better Muslims and better human
beings.

Solutions for the 10 problems

1- Lack of to NO Law and Order:

First and foremost duty of any state and its leaders has to be to protect its citizens by bringing the law and order to the society.

Law and order at any cost has to be the mandate of the new governing body of Pakistan. This area has to be fixed first because everything else depends on this critical part of the system. Every other area of improvement requires help from law and order agencies in order to function properly. Without law and order, nothing can be accomplished!

Solution:

Only military or security forces should be allowed to carry arms! No other organization, group or individual should be allowed to carry or display arms. No militant group of any kind should be allowed to exist or operate in Pakistan.

No organization, group or individual should be allowed to destroy or damage any property during any agitation or protest. No matter how serious or emotionally charged the issue being protested, no one should be allowed to damage any property.

No organization, group or individual should be allowed to call or force a strike where businesses or individuals have to shut down their operations.

No organization, group or individual should be allowed to hurt or kill anyone publicly regardless of the crime of the person being punished or the righteousness of the person punishing.

Security forces should provide equal protection to all citizens of the union regardless of their class, creed, social status, ethnicity or religion.

No crime should go undetected and no criminal should go unpunished. Punishment should be quick and exemplary. Everyone should know very quickly about who is in charge of the affairs.

Absolutely no individual or group should be allowed to violate any law of the land or rights of any individual or group.

How:

Zero tolerance for any violent group or any violation of the law has to be the core principle of the new administration. The administration has to establish its authority right away.

Law enforcing agencies should go after anyone claiming or involved with any violent crime or event. Anyone involved should be punished immediately and in a manner exemplary for others so that no one can even think about committing similar crime again.

Top 1000 security force personnel should be retired.

1000 or more brave and honest officers should be selected from within the forces or hired from outside based on merit to make security forces honest, trust worthy and competent.

Any personnel of the security agencies involved in any crime, neglect of duty, taking bribe or abuse of their power should be demoted to the lowest rank in the department and forced to perform duties.

Punishments should be based on the position of the personnel; higher the position, greater the punishment.

Lowest compensation to any law enforcement personnel should be Rs. 25K per month.

Maximum compensation to any officer should be based on performance of their constituency and performance appraisal by their constituents.

Local individuals should be conducted in to the forces.

Mandate of the administration should be clearly communicated to all groups especially armed groups to cooperate with the administration. Two/ three months should be given to all groups to lay down the arms. After that, zero tolerance for anyone carrying or displaying arms in public.

After reasonable time and notice, anyone violating the writ of the state should be shot on sight. This should continue until situation improves, at that point culprits should be arrested and the harshest possible punishment should be given to them.

London’s Hide Park type of free speech parks should be build outside the city limits. Groups or parties should be allowed to congregate and publicly promote their agenda. No arms should be allowed inside the park. No processions should be allowed to emerge from inside the park.

2- Weak/ parallel Judiciary:

Ask any common men on the streets of Pakistan and you will find out that no one expects justice for common men anywhere in the country from the current judicial system. Judiciary is weak and ineffective due to constant manipulation by the politicians and other powerful groups such as feudal lords and other terrorists. Judges lack protection from the law enforcing agencies and as a result make biased or wrong decisions to protect the powerful.

There are parallel judicial systems within the state as well. To add injury to the insult, these mock parallel judicial systems have been blessed by the Supreme Court and the officials of the governing body of Pakistan. Two of the most visible parallel judicial systems are Shariat bench and Jirga or Puchait. Most heinous crimes have been committed under the disguise of these two parallel judicial systems.

Solution:

Pakistan’s judicial system has to be secular in order to be fair to all.

There should be only one judicial system in Pakistan. No other organization, group or individual should be allowed to operate in place of the courts of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s judicial system should be free, powerful, unbiased and blind to any temptations or threats.

Order of the court should be paramount, accepted and enforced throughout the country.

Anyone threatening, mocking, imitating or trying to start a parallel judicial system should be awarded capital punishment.

No organization, group or individual openly making statement contrary to the judiciary of the country should be punished to the maximum.

How:

Armed forces and security agencies should provide full and unconditional protection to all judges.

Judges should be compensated enough to avoid any financial temptations.

Judges have to be honest, brave and unbiased individuals. They have to take true oath not to compromise the sanctity of the judiciary at any cost.

All courts should provide speedy and fair justice to all.

Any judge found to be guilty of making wrong decision on purpose for any reason should be demoted to court clerk position and forced to perform duties.

Any judge found to be responsible for protecting a group or individual unfairly should be dismissed immediately.

Judges are the protector of the constitution and should uphold and preserve it at any cost.

There should be no tolerance for any group or individual violating the sanctity of the courts of Pakistan.

The whole judicial system especially judges should continue to work hard at making justice available to all until the common men on the street has the trust in the system.

Civic education, tolerance, humility, accomplishments but also failures of the past and true history should be taught from primary to high school. History should not be twisted to make our forefathers, our religion or our rulers of the past look good.

3- Over population:

Current population of Pakistan is somewhere around 180 millions. This population is at least twice as high as it should be. Compare to developed countries, the ratio of land to person is 3 to 5 times higher in Pakistan. Population growth has to be controlled in order to bring better life for our future generations. Few but better raised humans are a lot more useful to their fellow citizens and humanity in general than a lot of uneducated, poor and ignorant humans controlled by corrupt politicians, feudal lords or religious bigots.

Solution:

For next 10 years child rate has to be limited to one child per family.

For following 10 years child rate should be limited to 2 children per family.

This policy should be reviewed after 20 years for future plans.

Proper care and education should be provided to all new families.

How:

Each family should be awarded Rs. 2,000.00 per month for healthy upbringing and education of their first child.

Compensation should remain Rs. 2,000.00 in case of the second child.

Compensation should stop if family is not willing to be responsible and help the country in times of need.

People of Pakistan should be made aware of the fact that over population is forcing Pakistan to beg for charity from foreign donors in the form of loans and aid. Pakistani’s are being raised on high interest foreign loans and charity. I do not think anyone would like to raise their children on charity.

Education should be provided to families about raising healthy educated children.

Education and help should be provided to better plan families.

Mothers should be empowered to make family planning decisions.

China type of one child per family rule might be needed for first 10 years.

4- Illiteracy and weak education system:

Strong educational institutions and education in general are the most important long term solutions for any country especially for Pakistan.

Unfortunately vast majority of this miserable nation is illiterate. Millions and millions of citizen are poor and uneducated. With the explosive growth in population, we are increasing levels of uneducated citizens to very high and dangerous levels. A lot of these poor citizens of the country end up in Madresa’s where they are further drowned in the depths of ignorance.

Solution:

Government has to provide excellent educational system all around the country.

All citizens of Pakistan should have equal access to excellent educational opportunities.

Educational institutions have to be free of political and religious influence.

Educational systems have to be funded properly and should be free of economical agenda.

Comprehensive mid level and higher educational systems have to be incorporated to produce future administrators, engineers, doctors, scientists, civic leaders, social leaders, religious leaders and journalists etc.

Pakistan’s educational systems have to be up to par with the international educational systems.

How:

Excellent primary schools from Kindergarten to 5^th grade should be established immediately.

Education in these schools should be free to all.

Primary education should be mandatory to all.

Qualified teachers should be employed to teach in these schools.

Teacher salary should be around Rs. 25K per month.

There should be at least one of these schools in front of every Madresa.

These schools and teachers should be protected by security agencies and military if needed.

This program should be expanded up to 10^th grade and then 12^th grade.

Up to 12^th grade education should be made mandatory in 5 years.

High class junior colleges and Universities should be established for those seeking higher education.

Excellent early education is the foundation for raising responsible, productive citizens. It can not be stressed enough to invest in the early education and eventually work towards the higher education.

Children should be taught to be honest, humble, sincere, disciplined, trust worthy and forthright citizens. Children should be taught that they are the hope and the dreams of the country.

5- Incompetent/ corrupt politicians, officials, bureaucracy, leaders:

Pakistan has seen one incompetent ruler after another for last 60 some years. This game of musical chairs played by corrupt, inapt leaders has lost half the country in first round and now about to destroy the rest. We have to demand better governance!

Solution:

We have to select HONEST leaders who will not compromise principles or integrity.

We have to select leaders based on their qualifications and past achievements.

We have to reject corrupt rulers of the past.

We have to demand performance from the bureaucracy.

We have to reject known plunderers of the state whether they contest the elections or not and those who supported by them or support them.

We have to give a strong message to those who have robbed us in the past that this is not business as usual and they can not comeback to rob us anymore.

How:

Citizen of Pakistan have to wake up and take responsibility for their actions, including but not limited to electing our rulers and officials.

Let’s tell the elected officials what we want from them rather then them feeding us the pipe dreams. Let’s ask the political parties to make this manifesto their platform and start implementing it as soon as they get the power.

Do not elect same old proven bigots just because of the party line loyalties.

Once elected, demand results and performance.

There should be a performance appraisal within 3 years of taking the office. Anyone scoring lower than expected should be disqualified and position should be contested again.

6- Religious bigotry and religious ignorance:

Nothing can incite/ ignite violence and get people up in arms faster than religious intolerance; ethnicity and race are runners up. Ignorance and bigotry breeds intolerance and hatred. Unfortunately grounds are fertile for all kind of manipulations in Pakistan. As a result, religious intolerance and bigotry are at their peaks.

Solution:

All fatwas to incite violence and hatred have to be completely banned.

All militant organizations and groups especially ones with religious twist have to be completely banned.

Any organization, group or individual responsible for spreading any hatred towards any other should be punished.

State has to protect all its citizens regardless of their faith or belief systems. All citizens should feel free to practice their religion.

No one group or organization should be allowed to offend or insult any other group.

State and religion should not be allowed to mix.

No religious belief should be forced on any other group.

How:

Only qualified preachers should be allowed to lead any congregation.

All members, funds and activities of any Mosques should be registered with the security agencies.

No weapons should be allowed to enter or stored in the Mosques.

All speeches or literature with offensive language or provocation to commit violent acts towards any one have to be completely banned.

If religious parties can win the hearts and soul of the people of Pakistan with kindness and love, they should contest and win the elections. All parties and groups should be allowed to work freely as long as they do not incite hate and violence.

7- Accepting moral, religious, cultural and political ills as norm:

Over period of time we have become so complacent that we now openly accept all kinds of ills as norm. All kinds of monsters are breeding around us and becoming stronger by the day just because we accept them as part of life rather than standing up to them or protesting against them. We wait for things to get from bad to worst as long as they do not affect us. As a result, the whole country has become sick and incapable of curing these ills. People in mass numbers get killed regularly in supposedly the safest of the safe havens called mosques. Hundreds of innocent people get butchered by brutal killers but nothing changes. Few statements from different groups, some property damage and then life goes back to normal. The terrorist groups regularly take responsibility for the carnage and threat to carry out more but no one stops them or even condemns them forcefully. Some idiots even call them “ disgruntle brothers “. No one stands up and says enough is enough. People forget that they could be next if they do not stop the evil when it starts.

Solution:

Citizens of the country have to stand up to the injustice and cruelty towards other citizens, groups or minorities.

We have to demand from our elected officials to take action and not let the same sin repeat again and again. We have to keep demanding until we make sure that no one will dare repeating the same crime again.

We have to stop accepting violence, insult and injustice disguised under the cover of honor, religion and ethnic fervor. We can not accept violence as means to force or spread any belief system

We have to stop accepting religious, social, economical and political sins as part of life. We have to stop accepting ALL sins without exception! We have to stop justifying some of them just because there are bigger sins committed around us.

We have to call a spade a spade.

How:

Citizen of Pakistan have to wake up and take responsibility for their actions.

Citizen of Pakistan have to take control of their neighborhoods in order to prevent them from becoming the breeding grounds for extremists.

People know when something is brewing in their neighborhoods. People have to stop an evil at the start. The devil becomes exponentially powerful as it grows.

8- State of Denial:

Pakistanis constantly live in a state of denial. We feel that we are a gift to the rest of the humanity. We feel that we are the best and the only reason we are behind is due to some kind of conspiracy. We pretend to be very religious by making some religious utterances, greetings and postures all the time. We believe writing verses on every wall and signboard even right above the garbage and filth will somehow make us better Muslims. We live on charity but demand respect. We elect incompetent people, complain and then elect them again. We constantly live in contradictions between our practices and our belief.

Solution:

Clean the country we live in so that we can clearly tell when it is being destroyed.

Take responsibility for our actions. Stop living in fool’s paradise.

Stop being self righteous.

Openly speak against evils even if it is one of us.

Stop justifying ignorance and violence.

How:

Better Education.

More empowerment of individuals

Protection by the state against criminals

Responsibility for individual actions

Do unto others as you would like done to you.

Understand that progress and solutions start from me.

9- Dependency on foreign charity:

We as a nation have become too comfortable to depend on foreign charity. Our greedy leaders beg for charity or high interest rate loans so that they can become wealthier at the expense of poor people of Pakistan. No one realizes that there is no such thing as free lunch. All charity or loans come at a cost, too high to even think about. We as a nation have lost our self respect and integrity. Whenever we are abused or ignored, we become surprised. Our leaders constantly make hollow noises and blow hot air about doing something but then go back and beg for more loans and aid. As long as we continue to beg, we will not be able to stand on our own feet and fix the problems Pakistan is facing.

Solution:

Stop begging.

How:

Citizens of Pakistan should be made aware of the fact that when we receive charity from other countries, we trade our sovereignty, dignity, self respect and above all our security. Foreign aid is a slow poison that eventually kills a nation

Do not spend something we do not have.

Elect honest and competent leaders.

Work together as a nation to rebuild Pakistan.

Take responsibility for our actions.

10- Human rights:

Someone has said that you can tell how human beings are treated in a country just by watching how the animals are treated there. In Pakistan, in general, human beings are treated worst than how the stray animals are treated in civilized countries. There is no respect for human rights of any kind in Pakistan. Powerful individuals or groups constantly and regularly abuse weaker individuals and groups.

If Pakistan can not provide equal protection to all its citizens on the basis of human integrity, the state should cease to exist.

Who can or will do this?????

Ever since the death of Quaid-e-Azam, the country has been plagued with incompetent leaders full of insatiable greed to steal from the poor people and/ or motivated by their twisted philosophies to enslaving people through religious, political, ethnical or moral blackmail. As a result, Pakistan has been pushed to the brink of falling apart once again. Until we put honest leaders in-charge of the affairs of the state, Pakistan can not recover from these ills of sixty some years.

The 180 million human being question is… Who can or will do all this?

We can say this for fact that none of the current political parties in Pakistan have the will, moral/ ethical strength or intelligence to do this. None of the parties emerging from the same pool of corrupt and incompetent politicians can do this either. Army has tried and failed miserably several times. Religious parties and their leaders are either just a joke or serious threat to humanity and civil societies. So, who will??

We know that greed motivates corrupt individuals to steal from even their own loved ones. So how about demanding from anyone who wants to lead the country to work for free without any strings attached? How about requiring the elected officials to first give to the country and poor people of Pakistan for a change? How about starting with a demand to work for free for their term in the office? For next 10 years or so, only those willing to work for free for the people of Pakistan should be elected into the office. No back door ways should be allowed to collect money in the form of travel reimbursements, meals etc. All of the elected officials should pay for their own living expenses. All travels have to be either absolutely necessary via pre scheduled military/ air force transport flights or pay for their own travel expenses. They will have to use their own vehicles and pay for the fuel and maintenance. No one from the extended families or close friends should be allowed to be hired for money. Once again, free volunteer work should be promoted and appreciated. No one from the extended family or close friends should be awarded any government project, loan or any other monetary or any other gains during their time in the office. These rules should apply for at least 5 years after they leave the office. They will have to also sign a legally binding agreement with the state of Pakistan where state can recover without a trial any gains linked to their time in the office. Basically there will be no monetary or any other gain of any kind for these people except for the love and prayers of the poor citizens of Pakistan. These leaders will do this only because they want to do something for 180 million people living in misery and for the love of Pakistan. Besides financial loss, these leaders will possibly face threats on their lives, family and their property. These leaders have to be prepared to die in their cause because criminals will make attempts to kill them and destabilize the process. These leaders have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to continue the process and let the enemies know that forces of good can not be defeated.

There are two ways to elect these people to the office. One way is to invite and select/ elect around 1000 or so non-political, honest, competent, selfless people from within Pakistan and/ or expatriates from around the world who can volunteer and give next 3-5 years of their services to the state of Pakistan for free. All of the above will apply to them.

As much as we would like to, we can not just exclude all of the political parties, their workers and their leaders from this process. Second possibility is to let any political party and/ or their leader join the process and lead the way. They do have to prove their sincerity to the country and the citizens of Pakistan. As we have seen from the past examples, it is nearly impossible to prove any case against even the most obscene of the criminals in Pakistan. So, what can we do to test their sincerity? How about something more measureable for the test; how about requiring financial sacrifice from the ex-political officials?

I would like to propose a requirement for any of the previous officials who want to become part of the new system to donate 1/3 of their wealth to the poor people of Pakistan. For example if an EX-MNA is worth Rs. 900 millions ( 90 corors ) , he or she will have to donate Rs. 300 millions ( 30 coror ) to the country. On the other hand if someone is worth Rs. 900,000.00, he or she will donate Rs. 300,000.00 (3 lakh ) to the poor people of Pakistan. The total net worth has to be the total accumulated net worth of the immediate family including property, land, business interests etc. and has to include any assets from anywhere in the world. Anyone who accepts this process will have to sign a legally binding agreement with the state of Pakistan where the state can confiscate without a trial, any assets misrepresented to show the total net worth. All rules from above will apply during their tenure as the public office holders. If any of the previous leaders do not wish to prove their sincerity this way, they can stay out of the process for now.

The above conditions should apply to all new MNA, MPA, federal and provincial ministers, governors and high level officials. Maximum TOTAL compensation to any public official besides the ones listed above should be limited to maximum of Rs. 200K per month for next 10 years or until things improve for good.

Basically we have to tell the leaders that there is no money to be made while serving the country until the country is able to pay them. The only question is.. can we find 1000 or so honest individuals out of 180 millions? Willing to serve the country in the time of need?

Role of the Military:

Army is the most powerful institution in Pakistan. Army personnel take oath to protect the country and its citizens at any cost. Army at first has to help enforce the demands

listed above on the potential leaders of Pakistan. Army then has to fulfill their oath by protecting these leaders, judges, teachers and other civil servants from criminals and other forces trying to destabilize the process. Army, security agencies, ISI and other intelligence agencies have to protect the country and the leadership at any cost and follow instructions from them as required. Army has to take true oath of allegiance to protect the soil, citizen, constitution and the leaders of Pakistan. Pakistan army has to be free of any religious, political and monetary influence. Military has to stand up to any one ( domestic or foreign ) spreading, forcing or manipulating system to promote hatred or inequality among the citizens of the country.

Role of the citizens:

The people of Pakistan have to protect and support these altruistic, selfless people with their harts and souls. People of Pakistan have to help these leaders succeed by cooperating with them and by not letting anyone manipulate them through false propaganda and misrepresentations of the facts. Citizens of Pakistan have to search and demand proof before reacting to anything spread by anyone. Common citizens have to be watching out and stopping any trouble from taking roots in their neighborhoods. The purpose of these leaders will be to bring good governance to the country. These leaders ( any leader for that matter ) can not and shall not teach religion or morality to the people of Pakistan. People have to teach religion and morality to their children at home and in the religious places. Common citizens have to stand up and stop whenever they find anyone trying to incite religious, ethnical or racial hatred. The leaders can only guide, the citizens are the ones who have to make this process a success. People of Pakistan have to demand better governance and better results from public officials.

Role of the media:

Media can, at times, make or break a government, a process or a leader. Media has to play a constructive unbiased roll by truly reporting what is real and true. All aspects of the Pakistani society especially the media have to stop making money at the cost of the future of the country. Media can promote harmony or start unrest by the way they report events. Facts can be twisted, words can be confused, and reality can be obscured just by how media portrays it. Media can play a powerful roll in any society. Let’s ask the Pakistani media to help the poor people of Pakistan by keeping a close eye on the leaders of the country and demand performance from them. Let’s ask the media to truly report what is real no matter how harsh or painful the consequences might be. Let’s ask them to become true journalists who can not be sold to the highest bidders. Let’s ask them to not let the rulers stray away from their mission by continuously reporting what they promised until the desired results are achieved. Let’s ask the media to become the voice the eyes and the ears of the people of Pakistan. All of the experts, commentators, talk show hosts, anchor persons and analysts who crow about doing something for the better future of Pakistan should become part of the movement. They should discuss these demands and rally support to get right people in the office the next time.

Role of political parties:

Anyone can become part of this constructive movement either actively or passively. If political parties and their leaders do not have the stomach to sacrifice for the country,

they should at least help the process passively by not creating unnecessary troubles for the leadership. The process to face and fix years of corruption and incompetency is a tall order to start with; unnecessary opposition just to make the people in the office look bad will increase the difficulty exponentially. Political parties should work hard to reduce or eliminate hardships people are facing everyday. All parties of all types should compete with each other to better serve and protect people in their constituencies from threats and violence. They should work on gaining the trust of the people by volunteering and solving their day to day issues rather than trying to make each other or the people in the office look bad. They should work on convincing their constituents on how they can serve them better if they are elected. The party with most competent workers and best reputation should be able to win the election the next time. The election process should be to bring the most competent people to the top rather than the most corrupt or abusive people to the top.

How to select these 1000 or so people?

We can make a panel or an advisory committee comprising of leading philanthropists, journalists, military leadership and expatriates. The job of this committee will be to select candidates based on honesty, experience and loyalty to Pakistan and nothing else. This committee will also review the total net worth and donation of the ex-political individuals as well.

The other option is to let anyone contest the elections but the qualification for running has to be as listed above. There will still be a need for a committee to qualify candidates. No campaigning should be allowed except for visiting the constituency and to meet the people. No personal money should be allowed during the campaign. Only a fixed amount from the government should be allowed to campaign.

We have to trust the military to conduct the elections and monitor the election process.

There might be better solutions to the situation in Pakistan. No one knows how the future will turn out to be. The decision has to be made based on the options available today. Based on what is apparent, Pakistan has to get back to the path of recovery and progress right away. This may be the only hope or chance we have in order to bring the country back from the abyss of the ignorance. Citizens of Pakistan all around the world wish for things to get better in Pakistan. This may be our chance to make this wish a reality. “Ask and you shall receive”. Without asking we will never know what we could get.

Finances:

There is an estimate that the total expenses of the national assembly are around 2 billion rupees per year. The total expenses of provincial assemblies must be about the same. If you calculate “other expenses”, the total cost might be as high as around 4-5 billion rupees per year just for the two houses in Pakistan. This money can be saved for next 5-10 years by honest people volunteering for the state. This money can be better served by paying for qualified teachers of primary and secondary schools.

Duplicate positions should be eliminated from the provincial and federal agencies right away. All state run departments such as Railway, PIA, Tax, Energy, Telecom, Agriculture etc. should be given under competent leaders who demand performance. These departments have to produce profit! All personnel from all government organizations should be given notice to either show up to the job or be terminated. After review of the past performances, only those scoring high enough should be kept on the job without probation. All those scoring below standard should be given notice to improve within short time or be terminated. Anyone scoring low the second time should be terminated. Regular performance appraisals should be conducted in the future.

The new government should demand from the international community to either cut the total debt Pakistan owes to the international agencies by half or a waiver for the interest charges for next 10 years. This will relieve the new leadership for a while and give them a chance to finance some badly needed projects.

Sensible and responsible financial decisions can collect enough money from the wastage of past to pay for most of the expenses. It will take some time but with education, security, freedom and good policies and good governance under honest leaders, we will recover and claim our true place in the world.

A fair and real constitution has to be drafted and implemented within 3 years.

A study should be conducted to see how elected representatives can better serve their constituents. For example, an elected official should be required to live at the living standard of the middle class individual of their constituency. Steps should be taken to not let the system go back to the old corrupt individuals again.

Pakistan has to become a completely violence free society.

A CASE FOR PAKISTAN

Current situation in Pakistan

Top 10 reasons for the problems in Pakistan

Solutions for the 10 problems

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