Eid holidays are over but the grave problems facing the nation continue. Terrorism has instead of subsiding escalated; the supply of electricity has not only not improved but even its just distribution which should have helped to share the scarcity evenly has not been achieved. The near-meltdown of economy has not been arrested as yet. Inflation is squeezing the poor as before.
Talks of improving the situation all around by the governments of the provinces and the centre are getting louder which adds to the uncertainty as the people see no change for the better in spite of the rhetoric. Karachi bled, in fact bleeding took place in every part of the country, prior to Eid, during the holiday and people realistically fear that the bleeding will not stop. Things are as uncontrolled in Balochistan. There are yet no signs of coordination or sharing of information among the law enforcing departments and intelligence agencies. Especially, in Balochistan the visible signs of coordination between the civil and military authorities are missing if judged by the recent acts of terrorism.. .
The above cited are not just chronic but are problems that need immediate solutions. The above mentioned issues mostly need administrative measures and not huge investment. Success can be achieved against these by changing the attitudes of the high ups involved or if that is not possible make appropriate transfers and postings. The nation has seen none of these lately.
Authorities have been trying to alley the apprehensions appearing in the formal media whether electronic or printed. However, the social media which is mostly informal and unsupervised and unedited and which for most part of unreliable has been totally discredit. True that most what appears on in the internet in the social media cannot be authenticated. However, the fact remains that the wrongdoing and the ineffectiveness of those in power, the escalating lawlessness, the ever-increasing bloodshed, the rising costs of living and the fact that the inaction of those in power has reached fictional proportions, make what appears on the social media believable. Especially, as no betterment is on the horizon either at individual or on national level. The nation is involved to keep itself in one piece so much, that the citizens have as yet turned their eyes away form the fact that government schools are as crowded, as short on teachers, classrooms and other facilities. Most of the government hospitals are as dirty and the patients experience the same apathy of doctors and other staff and they still have to buy medicines which should have been provided by the hospitals free of cost. Corruption in the government departments is as rampant as before.
We should not kid ourselves. Problems in our education, health sectors, and corruption may seem to be not as urgent as terrorism and load shedding but thee three above mentioned, seemingly less urgent problems have plunged us into the current situation in which we are forced live in dark and as victims of perpetual violence. Things cannot go as they are: all the governments whether in the province or the centre have to put their act together and pull the country out of the many crises and bring it together. This country does not need vaguely worded policy statements; nor does it need more hopeful speeches, neither does it need promise of more actions or the press releases issued by various high government functionaries informing us that notice of such and such event or tragedy has been taken. The nation needs urgent and distinct signs of improvement in matters which can be improved by administrative means and which do not cost much money. For example, the real cost of information collections is already incurred when any of the agencies have some vital information regarding terrorism, intimating the information to all other relevant departments costs almost nothing. Still the information is not coordinated with other departments. Also how difficult and time consuming can it be to dislocate known corrupt officials from their profitable posts? Not much but the nation does not see any massive action in this regard to rid it from the scourge. What would it cost if the ministers and the many secretaries were to check in person and make sure that the medicine supposed to be supplied free to patients is in the government hospitals and distributed for free. And how difficult is it to make sure that doctors and staff are there during their duty times and treat the patients as they should be. Not much. All that is needed is rigorous supervision by the high ups and severe punishment to the culprits. We urge the rulers to wake up before the nation gets so upset that it violently overthrows a democratically elected setup. That would be tragic but the governments at all levels are, it seems, willingly working towards that end.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Pakistan: When enough is not enough
Eid holidays are over but the grave problems facing the nation continue. Terrorism has instead of subsiding escalated; the supply of electricity has not only not improved but even its just distribution which should have helped to share the scarcity evenly has not been achieved. The near-meltdown of economy has not been arrested as yet. Inflation is squeezing the poor as before.
Talks of improving the situation all around by the governments of the provinces and the centre are getting louder which adds to the uncertainty as the people see no change for the better in spite of the rhetoric. Karachi bled, in fact bleeding took place in every part of the country, prior to Eid, during the holiday and people realistically fear that the bleeding will not stop. Things are as uncontrolled in Balochistan. There are yet no signs of coordination or sharing of information among the law enforcing departments and intelligence agencies. Especially, in Balochistan the visible signs of coordination between the civil and military authorities are missing if judged by the recent acts of terrorism.. .
The above cited are not just chronic but are problems that need immediate solutions. The above mentioned issues mostly need administrative measures and not huge investment. Success can be achieved against these by changing the attitudes of the high ups involved or if that is not possible make appropriate transfers and postings. The nation has seen none of these lately.
Authorities have been trying to alley the apprehensions appearing in the formal media whether electronic or printed. However, the social media which is mostly informal and unsupervised and unedited and which for most part of unreliable has been totally discredit. True that most what appears on in the internet in the social media cannot be authenticated. However, the fact remains that the wrongdoing and the ineffectiveness of those in power, the escalating lawlessness, the ever-increasing bloodshed, the rising costs of living and the fact that the inaction of those in power has reached fictional proportions, make what appears on the social media believable. Especially, as no betterment is on the horizon either at individual or on national level. The nation is involved to keep itself in one piece so much, that the citizens have as yet turned their eyes away form the fact that government schools are as crowded, as short on teachers, classrooms and other facilities. Most of the government hospitals are as dirty and the patients experience the same apathy of doctors and other staff and they still have to buy medicines which should have been provided by the hospitals free of cost. Corruption in the government departments is as rampant as before.
We should not kid ourselves. Problems in our education, health sectors, and corruption may seem to be not as urgent as terrorism and load shedding but thee three above mentioned, seemingly less urgent problems have plunged us into the current situation in which we are forced live in dark and as victims of perpetual violence. Things cannot go as they are: all the governments whether in the province or the centre have to put their act together and pull the country out of the many crises and bring it together. This country does not need vaguely worded policy statements; nor does it need more hopeful speeches, neither does it need promise of more actions or the press releases issued by various high government functionaries informing us that notice of such and such event or tragedy has been taken. The nation needs urgent and distinct signs of improvement in matters which can be improved by administrative means and which do not cost much money. For example, the real cost of information collections is already incurred when any of the agencies have some vital information regarding terrorism, intimating the information to all other relevant departments costs almost nothing. Still the information is not coordinated with other departments. Also how difficult and time consuming can it be to dislocate known corrupt officials from their profitable posts? Not much but the nation does not see any massive action in this regard to rid it from the scourge. What would it cost if the ministers and the many secretaries were to check in person and make sure that the medicine supposed to be supplied free to patients is in the government hospitals and distributed for free. And how difficult is it to make sure that doctors and staff are there during their duty times and treat the patients as they should be. Not much. All that is needed is rigorous supervision by the high ups and severe punishment to the culprits. We urge the rulers to wake up before the nation gets so upset that it violently overthrows a democratically elected setup. That would be tragic but the governments at all levels are, it seems, willingly working towards that end.
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