Sixty-six years ago when Pakistan came into existence, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah visualized it as a modern, progressive and democratic state where energies would be used for the uplift of its people and evils such as corruption, bribery, jobbery and nepotism would be stamped out. Jinnah’s vision could not see daylight as he did not live long enough to oversee the building process of Pakistan. The 2013 election campaign introduced the nation to the dream of ‘Naya Pakistan’. From a personal standpoint the idea of ‘Naya Pakistan’ is nothing but at best plagiarism of Jinnah’s vision. The cause for concern is that in a country where nobody has dreamed beyond selfish motives and personal gains, can the dream of ‘Naya Pakistan’ be considered the much needed change or is it just another political jingle to attract the masses.

Prior to ‘Naya Pakistan’ and since independence, a number of political slogans like ‘Roti, kapra aur makaan, ‘Pakistan ka matlab kya? La illahaillala’ and ‘Pakistan First’ have made their way in our society. Indeed these slogans have served the purpose for the short-term gains of their proponents but nothing for the nation which was slowly engulfed by corruption, bribery, jobbery and nepotism.

Slogans have specifically been introduced by leaders to justify their legitimacy of abrogating the country’s constitution twice (1958 and 1969) and suspending it thrice (1977, 1999 and 2007). The convenience with which force and illegitimate power has been successfully exercised against democratic forces, has significantly contributed to the formation of corrupt attitudes and to a great deal weakened political institutions, marginalized their effectiveness and alienated the masses from the political process. The end result of this brazen mockery of the democratic system has made people believe more in achieving individual goals through short-cuts rather than making a collective effort for the benefit of the society as a whole. On paper, Pakistan may have all the ingredients of a democratic system. However, merely having a democratic system does not guarantee the preservation and augmentation of the democratic order. The political system put in place by successive constitutions has been a democratic one in form but seldom has it been made to work in a democratic fashion. What really guarantees the preservation and augmentation of democracy is the promotion of strong democratic institutions. But this can only be achieved if politicians on both side of the political divide make their personal and party interests subservient to those of the democratic institutions and work for the success of democracy rather than their personal glory and success. If the aim of a slogan, besides improving the governance, infrastructure and overcoming the lapses in ruling is to raise a nation in a healthy way then it may indeed be exciting an idea. If, however, the aim of a slogan is the continuation of old policies giving full authority and power to non-state actors to operate wherever they want; leaving religion open for exploitation by religious fanatics; observing silence over the killing of innocent people everywhere including schools and even mosques; open violation of merit everywhere for the sake of nepotism; maintaining existing rifts among the people at large due to several existing factors; keeping alive the discriminations existing in the social, cultural, religious and academic life of the people, then a slogan can be nothing more than a horrible nightmare.

Raising a nation on an unyielding democratic platform is the duty of one who has the right to do it. This was done by Jinnah who worked day and night for the rights of Muslims of the subcontinent and achieved Pakistan for them. He was clear in his mind that Pakistan should be a state in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play. But what have we done as a nation to further his principles? Practically nothing!

What the Pakistani nation needs is economic liberation which unfortunately has always been overlooked on the whole by those whose fiery speeches and lofty slogans do bring them to power but their hidden political agendas speak otherwise. Economic liberation alone is the most important ingredient necessary for the empowerment of the common man. Modern day history is substantiation of the fact that in most countries pro-people economic growth has played an important role in the strengthening of democracy. On the whole Pakistan’s economy has grown, however the benefits of the economic growth have not trickled down to the ordinary people. That is why the increase in per capita income has been accompanied by widening income disparities. It is common economics that if growth and prosperity exclude large sections of the population, the potential for social friction increases, whereas political/democratic process erodes.

The focal cause for the increasing disparity is that nearly half the government’s budget is allocated to debt servicing and defense expenditure, leaving a narrow fiscal space available to it to undertake developmental projects. This in turn has raised joblessness and poverty as successive governments whether civilian or military, have failed to come up with a blueprint to meet the expectations of people and implement their economic agenda, if they have any to begin with.

Over the decades, the state’s inability to control galloping population growth and carrying out meaningful public sector reforms to produce energy, check drug scams and build road and transport infrastructure has generated seething discontent amongst people. On the one hand, they hanker for electricity in their homes and then line up in never-ending queues to fill their car tanks; and also realize that politicians have marred their future prospects by blatant misuse and plunder of state resources.

The dilemma is that public resources are increasingly being spent on the war on terrorism at the expense of social sector development. Besides, the current wave of terrorism is telling on the economy and the people most severely affected are the poor and low-income sections of the society. In such circumstances, people tend to be disenchanted with democracy and gradually they have distanced themselves from exercising their right of adult franchise. The bitter fact is that those who do exercise it bring the same faces back to power. The need is to chalk out policies for achievement and prosperity of the nation and to raise a nation completely free from psychological complexes. The need is to promote religious patience among the people in order to develop the understanding that religion is a private matter.

In the state of affairs that Pakistan is in today, it is difficult to expect a miracle from those in power in the five years in office. If intentions, direction, dedication are alive, the nation united and all the stakeholders on board, it would still take some time to break our chains of servitude and rid ourselves of corruption. It is never too late to at least try to get on track towards making Pakistan a welfare state, vibrant, modern and Islamic. Happy Birthday Pakistan! May you have many more blessed and prosperous years ahead.

The writer is a political analyst and senior advocate of Lahore High Court