THE country once again is going through a crisis. Politicians are fighting much like street urchins, institutions are being mocked and ridiculed, parliament gives the sight of a fish market, law and order is abysmal, and the people are suffering under hyperinflation and an utter lack of basic facilities. What is the solution? Should we continue in this state till our very existence is jeopardised? No, it is high time we found a solution.

As such, democracy is just a deceptive word which means different things to different people. It is time we focussed on the core target of a political dispen- sation. The basic thing is that the common man should be happy and be able to lead a comfortable and secure life. Let us focus on that, and that alone.

All national political institutions and all the other organs of the state should unite to achieve this goal. Make local committees at the neighbourhood level, and a hierarchy of governing bodies leading to a national council. All these committees and governing bodies should be completely non-political. Let us go for the dictatorship of the nationalists and super-patriotic citizens, their common interest being the welfare of the common man.

We can, and we should, evolve our own indigenous system of governance which should transform the country into a true welfare and progressive state. Unfortu-nately, we have exploited the poor class enough by raising this slogan or that. In the name of freedom, we have enslaved the poor. The only freedom the poor need is that of somehow getting food, education and health facilities for their families.

Khayyam Durrani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2024