PM’s Prosperity Vision

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: Two decades is what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif believes will put Pakistan on track if all institutions do their job within their respective spheres.
Addressing the cabinet recently, the PM was of the opinion that the nation can only progress when politicians and all stakeholders work in tandem. Whoever wins the elections should take all on board including the army, judiciary, and bureaucracy, and formulate policies, which are public-centric. What is construed from the PM’s statement is that he talks of some balance of power in all aspects that deal with national and international scenarios within the domain of the Constitution.
It is pertinent to note that the public come first in the Constitution, and the government and its paraphernalia are supposed to serve the masses. However, it is unfortunate that the rights of people are violated during dictatorial rules and the constitution is overlooked, and even in a democracy like the one we have in Pakistan, people are not given due importance.

The ECP somehow failed in many ways as was demonstrated in even municipality-level elections, which raised the eyebrows of the public owing to the debatable poll results

Deviation from the Constitution creates a commotion. The role of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is to hold free and fair elections. However, the ECP somehow failed in many ways as was demonstrated in even municipality-level elections, which raised the eyebrows of the public owing to the debatable poll results.
The incompetency of different departments and the enormity of the situation in the past and even now have resulted in getting the army to do the tasks it was not meant for. A few examples in this regard are ghost schools and ghost teachers in Sindh, electricity theft and polio drops administration.
The political administration should be taken to task as it never enhances the capacity of departments to do their job while they are paid handsomely to act in time of need. Natural calamities like floods and earthquakes should be handled by the authorities concerned but it never happens as the infrastructure with all perks exists but delivers nothing.
Take an example of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on holding provincial elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the order should have been implemented in letter and spirit, but the government and ECP created hurdles in implementation of the order.

The concept of democracy revolves around ‘people come first’ as all societies in the world are governed by a set of laws where power is distributed and defined by the constitution

The concept of democracy revolves around “people come first” as all societies in the world are governed by a set of laws where power is distributed and defined by the constitution. The Constitution of Pakistan is a very elaborate document and needless to say it has many details that serve as guidelines if followed in a true sense.
The fundamental rights are guaranteed with the protection of individual liberty and more importantly the consideration of individual interest with the equal consideration of the collective decision-making process.
For maintaining social order and peace all institutions should play their role in their designated spheres that can only take Pakistan out of the dilemma that it is currently faced with.
The chaos already exists as the SCP orders have been put aside and the unrest in public is fuelling uncertainty.
Honouring what is good for the public with the Supreme Court’s direction can ensure peace and stability and that if overlooked is what Pakistan is faced with currently.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.