By Syed Haider Raza Mehdi – 27 July, 2019
Khan saheb,
Our key challenges are
1. Economic recovery so our people can get relief from back breaking inflation, business confidence is restored, industry is revived, exports and taxes increase and foreign direct and local investments restart.
2. Rebuilding and strengthening state institutions and improving governance. This also means reducing corruption and holding crooks accountable. But this also does not mean we use heavy handed and harsh measures to crack down on political dissenters and low life’s, however third rate they may be. This also means the delivery of quality services to our citizens! Health, Education, Employment, Safety and Security etc!
3. Reforming the Judiciary and law enforcement agencies so our poor can get quick and real justice.
4. Strengthening the Executive and ensuring the Army’s influence is limited to its defined security related roles. So we’re not headed towards a dark dystopian, fascist future. This is a hugely polarizing phenomena in Pakistan even amongst your supporters!
5. Rebuilding our relationships with our neighbours.
6. Reforming our electoral and governance system to allow people of competence, skills, subject matter expertise into positions of governance, power, policy making and legislating!
This is crucial so that you and future administrators are not held hostage by the small corrupt coteries from which we elect our lawmakers and cabinets under the garb of parliamentary democracy! Something quite unsuited to us.
So that we have professionals making laws and policies and overseeing and managing public sector institutions with professional expertise.
So that Pakistan is saved from the “Elite Captured” claws of this small bunch of corrupt rich and powerful!
So we forever bury the Sharifs, the Bhuttos, Zardaris, Asfandyars, Fazlur Rehman’s and who they represent!
This in a nutshell is what we need, Khan saheb!.
Please do not open too many fronts to take your eyes off these goals.
Do not take on others Estates like the media. Now is not the time and place for this battle.
Like the rest of our society our media is also like a Mafia. Yes, they’ve been bought over by the corrupt mafias of the Zardaris and the Sharifs. Yes they must be held responsible through strong libel laws and strict punishnents!
But do not allow the kind of media optics and very poor handling of arresting and handcuffing a 78 year old journalist, on charges as flaky as a snowflake, despite his questionable character and third class attributes.
Do not allow the opposition to get to you, upset you, rile you with personal attacks and and use of words like “selected”. If they do, they’ve succeeded. Because it takes you away from fixing Pakistan.
Because our entire institutional infrastructure is dead, dysfunctional, corrupt, inefficient, ineffective, very weak, the task is huge, complex and very challenging.
But if anyone can begin to tackle it, its you, Imran.
You cannot afford to waste this great opportunity for the sake of Pakistan.
Tread carefully, Khan saheb!
Not fearfully, but carefully!
Salaams and Prayers
Haider Mehdi