The abandonment of thought

Given the speed at which we seem to be hurtling toward the abyss without thought or care, one would imagine that there is little left that can shock one. And then you hear or see something that takes the abandonment of thought and care to an altogether different level. What is really frightening is the abandonment of thought. You cannot expect people to necessarily care about most issues or things or people but, given the fact that these stare us in the face everyday, the hope is they would think about and be aware of these issues. If nothing else, it would enable them to develop a strategy that would take the lid of the pressure cooker that is inequity and, at the same time, buy themselves security.

A few days ago I happened to hear Fauzia Wahab, Information Secretary, Pakistan People’s Party, say on a popular talk show on television that no one in Pakistan went to sleep hungry. She went on to say that things were not as bad as they were made out to be. Whereupon the bewildered talk-show host asked why her party was promising a country with a full stomach roti? Surely it would be better to undertake to provide them bijli, kapra aur maakan. Because we know there is no bijli, or at least not enough to go around.

Forget travelling through the country to learn firsthand about people’s issues and problems; one just needs to follow the news to get some sort of handle on what’s going on. Perhaps Ms Wahab’s busy television schedule does not allow her the time to read or even watch the news, a huge handicap given the nature of her job. It’s time that our politicians turned the lights on in their heads and took a good look around and listen to those stomachs rumbling from hunger.

Does this sort of statement, on satellite television, watched by millions, widen the class divide? Does it expose the callousness of our political elite? Does it render them incapable of seeing beyond their rather long noses? Personally, I doubt very much that there was any malice in Ms Wahab’s statement. It came across as one of those unthinking utterances; perhaps she meant that though there was poverty it was not of the extreme kind like in sub-Saharan Africa or India. It matters not what she meant; what matters is that she should be able to think.

Pakistan’s poverty statistics are not going down, percentages remain pretty static, but the numbers have increased in proportion to the population. Poverty-related suicides appear to be on the rise, more and more people are moving to cities to look for work, jobs are scarce and Pakistan’s very young population does not look like it has a very bright future.

There is so much to think about and were our behemoth government prone to mental aerobics they may consider the interests of the vast majority and make life better, easier, less stressful with some basic quality of life. As I write this I can hear a parliamentarian on television saying how popularly elected leaders must meet and serve the aspirations of the electorate.

Are the aspirations of the people served by running a state that operates on a national-security paradigm? Is it too late, or can we revert to the welfare-state model? Where the state nurtures, looks after and cares for the citizen. How do we do this? How do we get our political leaders to understand the citizen’s most basic problems, be they economic, social, political or just everyday? How do we get them to stop wasting time and act rather than let things fester?

The best way of doing that may be to step out of the bunker and come on to the street and experience the issues faced by your constituents. Leave the bullet-proof car and police mobile at home and see something as basic as how 95 percent of the country gets around. I did, and it’s very difficult, there are no sidewalks, no properly run mass-transit system, no bicycle lanes. Something as everyday and commonplace as crossing a main thoroughfare is like running the gauntlet; there are no pedestrian crossings, no overhead pedestrian crossings. As a result enterprising citizens have created egresses by breaking into dividers in the middle of main highways. Crossing a road, getting from one side to the other, can be a death-defying ordeal. It does not need to be; it’s all about planning. If the 95 percent who rely on pubic transport, or who travel by bicycle or on foot found themselves in the planners’ mental frame things may have been different. But those who think of building highways don’t always see bus lanes and pedestrian egresses.

This may all seem very irrelevant, given the monumental problems that face Pakistan at this time. Why be concerned about crossing roads when extremist elements are seeking to overrun the country? What we need to think about is why is it so easy for them to overrun the country? If we thought about the citizen, his needs, concerns and fears we may not have left the door open for another force to come in with claims to be able to address those needs and concerns and ally those fears. For sixty-two years there has been little, if any, thought given to the citizen. All that is important is lost in a world of spin. Issues that need to be dealt with are ignored, they just pile up on the side as our planners, policymakers and politicians drive by in oblivion and become such a quagmire that the simplest way to deal with them is to pretend that they never existed. It’s like the mountains of garbage that accumulate everywhere, and after a few days of disgusted sidelong glances we just walk by them, oblivious to the assault on the senses. Working, it seems on the theory — If you ignore it, it will go away.

Unfortunately, it is not so simple. It does not go away, so ignoring it is not such a smart thing to do. It rots and spreads disease. The same metaphor works for the system as well. The rot has set in and the disease has spread. The world is writing off Pakistan, reports of six months to Jihadistan are gaining currency. Is it time to throw in the towel, or do we turn to the 170 million and say, Let’s come together to bring this country back from the brink? Sounds simplistic? Perhaps it is, but surely the 170 million have the will, it is, after all, a question of their survival. No one of us wants to see this state disintegrate. To prevent that we need to think beyond the individual and think instead of the nation. For that we require leadership with the will and the courage to lead to pull Pakistan back from the brink to step up to the plate. Leadership with vision, with courage and, most importantly, with heart.