Pakistan is the sixth largest country in the world, in terms of population. It is one of the seven declared nuclear powers. It has one of the world’s largest standing armies, perhaps sixth or seventh. But how many Olympic medals does it win?

This relationship between a country’s economic and social stature and the performance of its athletes was agonisingly present to me as I watched the incredible opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on television on Friday evening. And as I write these words on Saturday forenoon, I am sleep-deprived because not only did I wait to also see the recorded version on Geo Super but such was the impact of the occasion that I was sleepless for many hours.

Of course, this dazzling manifestation of China’s astounding progress and achievements during the last about three decades overlapped a major crisis in our national affairs. The decision of the ruling coalition on Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf has pushed Pakistan into uncharted waters. Every columnist and commentator would be obliged to focus on this grave issue. I feel compelled to do this in the mirror of the Beijing Olympics and the rise of China as a great power.

Without any doubt, August 8, 2008 will live in the annals of history, like dates on which great wars begin or revolutions mark their culmination or world leaders are assassinated. Why? Because this is the moment when China has confidently claimed its place at the centre of the world’s stage. Let the word go forth from the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing that the twenty first century is an Asian century.

In recent days, the international media has been preoccupied with China and how it has used the Olympic Games to make a statement about what it has achieved. On Friday, in different time zones, the entire globe saw this spectacle, in awe and disbelief, of the glory of a major civilisation. Yes, there will still be some disparagement of China’s political system in the west with reference to its democratic credentials. But the ordinary people everywhere, apparently more than half of the entire population of the globe, must now confirm China’s great stature.

Here, in Pakistan, we are about to ‘celebrate’ the sixty-first anniversary of our freedom. Incidentally, the Communist revolution in China came two years later. If you refer to those times, in a historical context, you may conclude that we had a better chance of moving ahead. But what have we really made of our freedom, considering also the loss of the eastern half of the country?

Another regret that I have is that though we are such close friends with China and also share borders with it, we know very little about the country in an academic sense. Yet China, with about one fourth of the world’s population, has a recorded history of more than four thousand years. No other nation has ever made so much progress in such a short time. Do we have the intellectual capacity to understand all this and decipher the reasons for our backwardness? After China, another neighbour – India – is moving ahead of us in some significant areas. Why?

I have said, at the outset, that medals won in Olympics and in other competitive sports should reflect a country’s economic, social and political status. In doing this, I am not really leaning on that George Orwell quote, that “probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”. Modern sports are a different ball game and China itself presents a convincing argument in this respect. All you need to do is to look at the medals won by China in successive Olympics. This tally has risen in synchronization with China’s economic progress and now it is aiming to win the most Gold medals and for that it would have to beat the United States.

By the way, a BBC feature this week listed ten apparently insignificant countries from the point of view of achievement in sports “whose athletes have the potential to cause a stir”. Ah, Pakistan in not in the list of these “countries to watch”. The ten countries are: Sudan, Botswana, Panama, Ecuador, Iraq, The Korea, India, Afghanistan, Montenegro and Romania. I am not arguing that this list is any certification of these countries’ economic or social potential because just one Gold-winning athlete can make some difference.

Coming back to the present state of Pakistan, the impeachment process has brought to the surface many of our political and constitutional derelictions. It may even be seen as an attempt to exorcise the ghosts that have haunted our socially dilapidated mansion. At the heart of this predicament are our frequent deviations from the path of constitutional rule and political morality. Can we correct the course now, considering that tragic lapse on the part of the ruling coalition of not attending to this issue immediately after the February elections?

This delay, unfortunately, has generated many ambiguities and uncertainties in the minds of the people. One problem for the coalition is to reinvent itself, after a dismal performance of four months. August is surely an appropriate month in which to finally make a new beginning. It was in March last year, another month that marks a historic event in Pakistan’s history, that the promise of a new freedom was launched with the lawyers’ movement.

In any case, we must now try to pick up the pieces and recreate that hope of early spring. That Musharraf is still not willing to depart is one of those misfortunes that have denied our people not only democracy but also economic and social well-being. We have an example here of how some individuals at some critical moments can seriously damage the cause of a nation.

What really baffles a rational person is that a number of individuals in authority, the ones who are seemingly well-educated and aware of the lessons of history, can wilfully indulge in immoral, corrupt and shamefully expedient practices without any concern for the good of the country. Removal of Musharraf, hopefully without the trauma of the impeachment, has become necessary to undermine the scope for wickedness in our polity.

We regularly have disclosures about how our rulers have cheated the nation in the past. One such report, published in this newspaper on Saturday – yesterday – is based on a new book by Ron Suskind, a US journalist. ‘The Way of the World’ includes the episode of Benazir Bhutto’s negotiations with Musharraf with the involvement of the United States. In one telephonic conversation, recorded by the US intelligence, Musharraf told Benazir: “You should understand something, your security is based on the state of our relationship”.

If such revelations confuse and sadden you too much, the Beijing Olympics can serve as a temporary antidepressant.

Now that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his band of fifty-odd merry men and women are back in Pakistan, possibly it is time to address some of the problems that the country is facing. It is also hoped that the leaders of our two main political parties have ended their respective summer vacations so that we can now turn to problems that the people of the country are enduring.

The hunting party that went to Washington has now come back with a better idea of what is expected of it. However, part of the problem with Mr Gilani’s kitchen cabinet is that even some of these key members may not be fully on board. We are now told that the experiment of trying to bring the ISI under civilian control failed because not all players were consulted. De-facto Interior Minister Rehman Malik has promised that “heads will roll.” One can only wonder who the scapegoat will be.

Most Pakistanis say that it is not the big problems that worry them but the smaller, more nagging issues that make them frustrated and angry. In the words of the talented singer Shehzad Roy, who says in his latest Urdu album, “What worries me is not whether things will change\but that they may remain the same in the future too.” Kudos to Roy for coming out with an engaging music album, despite the lack of corporate sponsorship, with a powerful message on what ails our country.

The message, however, is not getting to the people who matter. But why must we blame Mr Zardari for placing his friends and nominees in places of authority? Did not President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz do the same thing, despite high claims of good governance and clean leadership? However, two wrongs do not make a right, and now we are in a democratic dispensation, so we should be able to air our grievances freely.

Take for example the appointment of the new managing director of the national carrier. A brilliant pilot, who blossomed under the chairmanship of Ahmad Saeed, a close relation of PPP stalwart Ahmed Mukhtar, now faces the toughest challenge of his life. He has to run a national airline for which he has neither the training nor the management experience. From Tariq Kirmani to Zafar A Khan, and an old man who lasted for less than three months, the airline’s new CEO is a serving PIA pilot who is trained to fly a Boeing 777. But we can’t talk about this aircraft and how a pilot caused millions in damage when landing it against better judgment during a storm at Milan airport. The taxpayer will foot the bill on that one.

Haroon served as GM central control during the last PPP government. But his assumption of his new assignment has started creating the wrong ripples. Within days of assuming office, the management hired on contract a person who resigned and left PIA two years ago, when his tenure of posting to New York had been completed. This man, a US national, chose to resign from PIA and was relieved from service with all benefits. He has been awarded the choice posting of country manager in the Americas, a post that should in all fairness be given to a senior PIA marketing executive on merit.

Another former PIA officer, who was prematurely retired three years back and is presently serving in Dubai with a real estate firm, has been rehired on contract as a deputy general manager of marketing. A junior PIA pilot flying as a captain on an ATR has been appointed as general manager traffic. This junior pilot also holds the post of GM technical ground support services, a post historically reserved for senior licensed aircraft engineers, creating a lot of ill will within the ranks. He also looks after PIA’s flight kitchen and reports directly to the MD. Pilots seem to be in favour. A former PIA pilot who survived the Fokker crash at Peshawar and was rehabilitated by accommodating him in marketing and sales, has been posted as country manager for Canada – again a post normally given to senior marketing executives.

Together with these controversial appointments, several senior traffic officers have been sent on leave or placed in the surplus pool. All foreign postings approved by the promotion board have been cancelled and fresh postings are in the process by the new PIA management, where political recommendations seem to be the dominant factor. Another irregular PIA appointee has been given the post of director stores and procurement. Seniority, merit and qualifications seem to be the casualty once again. Then there is the case of two senior PIA pilots who had been recommended for promotion to flying a Boeing 777 after undergoing costly training. The decision to move them to flying the 777 has been held back.

Most tragic is the case of flight engineers. PIA is hiring retired flight engineers on contract to serve as instructors after having forcibly retired permanent regular employed flight engineers with experience (and this included several instructors). These men are being threatened and harassed despite the fact that most are highly qualified and have given the best years of their life to the airline. The management is not talking to them directly and is playing dirty tricks, they say.

There are certain mandatory rules that are common for regulating the working of government-owned corporations. The service rules of Pakistan are binding on the CEOs of semi-autonomous corporations, along with rules in existence within the corporations. It is mandatory that every individual employee qualifying for promotion meet the minimal laid down criteria for induction of officer cadre, which is at least a graduation degree, plus experience in the relevant field.

Pakistan needs professionals specialising in their respective fields to make progress. Success lies in human resource development, and there is no alternative to this vital resource. Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle for human resource development is rampant compromise on basic specialised qualifications that should have been mandatory in government-owned corporations. But these are victims of political interference by civil and military regimes.

There are other examples. Take the case of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre in Karachi where two upright and able doctors were removed from key posts to make way for more “compliant” people.

Dr Seemin Jamali, who singlehandedly changed the face and functioning of the Emergency ward of the hospital was transferred overnight to PIMS in Islamabad. This woman doctor is remembered for bringing in private donations and professionalism to a most neglected part of the public healthcare institution and arranging medicines for the poor through sponsorship. It was she who saved hundreds of people by arranging for dog bite vaccines under a private initiative for people who could not afford this.

So desperate were the powers that be to transfer Dr Jamali, who is loved and respected in the JPMC, that in complete disregard of government rules she goes to Islamabad while her husband, who also works at the JPMC, remains in Karachi. Her crime possibly was that she was coming in the way of some important hospital purchases. Another senior doctor, Dr Sri Chand, who was in charge of public works at the JPMC, has also been transferred for the same reasons. The people of Karachi will suffer as a consequence.

A fax was sent by a senior PPP Karachi office-bearer to the JPMC a week back which announced that a very junior JPMC employee had been appointed as “coordinator” for the hospital on behalf of the party. This man now enjoys more power than the director and has hospital cars at his disposal. He calls the shots now while senior doctors look in disgust and disappointment. Who do we blame? After all, it is us who have elected this bunch to power. Let us write this off as the pangs of democracy and hope that change is on the way.

This column is taken from The News.com