ISLAMABAD: Renowned intellectuals, technocrats, religious scholars and academia on Monday stressed a need to launch a comprehensive civil society mobilization campaign in order to steer the country out of the moral crises and chart on the path of progress and development.
The experts made the remarks during a special moot organized by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) to discuss the ongoing challenges Pakistan is facing.
Speakers declared a moral crisis, corruption and institutional decay as the root causes of the ongoing failure.
The experts recommended the imposition of a ‘governance emergency’, which they said, was more critical than an economic or security emergency.
Intelligentsia also underscored the importance of proper education of youth and the new generation to make them productive citizens and viewed that the continuously deteriorating political crisis demands holistic democratic, electoral, and holistic structural reforms.
Moreover, there was a dire need to devise a state-of-the-art political system on realistic and pragmatic foundations to promote credible and competent leadership which could address the lack of dialogue and the knowing-doing gap, they urged.
Speaking on the occasion, IPS’ chairman Khalid Rahman, called for the mobilization of Pakistan’s indigenous civil society, with the inclusion of all stakeholders, that can bring consensus and clarity of ideas, and devise out-of-the-box solutions to mitigate the perpetual crisis. He also proposed the system of proportionate electorate to ensure representative democracy and good governance in the country.
Eminent economist and author Dr. Shahida Wizarat, said Pakistan relied on external actors, especially IMF and the World Bank, for economic support, which then dictated the country’s policies and developed the nation’s consumer mindset.
The foremost thing to troubleshoot the economic crisis was to eliminate foreign economic managers in favor of indigenous solutions and seek alternatives to IMF, she remarked.
Along with introducing democratic, electoral, and governance reforms, efforts are needed to ensure check and balance, accountability, and the functionality of all state institutions stressed Senator (Retd) Javed Jabbar, former federal minister and public intellectual.
Moreover, there was a need of a new management paradigm based on enhancing the functionality of governance structures through measures such as the integration of local governance units at the national level, he stressed.
The moot participants demanded the formation of a ‘truth and reconciliation forum’, on the lines of the South African model, as a viable national cathartic measure. Another suggested alternative was a ‘qaumi jirga’ to develop a national consensus.
This is important because innovative solutions can emerge only when discussed extensively by stakeholders.