Are Four Pillars Of State Responsible For What Ails Pakistan Today?

Are four pillars of state responsible for what ails Pakistan today? Cacophony regarding what really is the matter with Pakistan and who truly is blamable makes it hard to establish the root cause lest the remedy is made. A detailed dispassionate analysis of the snags and careful exploration of the glitches is very likely to land us at tangible fallouts. Prejudiced reasoning and bigoted ratiocination crafts even more dissonance. A remorseless indefatigable struggle prerequisites the annihilation of the predicaments yet it’s not the foremost step. Struggles no matter how much relentless, dogged toils and efforts no matter how much tireless, if done in a way that is not already prudently mapped out, will result in a little if any furtherance. Whether or not it rains heavily, the wiser is one who has constructed a basin; rest can only cherish the pleasantness. Carving the roadway for the nation in turn largely depends on identifying the root causes of imbalance in a state. For accessing these root causes we need defining -

The basic actors in a state and normal functioning of all the constituent state elements as they should be in an ideal states framework. Ailments Pakistan is suffering today, chief of them being national disintegration. Extrapolating the ailments to the state pillars in a bid to probe out the responsible ones.

Modern sociopolitical scenario has transfigured a lot. Peeping back a 200 years ago we can appreciate how the framework of a state has shifted from a few to multiple state actors. Kingdom is antonym of the democracy with a difference of sharing the responsibilities rather than accentuating them onto a single person. The gigantic power split into factions and shared by the new state actors. Judiciary was and still, at least considered an independent state pillar. The legislative and the executive voyaged apart until there present form as separate state pillars. The ultimate legislative and executive authority belonged to the king at one extreme and they are completely riven in modern state. While the friction in these three pillars lingered, media emerged, thrived persistently and became a potent state actor. In beginning it ceaselessly monitored the state affairs and the internal affairs of other state actors. Its reporting of the sleazes and malpractices directly to the public introduced it as a goody-goody. Increasing corruption and deteriorating social circumstances added to its sanctimoniousness until it got recognized and established itself as an unswerving fourth state pillar. Apt functioning of statecraft depends upon elevation of Judiciary above and over all other social factions. Its eminence is closely tied to its patronizing role. This lofty echelon jeopardizes it of being used for personal gets. Higher judiciary should

comprise scrupulous, upright people trustworthy for whole nation. Valiance and audaciousness of Judiciary stems out of its nobility and reliability. If judiciary is functioning optimally, there is little to fear as it will keep upsetting the wrongdoers disturbing the social balance. Major ills mortify out of fear of being chastised, minor ones continue but below the level of social tolerance threshold. The legislative has to make and amend laws. Most vital for legislative is that it should represent all the factions and cadres. The factions of society left unattended are rarely likely to abide the laws. National consensus is the key to legislation. Even one deviant faction can upturn the poise and stability. A monitoring body consisting of experts should meticulously monitor the being formed laws. It has to ensure that these laws are being formulated unbiased and evenhanded. To root out the thought long prevailing that the parliamentarians make laws suited in a way or other to them and impede the voice of poor from being heard in the parliament, such a monitoring body is vital. Executive is the third vital pillar of state working in close coordination with the legislative and judiciary. There has always been a debate regarding the executive powers and who shall be considered to have ultimate executive power. Contrary to what mentioned in case of Judiciary, the autonomy of executive to a level of intolerance is abhorred. Media is the non-vital yet indispensable state pillar. While it is right of the public to get information, it is often detrimental to impinge the very details of utterly technical issues onto nontechnical masses. Its role is yet to be defined but its indispensability makes it important state actor. If we turn an eye towards the ailments Pakistan is suffering, in a moment we will be able to grasp the fact that malfunctioning of all four pillars is involved. Lack of national integrity, Poverty, illiteracy, energy crisis, corruption, international interference, terrorism, economic crisis top the list of crises Pakistan is suffering today. Taking them one by one if we are able to carve out the link between the suffering and the incapacity of the state pillars, we will be on the righter side to pronounce that incapability of all four pillars are involved in our national sufferings. Involvedly convoluted picture comes into sight by a bird eyes view. Judiciary hasn’t been able to deliver what it’s meant for. Quick justice is a least hoped thing by a common Pakistani. While the delayed justice equals no justice, our judicial setup is never designed for quick justice. As soon as a victim thinks of contacting court of law, his mind starts comparing the loss with the courts expenditure which may become protracted for an indefinite period of time. Impoverished faction has a tiny hope, if any, with the judicial system. On the other hand powerful cadres are utterly fearless. Biggest fail of the judiciary is its failure to imperil their procurements. The gross social inequality stems out of this difference which paralyses the society. Monetary corruption on part of statecraft is one of the biggest issues Pakistan suffers today. Effusively farcical is the thought that corruption can be rooted out without buttressing the judicial pillar. State has to deal with money, that’s a no

question; the fear of being reprimanded keeps the dealing hands upright. Not all the times you can assure a punishment but taking a few exemplary decisions can do the trick. Hundred percent justice is present nowhere around the globe, even in developed countries, what keeps them moving ahead uprightly is the fear of being caught.

Recent precedents from our Supreme Court decisions can be presented to support the fact that our judiciary has failed to establish its firm writ on society. In one case Prime Minister blandly refuses to concede to the judicial orders (NRO case) and on the other hand the terrorists killing the innocent civilians of Karachi lend a deaf ear to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Karachi unrest case. This adds to the gross social inequality where the deprived faction has to concede to whatever the court decides while those who consider themselves more powerful can afford deny submitting to the court orders, further glooming the social picture. Famous saying, delayed justice is no justice, is not as meaningless as we consider. The famous NRO case took around 4 years until the verdict came from Supreme Court and it was declared null and void. Isn’t it comical that when decision came, the NRO led government was about to finish its duration. The case whole nation was eyeing at was concluded in a right way but at a time when it couldn’t make any impact. Corruption which is done without a fear of being caught culminates in economic imbalance. Government tries to balance this imbalance by escalating taxes on the common man, rendering the feeling of social deprivation, arising out of this inequity, unimaginable. To correct this economic imbalance the second immediate step is taking loans. World Bank and International Monetary Fund are often sought. In a local survey, international interference was topping the list of our national sufferings. How can we even imagine standing upright when our hands are spread in front of them? Moreover a vicious cycle starting from corruption ending in international interference and social disintegration side-shoots terrorism. Poverty, corruption, economic crisis, and international interference, terrorism five of our top crises are offshoots this vicious cycle involving our judiciary, executive and legislative. Media is no more as sanctimonious as it was considered a few years back. On one hand its job of keeping the public updated about the latest developments is unprecedented; on other hand it adds fuel to the fire and further intensifies the feeling of social inequality by depicting a corporate culture which is sadly not the true projection of our society. The ability of the media to influence the political scenarios is often misused biasedly. Its potential to dictate the receivers mind is immensely threatening especially in a society like ours where literacy rate is very low.

Lack of national integration is the biggest concern we are having. Hard to inscribe is the fact that our country is falling a prey to this disintegration. KPK is burning in fire of terrorism, Sindh exclusively Karachi is facing grave unrest; Baluchistan has become a war-place of international powers and Kashmir issue still lingering. Hard to neglect is the fact that most this unrest is deep-rooted in separatist ideas. Even harder is to neglect that these separatist ideas take their origin from the feeling of being deprived socially and media directly arsons this feeling by projecting the counterfeit picture of our society and excavating the ideological basis of our country. Lack of leadership and incapacity of legislative and executive is surely responsible; role of media in flagging the ideological basis is germane. Moreover media can amplify anything to any extent. It can beautify the image of country by ignoring inconsequential ills and by pontificating trivial good things. Our media, sadly, does vice versa and adds to the insult by magnifying our trifling ailments. It would repeat a small incident so many times that it would look hundred times more spiteful and malicious. Yes our internal faults and imperfections are not admirable, yet they are not irreparable. Media diagnoses the minor treatable ailments nothing less than death. Our infirmities are soaring and we are verging collapse. Collapse of a building which our forefathers built with blood as cement, history won’t absolve us while we are watching all this from our couches. Pillars prop up the building, if they dwindle, whole building collapses. Our present state of affairs clearly portrays the decay of all four pillars of the state. Individuals make nation, if nation disintegrates individuals can’t bear, if individuals determine nation can’t fall.