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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 1/16/22

Khanate not working in Pakistan

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Imran Khan promised a new direction for Pakistan. His election campaign focused on fighting elite corruption and abuse of power. But people are becoming disillusioned with Khan because government policies have increased discontent, hardship, and ill will. The government seems unable to deal with mounting inflation, rising unemployment, and water and gas shortages.

Hope is turning to despair as incumbency has exposed that Khan is ill-prepared to lead the country towards a better future. His tenure at the helm is high on rhetoric and low on performance. And for Khan, casting blame elsewhere has run its course. It appears a ruse to hide misgovernment, non-delivery, and poor economic performance.

Even Khan's anti-corruption campaign has yielded mixed results. Courts have convicted some opposition politicians of mega-corruption, notably former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But the promised return of fantastic figures of billions of dollars in looted money from abroad to aid the chronically ill economy is yet to materialize. Opposition leaders complain that the Khan's anti-corruption efforts are a political witch-hunt. They feel vindicated by the government's incompetence and political failures.

Undoubtedly, Khan inherited deep-rooted political, economic, and social problems. The hybrid structure with actual power in the hands of the military bureaucracy, massive corruption, and a frail economy is an enormous challenge. It has hamstrung previous governments and derailed the country's development. But Khan is yet to outline a broad vision and direction to solve deep-set structural problems.

Instead, Khan and his diminishing supporters stubbornly stick to their mantra. The elimination of corruption and an Islamic welfare state is a cure-all. But a troubled and unstable country facing multi-faceted problems needs more than just fanciful solutions.

For instance, Khan's dream of establishing an Islamic welfare state in Pakistan is far-fetched. The idea of sustaining both a national security state and a welfare state for a highly-indebted and impoverished country is a non-starter. It can only compromise the remaining economic sovereignty. In addition, finding the means to maintain a cradle-to-grave welfare state in a country with an exploding population is nonsensical.

Equally disturbing is the plan by Khan's government to introduce a single national curriculum (SNC) as the solution to Pakistan's many education woes. The SNC dictates more religious education, no 'blasphemous' content, and an unthinking conformist mindset. Khan expects Pakistan's future leaders to break the Western "shackles of slavery" and raise the standards of morality in society.

But more ideological education can only worsen the pressing problem of radicalized youth joining jihadist groups. It will not help Pakistan's students to compete against students from most other countries. Those countries committed to becoming global knowledge powerhouses through scientific and secular education. The new education strategy is unlikely to deliver the well-rounded workers needed for the government's much-hyped plans to make Pakistan a geoeconomic hub of the region.

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Saad Hafiz is an analyst and commentator.

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