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This week's bold expectation in a public statement by Pakistan's prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, hoping that the country will succeed in overcoming its ongoing economic crisis with the support from the so called friendly countries, squarely demonstrates a failure to understand the depth of the crisis.
As if reliance on the so called Friends of Pakistan was not naive enough, Gilani also claimed that his government was determined to adopt a more robust economic strategy with measures including the curtailment of "unnecessary" expenditures.
For a government which has just recently inducted one of the larger cabinets in Pakistan's history, Gil-ani's statement could not be further from the truth. The Pakistani prime minister needs to understand at least three inter-related issues.
First, prime minister Gilani must recognise that symbolism is truly important for the profile of any regime, especially one which is already surrounded by many controversies. In this background, the symbolic significance of appointing a bloated cabinet is far too important to be easily ignored.
For ordinary Pakistanis, a bloated government with far too many ministers at a time when ordinary people are being asked to tighten their belts, represents a deep contradiction. The legitimate question on the street is indeed a very profound one. You simply can not ask people on the streets to cut their expenses while the government indulges in extravagance, no matter how irrelevant. To set an example for modesty must be an effort that begins from the top tiers of the Pakistani state.
Second, the prime minister must also recognise that the current uncertainty in Pakistan that has given way to the prevailing economic crisis, is the consequence of an environment which has flourished since Gilani's government came to office. For leaders of Pakistan's present day ruling structure, it is all too easy to blame their predecessors. And yet, they simply can not just place the responsibility on past rulers, as rulers of today must be brought to account for their own deeds. For too long, Pakistani rulers have indulged in the tendency to pass on the buck to others. But this time around that is just not possible.
Finally, Gilani must answer a series of tough questions on his government's ability to overcome some of the most difficult challenges faced by Pakistan. The top of this list of challenges includes matters such as a consistent failure to improve the number of people who pay an income tax. For too long, Pakistan has been stuck with the unfortunate legacy of just about one per cent of the country's population pay an income tax. The consequence has been that over a period of time, vested interest groups have become not just more powerful but indeed more defiant when placed versus the need to pay their tax dues.
Lip service
Consequently, a range of stakeholders from big time farm owners to industrialists and business people, all refuse to acknowledge that they must be brought to account for their dues.
For far too long, leaders such as the Pakistani prime minister, have chosen to make bold promises of reforms but have only followed up with lip service to the cause of undertaking those very reforms.
The time for change is long overdue for Pakistan. In the midst of the country's ongoing economic crisis, Gilani and others around him now need to wake up to the scale of the challenge ahead and the scale of tough and potentially painful solutions that must be brought about to solve them.
- The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.
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