Despite my positive outlook about life, I get extremely depressed when I look at Pakistan as an observer from outside. At times, I just don’t know how can the country deal with serious issues threatening Pakistan’s very existence. For me, one way is to stick my head in sand and keep pretending that all is well and all the bad stuff is ‘enemy’s propaganda to weaken Pakistan’, or I can be realistic and honest about Pakistan’s problem. I have opted to be honest!
For example, in case you didn’t know, Pakistan is experiencing tremendous water and electricity shortage. Dawn has a brilliant piece in today’s paper titled Power protests. Regretfully, there is no end in sight as for as electricity and water shortages in Pakistan are concerned. The government is engulfed in so many other controversies that it seems highly unlikely that Islamabad would be able to do anything about the worsening electricity and water crisis anytime soon. Even if any leader or any government manages to come up with a solution, it will still take years (hopefully not decades) to complete the projects and by the time the project is about to begin, the demand would have caught up with supply. So, it is a lose lose situation given Pakistan’s current and future program is concerned.
By the way, even if the current government is removed, there is no guarantee that the new and incoming government would have any solution to the colossal challenges that are about to swallow Pakistan. First, it is impossible to unite the country about anything. Even about the Taliban, it is impossible to find the nation united against the nihilists who were threatening to take Pakistan into Stone Age by taking over the country. Second, there is a new challenge in the country every single day that forces the focus to shift and in the process, all efforts are lost as the country moves on. Third and final, the county has no money, no resources, and now, no one to turn to for help. Mind, you, I am taking about the country and it should not be confused with the current government.
I wish all the problems just vanish, the mountains of troubles just melt away, but obviously, it won’t happen. The country and the nation will have to work very hard to get comfortable. Let’s see what happens in the process.