It’s time to unite, meet challenges

“What’s this? Almost every leader is beating his drum to draw the hungry common man’s attention towards his party manifesto that promises cheap ‘roti’, ‘kapra’ and ‘makaan’ to all the poor and homeless people.”

Perplexed citizens have many questions pertaining to social and economic life. They say “hardly any leader has seriously tried to solve them; if he planned to do that the others joined hands to oppose him.” Is it ‘na kheda’n gay, na khedan daya’n gay’?

(We shall not play, nor shall we allow any other to…)

There’s only one answer to all such questions/problems. And that’s unity the need for which has never been as dire as it is today in the wake of challenges to Pakistan and people.

Why one should ignore the designs of the forces hostile to Pakistan’s peaceful existence as nuclear state with dignity and honour?

There’s an outside attempt to destabilise the country economically. The common people themselves have to be boldly able to address successfully the problem of national cohesion as they know the real strength of any nation lies in its unity.

The gulf between the belief and action of the past has caused our homeland a colossal loss of time, energy and wealth. In a nutshell, the nation, as a whole, seems driven to socio-economic and political anarchy, financial indiscipline -- and corruption.

Soul-searching, self-analysis and criticism based on patriotism will not do any harm to any democracy, any government. That will rather ensure people’s dignified survival and their march as independent and sovereign nation towards peace, progress and prosperity.

Let’s not be shy of confession that we ourselves and our leaders are to blame for disunity, feud, hatred and, more often than not, slavery to foreign money lenders.

Selfish motives, mutual rivalries, acts of corruption, greed for money and lust for political power have resulted in multiple miseries, such as unemployment, poverty, insecurity and uncertainty, in the backdrop of economic disparity, social dissatisfaction and unrest.

City olds say that hypocrisy, ignoring the Islamic teachings and morale of the life-long struggle of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah have been the hallmark of our so-called politics. Isn’t it a fact that Providence has endowed us with all the wealth of the nature, and it lies with us to make the best of it? Who is responsible for turning Pakistan into a beggar at the door-step of the International Monetary Fund? — zasarwar@hotmail.com