OUTLINE
1 Introduction
2Good governance and its essential
3 Essential areas where Pakistan faces crises of good governance
3.1 Accountability
3.2 Transparency
3.3 Eliminating corruption
3.4 Fairness
3.5 Responsiveness
4 Reasons why Pakistani faces crises of good governance
4.1 State institutions
4.1 1 The legislative body’s incompetency
4.1.2 The judiciary`s failure
4.1.3 The military’s transgression of authority
4.2 Pitiful political parties
4.3 Influence of alien forces
4.4 Deplorable political leaders
4.5 Lack of human resource development
5 Reforms needed to overcome the crises
5.1 Developing capable human resource
5.2 Revamping states institution
5.2.1 Executive body
5.2.2 Legislative body
5.2.3 The judiciary
5.3 Countering the initiatives of the external hand
6 Conclusion






Pakistan has long sought to be a leader in regional politics and had devised numerous strategies to be a benevolent friend, an economic hub and a front line state to aid its allies and neighboring countries, yet has failed miserably due to the internal conflicts that have caused deterioration of the writ of the state and has made it vulnerable to external threats; the paramount reason for the miserable failure by Pakistan is none other than because of the crisis of good governance that it faces .since its inception Pakistan has faced a plethora of problems including military intervention in politics , pitiable development of human resources and deplorable politicians and their parties; to add fire to the flame ,external hands have also played a major role to ensure that Pakistan doesn’t buttress and cashes on its subline geopolitical location. With all these players playing their part, the Pakistani society has engulfed into a void of corruption, lack of transparency, deplorable accountability, pathetic responsiveness and inefficiency of the state institutions. In such state of crises, it is Pakistan’s dire need of the time to overcome the obstacles it faces and bring reforms in the institutions, executive bodies and educational system. Moreover, improving judicial process for timely dispensation of justice and upholding the supremacy of constitution are also to help in solving the dilemma of good governance in Pakistan

Prior to moving towards the reforms and how is that Pakistan faces crises of good governance, its vital to decipher the concept of good governance and its cardinal proponents. The term governance refers to how the government of the state dispenses its authority to manage the scarce resources that it has at hand; the term good governance goes a step ahead and refers to the concept where the government of the state manages its scare resources effectively and efficiently for the public welfare. Good governance consists of several essential parts, which elucidate this concept even further, these are:

Accountability
Transparency
Fairness
Elimination of corruption
Responsiveness
Participation


With all these aforementioned essentials being followed, with respect to good governance, it is highly unlikely that a state faces a crisis – like the one being faced by Pakistan. Out of the above mentioned essentials, the domain where Pakistan lacks most significantly is that of accountability. From the lowest tiers of population to the highest, every individual not only escapes accountability but also demeans its standard whenever and wherever possible.
The government, however, plays the biggest part in escaping and belittling
The system of the accountability. For say, in 2017, the Sindh assembly passed a resolution to repeal the national accountability ordinance 1999 to end the jurisdiction of national accountability bureau in Sindh. However, this isn’t the only feat that the government has achieved in order to undermine the essentials of good governance.

When it comes to transparency, the government does not disappoint as well. Let’s take the multibillion dollar game changer for instance, even with such a huge leap in the right direction , the government gas left a void to be filled with vicissitude and criticism . the details of CPEC haven’t been made public until recently. The huge delay in a making significant matters open to public is status quo and it has been like this since the inception of Pakistan

Another domain where Pakistan lacks substantively is in eliminating corruption from the state. From public officer to public servants , a huge proportion is involved in the menace of corruption. From Dr asim having cases of corruption vamping up to Rs 460 billion to 365 federal ministries involved in 3.6 trillion corruption according to the auditor general of Pakistan, shows how lamentable the conditions are through which the state is going. Corruption can indeed be ended, albeit, until and unless fairness is depicted by the state institutions, there isn’t much for Pakistan’s populace to look forward to.

Fairness refers to equality of all and the supremacy of rule of law, however, just like its counterparts , fairness is a practice, which Pakistan fails to practice and exhibit. Quite recently, the Faizabad sit-in, an imbroglio to say the least, was ended peacefully with all the state pillars transgressing or undermining their powers to resolve the issue at hand. Yet at the same time, contrary to the “peaceful” faizabad sit-in, the country also observed a handful of teachers protesting for their due rights, ruthlessly beaten by the police , maybe for their not so peaceful ways of protesting
Another mark that Pakistan fails to meet by some distance is that of responsiveness. From the country`s political elite to the substandard judiciary of the country, all have failed miserably
to be alert and responsive to the needs of the population. Couple of months back, cane-growers protested in front of the bilawal house in Karachi, one could guess the fate they met with. They were brutally beaten, even women, and were forced to evacuate the premises. As expected, the judiciary failed to play its part and dispense the justice that was required.

All the problems discussed above are due to the failure of the state institutions that have made it impossible for themselves to work and also for other institution in the country. The legislation is involved in glorifying its supremacy, yet when it comes to deliver, there is insufficient performance , the executive body thinks of itself as the supreme ruler and intervenes in state affairs upon its will. The deplorable judiciary’s status can be comprehended from the fact that it itself undermines the constitution. For instance, the military coups that the country has faced have been backed by the judiciary, presenting them as doctrine of necessity

The legislation has been involved in promoting and upholding only those laws that make their stay in the ruling- junta as comfortable and sturdy as possible. The passage of election bill 2017, allowing the ousted pm to rule a political party is only one instance in the plethora of manifestation

The executive along with its duty, has always been interested in performing the duty of others. This has led to the state being in turmoil and the government in a state of insecurity. Not long ago, the DG ISPR pf Pakistan, at a public forum commented on the economy of the country. The present COAS, gen Qamar jawaid Bajwa, went the distance and said in January 2018 that the army would do whatever possible to protect the citizens of the nation, intimidating, though not necessarily at another military takeover

The intervention by the military indeed is a transgression of the authority vested to it by the constitution; however, the government itself presents the opportunity to the military to intervene in its affairs. Throughout the history, the performance by the political parties have been pathetic. Wide spread corruption, poor economic performance, pitiful planning and lack of developmental initiatives and their completion has been a commodity among all the democratic rules.

However, it isn’t only the parties that should be blamed for their inability to govern the state. The political parties need direction and that is given to them by the political leader, unfortunately, the leader our political parties have received aren’t the saints that they claim to be. Sadly, there isn’t a single leader under whom the whole nation is ready to be unified;
Nor a leader who isn’t alleged to be involved in corruption or having off-shore entities or in laundering money out of the state. All the leaders practice populist politics, hence create a further divide among the populace of the nation.

Albeit, it is extremely important to understand that the leaders aren’t sent from the heavens, neither they stem out of the ground. It is our educational institutions and the society at large that fails to nurture the individuals; eventually, they remiss in fulfilling their duties and as a result, the nation suffers.

All that Pakistan needs at the moment are reforms, starting from developing the human resource. The population is the ruler of the state, it decides who is to govern the nation and who needs to be set aside. It is every individual who is to rise at a rank at a later stage in his/her life that will contribute in uplifting the nation. Hence, reforms in educational institutions are a necessity that are neglected at large. Enabling the institutions to impart 21st century skills, as well as the most important, yet considered insignificant, civic education is what the all the education institutions need to instill in their curriculum.

Moreover, all the institutions need to be strengthened to carry out their duties substantively and wholly. The executive body need to rejuvenate its police force, the most basic, yet cardinal institution in delivering peace and justice to the nation. Furthermore, the executive body needs to ensure that it doesn’t undermine or even allude at undermining the democratic institutions. The precedent revived by the COAS to address the parliament needs to be continued by the successors and has to be cordially received by the democrats, as it is to improve the cohesiveness among the states` institutions
.

The legislative body also need to promote cohesiveness among the institutions and needs to make army, as well as the judiciary a proponent , in matters of significance so that all the bodies are at a single page and thinking at the same wavelength

The reforms of judiciary are of primal importance; it`s the institution most cardinal to ensure that all the essentials of good governance are being followed. Military courts need to be shutdown, judges safety needs to be increased , the judges are to be selected after intense scrutiny to assure that they are insusceptible to corruption and kickbacks, and last but not the least , the judiciary need to uphold the constitution as the supreme guideline to dispense justice and make decisions. It is only then the adversities of lack of accountability, fairness and transparency can be downtrodden and the menace of corruption mitigated.

Furthermore, the government of Pakistan also needs to check the external hands working to destabilize the country, especially India, Us and the non-state actors. For this it needs to vitalize its ISI and military intelligence bodies to be aware of the cards soon to be played by the state’s enemies. The intelligence bodies could share information with Chinese intel-bodies , as well as Russian intel-bodies .the army could also increase in joint military exercises to belittle the role of essential hands in the region
When all is said and done, it can be understood that Pakistan indeed faces a crises of governance in various walks of life; the judiciary is weak, executives transgress their authority and the legislation is there to uphold its interest. There is rampant corruption and accountability is hardly there to be found. However, all is not lost. This is Pakistan! A state that has been demeaned since its inception, has survived wars, with opponent twice its size and has been a front-line state in war on terror, yet has never lost its footing. The crises of good governance is faced by almost every developing nation and Pakistan is no exception. With a few tweaks here and there and substantive reforms in state institutions and human resource development, Pakistan is destined to rise to its zenith and assume the responsibility as the leader of the region, InshAllah.

I request all the seniors to kindly appraise the essay and pinpoint every single flaw there is. Constructive criticism would be highly appreciated