Monday, June 29, 2009
Pakistan tenth on ‘failed states’ list

* Somalia, Zimbabwe and Chad top the global index

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Pakistan, split down the middle with terrorist attacks and facing an economic crisis, remains among the top 10 failed states, according to an index prepared by the Foreign Policy Journal.

Placed ninth among all countries last year in terms of its overall achievement, Pakistan’s position has improved only by one notch - it is placed 10th in the index for 2009 published in the July-August issue of the journal.

The annual exercise, now in its fifth year, is carried out by the journal and the Fund for Peace, an independent research organisation.

The ranking is decided on the basis of the following factors: demographic pressure, refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievance, uneven development, economic decline, delegitimisation of the state, public service, human rights, factionalised elites and external intervention.

The top 10 failed states on the latest list are: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Guinea and Pakistan.

Neighbouring India is placed 87th among the 177 countries under study, with its score showing an improvement over the previous year. But others in the region are not faring any better. Sri Lanka is placed 12th, Bangladesh 19th and Nepal 25th.

At the other end of the spectrum, the bottom 10 in the list are the top achievers: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...9-6-2009_pg1_3

“One of lessons of history is that you cannot take any civilization for granted. Its permanency is never assured. There is always a dark age waiting for you around the corner if you play your cards badly and make sufficient mistakes.” Richard M. Nixon

Today Pakistan is grappling with economic, power, and political crisis whereas, on the other hand it faces mammoth existential threat in the form of terrorism and nationwide insurgency. The impotency of political leadership and its inability to cope with these challenges have tagged Pakistan as a failed state. Despite all this, the situation is further compounding from bad to worse. International media has left no stone unturned to fish in the troubled waters. It is an extremely perplexing situation for Pakistan.

According to a US-based Foreign Policy journal, Pakistan is contending Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, and Guinea for topping the list of failed states. The ranking was done on the basis of the following factors: demographic pressure, refugees/internally displaced persons (IDPs), group grievance, uneven development, and economic decline, delegitimisation of the state, public service, human rights, factionalised elites and external intervention. Terrorism and crippling economy are indeed areas of greater concern for Pakistan's future. Terrorism is not a disease but a symptom of many diseases. It has baffled our economy, and FDI has almost dried up. Pakistan’s economy has become war economy, and it is being propped up by IMF and the WB. Terrorism and militancy threaten everyone in the country. The perpetrators of violence are operating beyond normal and acceptable political circumstances. The govt. has been too feeble to establish its writ in large swathes of frontier. The denigrate law and order situation has strangled the country and its people in fear and insecurity. The whole society is passing through severe psychic trauma. Pakistan is the only country in the world with the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Almost 3 million persons are living away from their homes in camps where inadequate facilities have forced the IDPs to live in extremely deplorable condition. Terrorism, wretched economy, power shortage and IDPs are the real challenges ahead.

In short, we cannot simply ignore this rating by contemplating it merely as an anti-Pakistan propaganda. We have to realize that our country is confronting insurgency at home that has paralyzed our society as a whole. Terrorism is the root cause of all problems we are facing today. Our prestige in the comity of the nations and stability at home are conditioned to our success in the war on terror (WoT). It is in our national interest to fight it and eradicate this cancer by showing zero tolerance to the culprits of violence. We only need to put our house in order by adopting a multi-pronged strategy. It is a fact that terrorism poses major threat, but as a nation we have the capacity to falsify the recent rating by the Foreign Policy journal by winning WoT, rehabilitating IDPs, restoring peace, empowering democratic institutions, extending quick and cheap justice, and bolstering our economy. Though the road ahead is very thorny and tough yet we can surpass all challenges as one nation, Insha Allah. And I can see the silver lining at the end of this dark tunnel.

“God has given us a grand opportunity to show our worth as architects of a new State; let it not be said that we did not prove equal to the task.”- The Quaid-e-Azam


Pakistan Zindabad

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“What we need in this country today is more courage and more belief in the things that we have.”
- Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956)

These facts sound unrealistic because being on the streets of karachi u r always fearful of mobile snatching,torture, extortion and terrorism and ethnic cleansing.We have left Somalia and zambabwe way behind in lawlessness,lack of governance,deprivation,etc.We after looking at ground realities seem to enjoy top position in the list of failed states.Today I was waiting in queue at ATM machine to withdraw some cash.Suddenly when it was my turn,a SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE (SP) came and used ATM machine by passing all of us,who were wating and bearing hot scorching beams of sun.He took no pains to wait in queue like civilized citizens,however,
showed power of his uniform.Actually corrupt politicians,3rd class bureaucracy and ambitious army who thinks abt conquering their own country instead of securing borders,are responsible for making us failed state.Where nefarious people like musharraf have ruled for eight years,where technocrats like shaukat Aziz have remained on posts like prime minister,where mr 10% is president.there nothing can be done.
REGARDS

OK i agree that being on the streets of karachi, you are always fearful of these things, but what do say about the dark alleys of New York, the so called "Civilized" world, you can't even imagine what will they do to you there after midnight! It's not only Pakistan, these things happen in every corner of the world!! The thing that our poor country is highlighted for all this that it happens only IN PAKISTAN, you have to understand that it is a media war that is going on in our country... why don't our media shows the positive side of Pakistan? the developments, the philanthropic work done by the common citizens??? (Lately, some sense has been knocked into the top media outlets and they are showing the positive Pakisatn)

You also said that, "Actually corrupt politicians,3rd class bureaucracy and ambitious army who thinks abt conquering their own country instead of securing borders,are responsible for making us failed state......
there nothing can be done"..
Today this country is alive only because of its selfless people who are working day and night for the people with a lesser god! there are people who have opened garage schools for the poor child laborers, a lot of work done by the philanthropists for the poor masses. When you say that Nothing can be done, it means that you have a lot of faith in these people which you have pointed out, the bureaucrats, the ambitious army, the mr 10%, and you have no faith in the people of this battered country, no faith in yourself that you can bring a change in this latest ranking of Pakistan in the top 10 list of failed states!!!
We have to falsify this ranking by helping our country in the present crises, and it can be done, this country is alive today by only its people...the Pakistani nation, so don't lose hope and patience, and don't believe in selfish leaders that they will bring a positive change to this country.

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nahin nigah main manzil to justaju hi sahi
nahin wisaal mayassar to arzu hi sahi

My dear nonchalant ur views r very encouraging as well as positive.yes,my eyes have overlooked the people of this country and junk of them happens to be working peasantry class,which according to u is worth to believe in.u say that we should stay positive despite corrupt politicians,3rd class bureaucracy and ambitious army.How can we be positive when so called hardworking peasantry class is slave to politicians.I have not voted Mr 10% but ur hardworking peasantry class has voted in his favour.Then u talked abt people running schools for child labour.Dear,the very fact that there is child labour in our country shows what kind of people we r.Who make these child work,no one but ur hardworking peasantry class make them do labourious job.Then u talked abt conditions in Newyork are similar to us.This is no justification that if Newyork is having these problems so that our law enforcement agencies negligence to counter these problems is justified.BUT STILL IF U WANT ME TO REMAIN POSITIVE AND OPTIMIST,I M ON UR SIDE OF SHIP
REGARDS

We ,as a nation have yet to decide that which kind of political and govenmental system is physible for us.We are making experiments and facing its consequences.After 62 years what we have achived is
1-Unstable Political System
2-Terrorisam
3-Interprovincial Conflicts
4-Energy Crises
5-Corruption
6-Economy Overburdened by Debts

In the given scanrio ,we shoulnt get annoyed if some one called us a failed state.Infact ,we are heading towards .......................i dont have courage to say these words.

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Hoee hay jab say mukhalif hawa zamanay key......
Humain bhee dhun see hoee hay diaa jalaanay key

I think the assessment is flawed. In any case I do not lose hope. We can always spot and describe the problems of a country in detail. But nobody can predict the human (in our case, national) response to them.

e.g. recently WHO raised an alarm against swine flu and predicted that a pandemic was imminent. Mexico, the prime nursery of the virus, managed it so well that the problem was nipped in the bud.

Even if we don't have a capable leadership to steer us through these problems right now, I believe we will have one in future. Problems always have a solution.

Pakistan is more stable and resilient than many believe.

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"The race is not over because I haven't won yet."

Adil Memon
Police Service of Pakistan (P.S.P)
37th Common Training Program

Courage to question

It’s sometimes tempting to think of the power crisis as a simplified model of the national crisis today. A large part of the role behind Japan’s success was played by its corporations. Companies like Mitsubishi, Nissan and Sumitomo excelled by teaching their managers to ask questions.

For example, they would ask why we didn’t meet our sales target last month. To the answer our production was slow, the follow-up question would be why it was slow. We’re short of spare parts; machines kept breaking down, would come the answer. Why were we short of …. And in this way Japan probed its way to the bottom of its problems and very soon became a rich country.

Getting rich by asking questions? Why, sounds absurd? Not to the US Navy which then sported an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude. In 1984 it adopted the technique and — after adding additional content — branded it Total Quality Management. TQM became a buzzword and spread like wildfire to just about every US corporation and onwards to Europe and Asia.

A few days ago, as the lights and air-conditioning suddenly died on me and I put down Dr (Justice) Javid Iqbal’s book, Islam and Pakistan’s Identity, the last words to stick in my mind were: ‘Pakistan is not a failed state; it is in the hands of a ‘failed generation’.’ Iqbal envisioned a homeland for Muslims, Maudoodi, counter-intuitively, resisted on two counts: one, a separate Muslim state would limit Islam which had not fully done its work in India. Two, that the Musalmans of India were not ‘pure’ enough (read not fundamentalist enough) to be deserving of an all-Muslim state. Iqbal retorted that ‘Muslim state and society were always in a process of becoming and never became a finished product.’

Nevertheless there were problems with Iqbal’s approach, as he too maintained that the religious ideal could not be separated from the social order. Was he implying an Islamic state (or republic)? Because once you’re on that turf aren’t you left with little room for debate about implementing Sharia? Isn’t it setting you up as a target for a fundamentalist onslaught that an unfulfilled promise of an ‘Islamic republic’ brings on?

Unlike his predecessors Ziaul Haq not only gave way to this onslaught, he harnessed it. Then again in the summer of 1998 came another close call. That year, with his intended 15th Amendment, Nawaz Sharif brought Pakistan within inches of becoming a theocratic state. By 1998 weren’t Iqbal, Maudoodi, Zia and Nawaz Sharif all on the same page? True, Jinnah hadn’t wanted an Islamic state; just a state for Muslims but then, doesn’t the basis for Pakistan boil down to Muslims being only able to live with other Muslims?

The lights flickered back on, the AC started to hiss and the reassuring hum of appliances could be heard again. Then they dimmed and finally died again. Is there a power shortage? Apparently not. By some accounts, installed capacity is enough to meet all except peak demand. So why the blackouts? Circular debt … Mangla tripped … Lesco’s transformer at the Kot Lakhpat grid gave way. In the end we may find that there was less a shortage of capacity, and more a shortage of intelligent questions; and an inability to clear a cobweb of stupidity.

So if Dr (Justice) Javid Iqbal’s lament is that Pakistan is in the hands of a failed generation Aitzaz Ahsan, in his book, The Indus Saga, explains why. ‘Pakistanis have spent almost half a century of their existence without asking any questions.’ Indeed bold, courageous and informed questions are anathema in Pakistan. The book raises the question of whether Pakistan is the result of a ‘two-nation theory’ hastily put together and announced in 1940 as the Lahore Resolution, or has there been a historical separatist urge in the territory we know as the Indus Basin.

Recently, Pakistan lost its most distinguished historian. K.K Aziz believed that like governments, a people get the historians they deserve. In a country of 160 million people, only five or six historians actually wrote and published. And soon this ‘failed generation’ gets set to pass the state into the hands of an even more hopeless generation. This one opened its eyes under the dreadful rule of Ziaul Haq; when textbooks were mangled to portray Pakistan as a ‘besieged state’ under threat from a Hindu India, a godless Soviet Union and an anti-Islamic West. The result is now all around us.

Some time back prominent educator Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy had explained: ‘Most students have not learnt how to think; they cannot speak or write any language well, rarely read newspapers and cannot formulate a coherent argument or manage any significant creative expression. This generation of Pakistanis is intellectually handicapped.’ If inquiry and analysis were forbidden for the earlier generation, then the present one may not even have learnt how to construct a question. In such a culture isn’t it natural that obscurantist explanations and fundamentalist dogma will take over, conspiracy theories will flourish?

Against this the Jamaat has kept its fundamentalist narrative evergreen and intact, when it says that it is not religion’s fault the state of Pakistan hasn’t succeeded, it’s the fault of the people who never became ‘pure Muslims’. Within these wheels are the recruitment networks of the various jihadi outfits — in an environment of multiple social anomalies and economic deprivation — and we are facing a very real spectre of a radicalisation of many of the 93 million Pakistanis who are today under the age of 24. Out of curiosity: how many will turn to radicalism to chase the promise of untold pleasures in paradise and how many will actually be seeking to improve their lot in this world?

According to Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch, ‘Pakistan is indeed a failed state. A state that does not have enough self-confidence to take criticism…. A state that feels constrained to legalise bigotry and exclusion, extremism and prejudice, coercion and oppression in order to survive … [Pakistan] is certainly not presiding over a vibrant, successful and self assured society.’ If Ali was to travel to the past and meet Jinnah, with this message from the future, what would Jinnah’s response be to him? Perhaps more importantly, what would Jinnah’s questions be to him? Might one of the questions be ‘when did you people stop asking questions?’

Source
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...uestion+-hs-04

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When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk. ~ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

when did you people stop asking questions?’ When ?

From the time people's Freedom of Speech was abandoned

From the time people used other shortcuts to gain position rather than earning money by their own sweat .

From the time a poor man realized that he has no importance , jst a mere shoe at the feet of rich people .

From the time a government school student realised that as his english education standard is not gud so he has no place in good jobs and he is not worthy of getting good pay .and also when a local middle class yet Deserving student realised that his education and top positions are of no use to let him earn sholarship for himself and go anywhere else for good education .so ulimately he had to do small jobs which killed his spirit .

From the time when Labor's rights were cashed for profits of leaders.

From the time when favoritism overpowered merit . then people had to fight or snatch things for their survival ( u knw through wht means)

From the time when children were taught tht you have a certain class to move in and others are jst riff rafs treat them as slaves .

From the time when people were betrayed by those who they trusted the most .

From the time when leaders kept their personal interest above the national interest . and people were always happy to make them leaders again and again .

so much to list down , so its better to stay quiet before ppl reject the truth and ask you to " be positive in way they want"

another good point is "Pakistan is indeed a failed state. A state that does not have enough self-confidence to take criticism….

yes this is my absolute answer for this thread .We are ready to compare our weaknesses with weaknesses of other countries , but no tenough redy to accept that we are a fading society in whtsoever way . We look down upon some low class servants and feel good while being part of the corrupt elite class .

See what my little somewhat immature experience tells me that maybe the day we will start realizing our weaknesses and come forward with solutions to improve them and then work with wholeheart widout ne higher expectation may be the result will be excellent ,just miraculous because our youth is so energetic n full of ideas , bt it all goes invain as their energies are utilized in negative activities . or something that dont let them realise their responsibilty in true sense .

"Its better to accept that we have failed not only to be a better state but also to be good part of it .Otherwise keep going with the way it is who cares neways ."

and last but nt the least also i hope we get some good leaders someday who are not impressed by "flatterers " and Bribers , so that they will start giving a positive reinforcemnet to those who sincerely give their best and who want to be in the system to change the system for better ment of themselves , their children and future generation ,for the nationa as a whole . ( just have a look at police department ,as they are not secured so they fall off for many offers thus creating bad image for whole organisation .)

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"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."
John Mason

Iqbal Said :

Ghalat Nagar hai Teri Shasham-e-Neem Baaz abb tak
Tera Wajood teray wastay hai Raaaz abb tak

Its time to rethink who we are, instead of becoming desperate. Yes we know that we have made mistakes in past. But It doesn't mean that we always make mistakes. This rating is a blessing in disguise for us as it will boost our courage to work on. And we should remember that who we are......

As Iqbal Said:

Kabhi ay nau jawan muslim tadabur bhi kia tunay
Woh kia gardoon tha jiss ka tu hai ek tota hua tara

Whenever a task is put before a nation, It should deal with that confidently with assurance and persistence and I think it is high time to show our tenacity to overcome the whole crisis being uprooted in our country.....

Here another verse of Iqbal's poetry is coming in my mind that is ...

Tundi-e-Baad-e-Mikhalif say na ghabra ay Okaab
Yeh toh chalti hai tujhay Oncha Uranay ke Liyee

That exactly what is happening with us.

but it doesn't mean that we should Ignore our past misdeeds, but these mistakes would become a light for us to warn us at every brink of committing mistake. But we need to remember that too as

Iqbal said that...

Fitraat Afraad say Agmaaz bhi Kar laiti hai
Kabhi karti nahi Millat ke Gunahon ko Muaf

and we are the people for whom ALLAH said ... in form of Iqbals doctrine


Why we are becoming hopeless??? You know what Iqbal said hopeless people

Sun aay Tehzeeb-e-Hazir ke giraftaar
Ghulami say Batter hai Be Yakeeni

And the last but not least that

Himmat - e - Aaali Tu Darya bhi nahi Karti Kabool
Ghuncha Sa Ghafil teray Daman main shabnam Kab talak

Regards and Reverence

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Assistant Security Officer- BS-16
Ministry Of Defence, GHQ.