ARE FOUR PILLARS OF STATE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT AILS PAKISTAN TODAY?

This essay got 3rd position in 1st JWT Essay Competition

The failure of a system definitely points towards the malfunctioning of some or all the essential components of that system. Indeed the smooth running of a system is only guaranteed if all major constituents of that system continue to work efficiently in harmony with each other. A state’s system which rests upon four fundamental pillars i.e. legislature, executive, judiciary and media also fulfils this fundamental principle. The present gloomy picture of ailing situation of Pakistan in almost all fields is surely portrayed by dysfunctions of all these four pillars in different proportions. Therefore, the declining economy, deteriorated law and order, unabated ethnicity, increasing violence, marred international image, truncated national unity and absence of respect for humanity and moral values surely enable one to hold these institutions responsible that bear the responsibility of development and smooth running of the society, and whole system of the country.

It is important to analyze the fundamental role of these institutions, the coordination between their chain of command and execution of tasks in order to fix the responsibility in the backdrop of current ailing situation of Pakistan. Legislature is like the heart of the system which observes the society and enacts laws for the progress and development of the country which are enforced with the help of executive. Judiciary plays the role of safeguarding the interests of people and state in the light of laws enacted by the legislature. Media, owing to its power of reaching the minds of people, performs the role of opinion maker and manages the general perception of masses. It acts as a watchdog in the society, creates checks and balances on individuals and other pillars of state and educates people on national and international issues. The development and progress results in only when the policies and actions of these four pillars of state work in coherence with each other and exist on same policy page.  The fundamental problem arises when there exists lack of coordination between these four pillars of state which results in absence of uniformity in principles of policy. The first outcome of such a situation is the conflict of interest which brings institutions in a state of conflict with each other. Each institution works in complete isolation without following a national agenda and thus results in chaos and anarchy in the whole structure of governance and state’s system. This situation not only hinders the prosperity and development of a state but also proves fatal for its potential ability to flourish by going to the length of devastating peace and progress of the state. This is the scenario which Pakistan has been facing as a hurdle in the way of a prosperous future. This is the whole picture which enables us to draw a conclusion about the role of four pillars of state holding them responsible for current ailing situation of Pakistan. The statement can be justified by applying this whole scenario to the most vital issue Pakistan is facing today which is the menace of terrorism. The roots of all other problems faced by Pakistan today originate from this single menace, some way or the other. The way in which the issue of terrorism is handled to generate a counter response is the perfect example which depicts that these four pillars of state share equal proportion in aggravating the situation without anticipating and neutralizing the threat. Despite unabated wave of terrorism, which has been hitting Pakistan for a long time, legislature is unable to draft an effective law which can help other pillars to combat with this menace of terrorism. Judicial system of Pakistan because of certain difficulties, complexities and hindrances has been unable to award exemplary punishment to a single terrorist. Inability of legislature in drafting an effective law coupled with the inability of judicial system to award punishment to terrorists has resulted in a severe setback to the performance of executive machinery rendering them less effective to deal with the threat of advancement of militancy in the society.

Media’s role should have been to unite the nation on this single issue, generate national consensus on national peace and security, neutralize the ethnic and violent sentiments by presenting the true ideology of Islam and Pakistan but unfortunately media did not play its due role in this war and continued to travel in its own direction without much contemplating about this grave national issue. In this way the four pillars not only remained unsuccessful in discharging their individual duties but also the coordination between them aimed at salvation of the nation and national development ceased to exist. This situation hints at the complete failure of the state’s machinery and refers to the collapse of the system which is responsible for keeping the state in line with the requirements of development and progress in this modern era. This failure of these institutions resulted in increased militancy, violence, terrorism and extremism in the society which critically ails Pakistan today and is proving a big hurdle in the future course of social progress and national development. The response and handling of one issue of terrorism by these four pillars of state, out of many others, is just one example which depicts their ineffective, non-coordinated and non-coherent response which portrays a dismal picture on the national front and holds them responsible for what ails Pakistan today.

It has been substantiated by the logical reasoning aided with the facts on ground that the current ailing situation of Pakistan is an outcome of dysfunctions of four pillars of state; however, it is difficult to ascertain whether their unfortunate performance is the sole result of circumstances that engulf them and in which they are to discharge their duties or they have some inside faults and mistakes which hinder them in coming out successful from this grim situation. A careful exploration based upon rational analysis, balanced approach and just attitude will give equal proportion to both the sides of the opinion. There are some obvious difficulties in the ways of these institutions which have barred them in justifying their role and participating to their full in the development and progress of the country. Judiciary could not find itself liberated and independent rather it remained the victim of theory of necessity in the past. Media struggled for its independence and faced sanctions on speaking the truth which severely checked its role and decreased its effectiveness in performing national duties. Non directed legislature, absence of national consensus on core issues, nonexistence of national policy, absenteeism of established national targets and goals have put a limit on legislature and executive in terms of their national contributions. Besides all these there are some other issues which have grown to the extent within these national institutions of Pakistan that they are proving fatal in their desired performance which include corruption, nepotism, self-centered goals, vested interests and irresponsible behaviors. The net result of all these factors witnessed by Pakistan is the situation which is being faced today. The judicial system of Pakistan has been unable to set up a system of social justice based upon equality of rights and respect for humanity. In the absence of an equitable social system of justice which is the backbone of any developed and civilized society Pakistan suffers from lack of interest of international community in building cooperation, trust, trade and investment relations. The ineffective legislature and executive indicate the deteriorated condition of government machinery, infrastructure and institutions which not only proves ineligible to provide amenities of life to the people but also reflects a dark image of the nation on international level.  This inefficiency of legislature and executive is directly related to the ailing situation of Pakistan. Pakistani media does not seem to be in line with the interests of nation because of absence of effective regulatory media laws. It has not been able to justify its role of a watch dog and an educator in the society. Therefore the individual inabilities of the four pillars of state to cope up with the demands of modern challenges to the national integrity, peace and development have combined together to drag Pakistan to the point where the situation demands to struggle hard not only for coming out of crisis but also to maintain its independent existence .

In principle the importance of the role performed by these institutions surely makes them the four pillars of state and at the same time it also increases their responsibilities many folds. The whole dependence of social development, national integrity and peaceful society on the efficient performance of these institutions in the light of national interests and objectives demand a high level of commitment, high degree of devotion and a high sense of responsibility towards fully participating in solving national issues and moving the nation on the road to development. These institutions are interdependent in the sense that the outcomes of the actions and policies of a single institution directly or indirectly affect the efficiency of all other institutions. If one performs well, it makes it easy for others to perform well but if one fails to discharge its duty it not only fails in its own task but also creates hindrances for the other institutions. The worst case scenario arrives when all four institutions are failed to deliver what is expected from them and share their part in aggravating the situation on national level. The current ailing situation of Pakistan which is arrived by the malfunctioning of these institutions can only be reversed by these four pillars of state. It is the need of the hour that each of them should gauge the gravity of the situation to generate a suitable counter response and come up to the expectations of the nation for making this country a happy, prosperous and developed place in the light of the spirit of ideology of Pakistan.