If I ever become: the Prime Minister of Pakistan
By Wasi Siddiqui
(Member of the Canadian Authors Association)
Ever since Pakistan gained independence in 1947, it has gone through many political crisis and unstable governments and long history of military rule. The development of infrastructure never got underway soon after the independence and political leaders made poor decisions and lack of planning led to the disaster beginning of the newly state of Pakistan.
The basic necessities of life were put aside, while corruption and nepotism became the prime necessity and goal of the political leaders, thus the people of Pakistan was completely deprived of their rights. It is true that many leaders proof to be incompetent of situation, thus unable to handle the affairs of the state.
The people of Pakistan continue to suffer under different governments and basic necessities like water and electricity were ignored, as a result even in present day, this problem still exist. The country Pakistan which was founded in the name of Islam also show no such unity in religion believe , and thus bloodshed and killings in the name of Shia and Sunni became daily routine.
The question is how these problems could be overcome? Pakistan today is in very bad situation, which needed immediate attention in order to make this country a truly modern Islamic state , where there should be peace and harmony among the people, the racial element in another biggest dilemma facing the county , where there is hardly anybody is willing to call themselves as Pakistani.
Sindhi, Punjabi, Pathan, Balochi, and Mahajirs concept gained more attention in the media than Pakistan cause, the history is full of such incidents where so many innocent lives were lost, just for being belongs to specific groups and communities. One country Pakistan divided into so many racial groups and our leaders promoted this cause to get the most political benefits and polluting the minds of the people and created hate against each other.
The political leaders promoted racial slogans in order to gain their cheap intentions and created confusion among the people, this is true that lack of education played an important role in this situation. Today our youth is taking more interest in music and dance than playing role in the development of the country. They feel more proud in holding Pakistani flag in the dancing and music concerts , which shows that trends of youth is changing towards western culture.
The majority of the people live in poverty, with no education, no schools and no access to health and doctors. There are many villages which doesn't have electricity at all, while water is almost impossible to get, the children are often has to go to work in early age, the age in which they should be going to school, these children never gets a chance to holding a pen in their hands rather they are coerced to hold heavy bricks and carry as means of transportation.
The Pakistan today, is the edge of collapse with nothing in working at all, neither leaders, nor the youth; the whole system needs an overall change. The building of dams, roads, access to safe drinking water and electricity and schools and reducing rising of the cost of living is the main and prime need of Pakistan at the moment.
Police department needs an overall improvement in providing peace and safety to the people of Pakistan, and police reforms are urgently required, the people today feel unsafe and unsecured while calling police for help, there has been many reported incidents where police officials are involved in corruption and harassing people. Today police has become the name of "group of thieves", rather than an honored police officials.
The hospitals are in need of improvement and almost all hospitals are really in bad conditions and people felt that they might be infected with some kind of disease if visited, than feeling safe in the hospital, with big red spots on the walls. (In Urdu: Pan ki Pichkari"
As Allah says that "I don't change the destiny of those people who has no desire to change themselves". It is time to bring change in Pakistan system, which will lead us in right direction, if we do not change now, I can assure you that we have recently celebrated 60 years of independence with lack of basic necessities of life, and even after next 60 years we will be still be crying for water and electricity.
If I ever became the Prime Minister of Pakistan, my first priority will be to start re-building infrastructure, I will be focusing on 3 "Es" which are as follows:
1- Economy
2- Education
3- Employment
To achieve these goals my efforts will be as follows:
1- Will hold meetings with IMF and other loan providing institutions to make a new method of payment by taking loan against the total debt owe by the country and this will help in paying off the debt and then fixing the lowest payments which will bring down the inflation and prices of the commodities and will also help in lowering of the debt as well, and the sky rocketing prices will fell down, thus people will be having less taxes to pay, and more savings and buying power will increase as well. (For example: Total Debt-Total Loan = Zero Debt Illustration: Total Debt is $100.00 and Loan taken is also $100.00 = Debt is $0.00, then with lowest level of payments of the new loan will end soon and country will be out of debt. All the efforts will be done to increase the exports to balance the budget and Inshallah the budget will go into surplus instead of deficit, and there will be no more need of the loans. It is estimation that every child born in Pakistan is in-debt of Rs30, 000.00.
2- Once the debt is down, the manufacturing industry has to boost their products and services at high pace, to meet the demand in the local and International market since the material will be more easily available at lower prices and cheap labor will boost the economy.
3- Will lead a sincere, discipline and educated team in my government and will name the smallest cabinet ever, to reduce the cost of salaries.
4- Our all education institutes will be free of political affiliations.
5- All the Political activities will be banned in education places.
6- All the political offices will be removed from the education institutes which include colleges and universities.
7- The education system will be changed and computer test will be introduce instead of reading books for whole year and then given exam , quarterly tests will take place in all schools and colleges and universities through computer with yes and no question. This will also help in eliminating cheatings in the exam.
8- Police reforms are needed in all provinces, and people trust will be restored.
9- Providing water and electricity to all the cities and villages.
10- Dams are required to overcome electricity shortage.
11- Big reservoirs are required to store water to provide to public in case of any disaster.
12- Hospitals will be order to admit all the casualty patients rather than asking for police report, since patient life is more important than police report.
13- Youth centers will be establish where they gain knowledge and skills which can help them in getting a job.
14- Ghost schools will be shut down, and all schools should be registered and operated and monitored by the government.
15- The PM will spend the time in paying attention to the plight of the people, than making abroad trips and enjoying perks.
16- As the PM I will stop the traditional of taking "Government family" along while going abroad for attending any international commitments as it increases cost and put more pressure on national exchequers.
17- The corruption will be stop by linking the spending to government allotted budget and not exceeding the budget , and those ministers who misuse the money will be dismissed and will be held liable and will not be able to run for the public office again + serving time in jail.
18- The justice system will be available to all rather than some political leaders only who use their influence to make judgment in their favor.
19- Youth employment centers will be establish or any would be graduate will get access to work on volunteering basis in the company to gain working knowledge.
20- The Safarish "note system" will end forever, since this leads to unemployment.
21- The children will be sent to schools and education will be free up to college.
22- No student will be allowed to participate in political activities while attending the schools and colleges.
23- For those students who like to pursue political career will have to attend political education designated colleges and universities, and science and medical colleges and universities will be separated from these institutions.
24- Those parents will be punished if they fail to send their children to schools and asking them to go and earn money in childhood.
25- The people below poverty will be educated to excel them in their talent and skills in which they are perfect in order to start small businesses, so that their skills will be utilized to setting up factories to run the business and bring prosperity in their life.
26- Once the small factories are set-up their living conditions will drastically improve and their children will be able to go to schools and colleges.
27- The government will stop import of the materials from abroad and will use the home based resources to increase the export of the country goods and services to bring "Made in Pakistan" name in the business world around the world.
28- Our youth will be sent abroad to get the necessary skills and get accustomed to new technology, which will be a beneficiary to Pakistan.
29- A national debate will take place to remove the misunderstanding among the people where racial leaders are polluting the people's mind regarding the national development projects.
30- As soon as the economy will improve, the ethnic and racial issue will also die down and will help to improve national unity.
31- All the political parties will have to introduce such plans which will help in improvement of overall understanding and respecting each other views rather then fighting and killing each other.
32- The transportation system in the country will be improve and new routes will be identified to launch bus and train services and drivers will have to go for training for driving the buses and trains , since many accidents has been proven fatal, and many innocent lives has been lost.
33- Without proper training and education, no one will be allowed to drive the buses which do not follow the safety rules and speeding drivers will be jailed and fined.
34- The improvement of the tourism will be given the priority since it bring business to local vendor and help improve the economy.
35- Any student, who will make inventions in the field of science, will be helped to set up his science and technology research center with full government support and all the high-tech equipments will be available to carry out their work.
36- As a Prime Minister, will not visit any country unless it is very necessary, to safe the national money.
37- Will launch nation wide campaign to stop people stealing electricity from the main electric grid. (In Urdu: Kunda system).
38- The entire bribe and under the table dealings will be prohibited and government officials will be prosecuted and will face long term jail and restricted from running for the public office again.
39- Street spiting will be banned and removing garbage and littering will be the first priority, and keeping city streets clean and tidy since it causes diseases and present a bad view of the cities.
40- With the help of Edhi foundation, will launch new emergency ambulances services which will be equipped with all the medical facilities and doctors available across the country, so that people will have easy access to hospitals and medical services including the seniors' citizens.
41- Fire trucks will be replace with new and better equipped with modern technology that will be more sufficient in case of emergency.
42- Police officers will be trained with foreign trainers who will provide them with latest ways to capture law-breakers and other criminals.
43- By Allah's will, will bring changes in constitution and necessary amendments to better run the country.
44- Insurance will be available to all citizens, so that they can afford the cost of medical bills and hospital stay and prescriptions including doctor's fee.
45- Islamic institutes will be registered and national data will be created to monitor the activities and programs of these institutes.
46- In order to reduce the debt of the country , the local businesses will be encourage to participate in international exhibitions , where they can able to promote there products in the markets and will be allowed to export in large scales.
47- Will injected more than half of the budget in paying debt, which will help reducing the high rising cost of commodities and as a result the cost of living will come down and since we are paying less debt at the moment, our cost of living still rising, thus we are unable to reduce the cost and for a person it is extremely impossible for a person run a house.
48- The business communities will be exempted from tax, if they successfully manage to attract the attention of the international marketer about Pakistani products and export the material abroad and since there will be no tax, they have to contribute some of the business earning towards community services for example donation towards charity organization which will be a great help in eliminating poverty.
49- Will introduce weekly radio and TV shows to bring harmony and reduce the gap between so called "VIP status" to allow all the people come and talk to PM and all MPs will also have to attend to talk directly on the issue and discuss and sort out the problem facing the public.
50- Will revive the Khulfa-e- Rashdeen era, where all walk of life people will have access to reach their Leaders for any help they need.
51- Extremism in the name of Islam will not be tolerated, all the minority religion will be respected and their place of worship will be protected.
52- Money earned by the trade and export will be use to paying off debt, while businesses will be protect, a meeting with the businessman will sort out this issue, no action will be taken unless taking business community into confidence.
53- Will make new laws to get tough with those dishonest businessman and mills owners who stop bringing their products , "like flours and rice" into the market to create shortage and then sell their products with higher prices , thus creating monopoly and making people life miserable and also mixing small rocks to create weight of the bags to make money. Saying of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) "With dishonesty and promise you can sell your product, but your money will have no blessings and value".
54- Will make new law which will carry death sentence who commits violence against the women specially honor killings, those men who force their daughter to marry with "Holy Quran", as this is the evidence of a evil society still exist in Pakistan.
55- All the political parties will be disarmed and no one will be allowed to carry firearms, in my opinion, politics should be base on political views not killing of the opponents.
56- Those youth who are committing crimes will get tougher punishments and could end up in jail for the rest of their life.
57- Employment insurance will be introduced and in return some other taxes will be eliminated.
58- Will hold meetings with local engineers and foreign as well, to make a plan how to eradicate shortage of electricity in the country or setting up turbines and solar systems which can be charged with the sunlight and serve the purpose.
59- Will increase government revenue with recovery of loans and bad debts.
60- Army spending will also be reduced and no more defense equipment will be bought in order to safe the money so that it will go towards debt payment and eliminating poverty.
61- When the economy will start performing better, this time will put a portion of the budget going towards paying off debt to further bring down the debt, while maintaining the economy progress, the revenue generated from the recovery of the loans and bad debts and tax, trade will bring enough fund to use for development project to maintain tourism industry to help attract the tourists to the country.
62- There will be no need to have mini-budget or devalue of the currency.
63- New business ventures will be undertaken with the potential countries which can boost our financial position and economy and bring revenue to the country.
64- I will lead a strong team of law-enforcements to hunt down on illegal arms being selling on the streets and those sellers and doing business in arm dealings, and drugs.
65- I will make Pakistan the first country in the world to be debt-free.
66- Cutting of the defense budget will result in a saving of money which will be utilized in setting up houses for poor people, creating a community where doctor offices , Library , community service center can be establish , one F-16 fighter jet cost around $ 18.8 million dollars , it we convert this amount into Rupees , we can easily set up housing scheme for poor people schools , colleges and universities can be established, setting up of clean drinking water system , bringing electricity in urban and rural areas will help improve their living standard.
67- I will appoint auditors to reconcile the account books on daily basis, to make sure there is no corruption on the government level or by any cabinet member; I will present even my books for auditing to keep transparency in the governing procedures.
68- Our national carrier PIA needs attention towards developing new plans for it's growing needs and getting new modernization fleets of aircrafts and removing old aircrafts from the service to cut the cost of maintenance and reducing the budget deficit , cutting of unnecessary staff , and making the PIA a profitable national carrier.
69- To eliminate the corruption, I will direct the tender's money to be directly deposited in the company's account for any approved projects , rather than dealing in cash , as this always results in money being becoming the target of corruption.
70- I will establish charity fund for the low income people , where they can get the loans to cover their daughter's marriage expenses and pay back at lower payment but at the same time will banned the dowry system from the country as this often creates biggest financial problems for the parents.
With my efforts and help of Allah Pakistan will emerge again, with a new face and new hope with light of prosperity as a developed country, and entire situation will change by Allah's will. I will consider myself as a luckiest person in the world for getting a chance to help the country getting rid of debt and people again will live a happy life. I will seek re-election on completion of my term as Prime Minister as to continue on the path of democracy and development of the country, the country that I love the most called "PAKISTAN".
My Prayers for Pakistan
We got our country after a great struggle
Now we should all work for its prosperity
With golden saying of Founder of Pakistan
Pakistan will live if there is "Faith, Discipline and Unity"
Founder of Pakistan ( Quaid-e-Azam) did for what he said
He turned Allama Iqbal's dream of separate homeland into a reality
The man with great wisdom and full of hope
Who showed the world meaning of determination with dignity
Khan Liaquat Ali Khan showed the Pakistani flag
And waved the flag with proud ness in the Assembly
Pakistan emerged on world map as a Muslim country
God gave Pakistan independence in the holy month as its specialty
Our Army, Air force and Navy are best in the world
Keeping Pakistan safeguard from its enemies
Our country has rivers, lands and great places
A country which is full of natural beauty
Pakistan always in front with its peace initiative
Pakistan has became the symbol of Muslim unity
Pakistan is a country of great opportunity
Its people are talented and full of creativity
My prayers for Pakistan to grow and prosper
May God keep in PAKISTAN always peace, unity and stability
Wasi siddiqui ( 2007) Copy right
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