My recent visit to Pakistan, from January to March 2023, was full of surprises. Having visited after four years in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the backdrop of a shattered economy and a battered political system where nothing seems to work normally and in accordance with set rules, I was mentally prepared for the worst. And yet, some experiences bolstered my spirits and strengthened my conviction that through human innovation, creativity, resolution and determination, things can improve for the better.
My recent book, Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History (Vanguard Books, Lahore, 2021) and video talks based largely on the findings of that book uploaded on my YouTube channel had generated very great interest in both India and Pakistan. In less than 9 weeks I was invited to address 27 public audiences in universities, colleges, think tanks, NGOs and conferences. Above all, there were unending rounds of private gatherings all over Pakistan where I met intellectuals, entrepreneurs, businessmen, trade unionists and women and minority rights groups.
After 75 years of riding roughshod over the rights and dignity of the people of Pakistan, the notoriety of the Pakistani ruling class, also known as the power elite or more generically as the establishment, was no longer a matter of doubt or dispute, and people were eager to learn what was my explanation of the malaise attended upon the Pakistani state and national project. Understandably, such discussions led to the key question: what can be done to prevent Pakistan from disintegrating under the dead weight of mounting international debt, rampant corruption, galloping inflation and the omissions and commissions of the Pakistani rich and powerful?
What surprised me most, and in a most pleasant manner, was that on invitation of the Director General of the Pakistan Civil Services Academy at Walton, Lahore, Mr. Omer Rasul (CSP) on 15 February 2023, I addressed the more than 300 civil servant probationers. I was not expecting that the steel frame on which the colonial state and the successor Pakistani state rested would be willing to hear me out.
I learnt that the Director General subscribed to an enlightened view of the role of the bureaucracy in a modern state. Committed zealously to the realization of the UN-based Sustainable Development Goals of 2015, Mr. Rasul believed that instead of being agents of a extractive and repressive state, newer Pakistani civil servants should be an efficient and responsible service delivery institution serving the best interests of the state, society, individual citizen and the ecology. In short, Mr. Rasul wanted Pakistan to become a modern, democratic polity and his conviction was that civil servants were to be the harbingers of a new Pakistan.
For that to happen, he had devised ambitious programs and courses to instill into the probationers both dignity and humility so that they mediated the relationship between the three societal levels mentioned above and the natural environment in a harmonious manner. They were required to visit poor, rundown localities, travel by public transport and manage such trips on a frugal budget. Regarding the environment and climate change, the probationers were encouraged to learn about them so as to become role models for others serving under them to follow. The philosophy underpinning such a progressive worldview was a holistic approach on life in which the human species were to learn to appreciate the need to live in communion with nature.
I visited the CSA library and was greatly impressed by the books, journals, magazines and the modern media sources maintained there. A conducive atmosphere is imperative for developing reading habits and the CSA library did reflect such a milieu. My books, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed and Pakistan the Garrison State were on the reading list and the librarian promised to order my book on the founder of Pakistan for the library
It was therefore not surprising that my talk which included an incredibly stimulating question and answer session went on for over two and a half hours. I spoke freely and honestly, and my advice was that Pakistan could only extricate itself from its current nihilistic tendencies by establishing law and order, rooting out extremism, promoting gender equality and security of minorities, learning to live in peace with its neighbors and acting responsibly in international affairs in accordance with the norms of international law.
The Civil Services Academy has been very fortunate to have a director general whose leadership can greatly help Pakistan’s bureaucracy shed its colonial legacy, but can one individual alone bring about fundamental change? One can only wonder. The vested interest entrenched in the civil services and in the higher echelons of power are always at hand to subvert change and progress, but I would like to wish Mr. Omer Rasul great success in his noble endeavor to give Pakistan a chance to change for the better.
My recent book, Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History (Vanguard Books, Lahore, 2021) and video talks based largely on the findings of that book uploaded on my YouTube channel had generated very great interest in both India and Pakistan. In less than 9 weeks I was invited to address 27 public audiences in universities, colleges, think tanks, NGOs and conferences. Above all, there were unending rounds of private gatherings all over Pakistan where I met intellectuals, entrepreneurs, businessmen, trade unionists and women and minority rights groups.
After 75 years of riding roughshod over the rights and dignity of the people of Pakistan, the notoriety of the Pakistani ruling class, also known as the power elite or more generically as the establishment, was no longer a matter of doubt or dispute, and people were eager to learn what was my explanation of the malaise attended upon the Pakistani state and national project. Understandably, such discussions led to the key question: what can be done to prevent Pakistan from disintegrating under the dead weight of mounting international debt, rampant corruption, galloping inflation and the omissions and commissions of the Pakistani rich and powerful?
What surprised me most, and in a most pleasant manner, was that on invitation of the Director General of the Pakistan Civil Services Academy at Walton, Lahore, Mr. Omer Rasul (CSP) on 15 February 2023, I addressed the more than 300 civil servant probationers. I was not expecting that the steel frame on which the colonial state and the successor Pakistani state rested would be willing to hear me out.
I learnt that the Director General subscribed to an enlightened view of the role of the bureaucracy in a modern state. Committed zealously to the realization of the UN-based Sustainable Development Goals of 2015, Mr. Rasul believed that instead of being agents of a extractive and repressive state, newer Pakistani civil servants should be an efficient and responsible service delivery institution serving the best interests of the state, society, individual citizen and the ecology. In short, Mr. Rasul wanted Pakistan to become a modern, democratic polity and his conviction was that civil servants were to be the harbingers of a new Pakistan.
For that to happen, he had devised ambitious programs and courses to instill into the probationers both dignity and humility so that they mediated the relationship between the three societal levels mentioned above and the natural environment in a harmonious manner. They were required to visit poor, rundown localities, travel by public transport and manage such trips on a frugal budget. Regarding the environment and climate change, the probationers were encouraged to learn about them so as to become role models for others serving under them to follow. The philosophy underpinning such a progressive worldview was a holistic approach on life in which the human species were to learn to appreciate the need to live in communion with nature.
I visited the CSA library and was greatly impressed by the books, journals, magazines and the modern media sources maintained there. A conducive atmosphere is imperative for developing reading habits and the CSA library did reflect such a milieu. My books, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed and Pakistan the Garrison State were on the reading list and the librarian promised to order my book on the founder of Pakistan for the library
It was therefore not surprising that my talk which included an incredibly stimulating question and answer session went on for over two and a half hours. I spoke freely and honestly, and my advice was that Pakistan could only extricate itself from its current nihilistic tendencies by establishing law and order, rooting out extremism, promoting gender equality and security of minorities, learning to live in peace with its neighbors and acting responsibly in international affairs in accordance with the norms of international law.
The Civil Services Academy has been very fortunate to have a director general whose leadership can greatly help Pakistan’s bureaucracy shed its colonial legacy, but can one individual alone bring about fundamental change? One can only wonder. The vested interest entrenched in the civil services and in the higher echelons of power are always at hand to subvert change and progress, but I would like to wish Mr. Omer Rasul great success in his noble endeavor to give Pakistan a chance to change for the better.