From: shafqat@neuro.duke.edu (Saad Shafqat)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Pakistan: what can be done?
Date: 24 Dec 92 21:59:09 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

In article <1h9h34INNdco@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu> jawad@ecst.csuchico.edu (Jawad Ali) writes:
>
>Salam alaikum Saad,

Jawad bhai, walekum salaam.  Thanks once again for your response.  
Please bear with me if you feel I'm being slow either in responding or
in sharing your viewpoint (I'm not a very quick thinker :-().
I would like to continue this thread by taking issue with three points
from your previous posting.


>We are still talking about what Pakistan needs (besides a good opening
>stand :)

The reason I have been pushing the need-for-wealth and how-to-do-it
angle as opposed to specficially discussing Pakistan's needs is
because I find that Pakistan's needs are self-evident.  I am not
saying that money is everything.  I am saying that it is imperative.
Of all the variables in the development equation, money is the one
we lack the most.  The goals and plans for development exist already -
both on paper in government documents and in the minds of thinking
Pakistanis.  These goals do not need to be debated for they are
self-evident.  These are:

1.  Universal literacy and access to quality education.
2.  Universal quality health care.
3.  Complete civil order.
4.  High standard of living for all.
5.  Equitable distribution of wealth.
6.  Implementation of Islamic code of law and ethics at all levels of
    society (this one isn't so self-evident).
7.  Strong institutions of justice and accountability in office.
8.  Efficient transportation and communications nationwide.
9.  Productive research programs in science & technology.
10. Capable and reliable armed forces.
11. Sense of national direction and elevation of national consciousness.

Strategies for realising these goals will vary.  What I am trying to say
is that *any* meaningful strategy for realising *any* of the above goals
will require funds above and beyond those currently available, given
the confines of the GNP.


>This is a false dilema.  Once again I can think of dozns of ways to
>change education without doing any of the above.  This time I'll skip
>the examples.  I do believe in the power of the ordinary individual.
>I cannot stress this enough.  We have stopped relying on our imaginations.
>It is very easy to be a thorn in the side of curruption and incompetence,
>it just takes a little commitment and sacrfice.  Every day I see people
>doing it.

I take the liberty to disagree.  The ordinary individual is powerless,
unless organised as a group with other ordinary individuals (even then
the power is mostly with the organiser).  If you read Ibn-Khaldun's
Al-Muqqadimah (Princeton), he tells you that the question for any
society is not whether the elite shall wield power but which elite
shall wield power.  This limitation is built into the nature of human
societies.  I would love to be enlightened, though, if you could
specify some examples.  How can you significantly accelerate Pakistan's
development as an ordinary individual ?  Or, specifically, how can
you improve the educational system of the country in that capacity ?
One cannot.  The only possible ways are either the traditional ones
that I mentioned (elected office, bureacracy, vocal celebrity, academic
or journalist) or by organising as a group with others.  In neither
case do you remain the man in the street.  If you decide to do something
on an individual basis, such as volunteer to teach at a government
school, it is laudable; but realistically, it doesn't make a dent in
the system unless large numbers of people join you and become a group,
an event catalyzed by power.  At any rate, please enlighten me with
examples.  It is quite possible that I just haven't thought hard enough
about this.


>If I were truely a gifted and talented Pakistani, I would not even
>consider the traditional routes.  I would be constantly on the lookout
>for new and creative ways of producing change.
>

Such as ?


>
>>                                 How do you improve
>>education ?  You have a few options:
>>
>>1.  Overhaul the curriculum: rewrite the textbooks to reflect the
>>    values of tolerance (amongst other things) you wish Pakistani
>>    kids to acquire.
>>
>>2.  Recruit better trained and qualified teachers.
>>
>>3.  Organise a major seminar of school principals and provide them
>>    with guidelines for management.
>>
>>4.  Upgrade the physical state of school buildings throughout the country.
>>
>>5.  Introduce diverse recreational facilities (gym, playground, sports
>>    equipment) that allow students to channelise their energies
>>    constructively.
>>
>>
>>Now here's the crux of the experiment.  Imagine yourself trying to do
>>any one of the above without a budget request. 
>
>If I have the political will, then I could do all of the above just
>with the current state of the economy.  If the will was lacking then
>no amount of money will do the trick.
>

That's too nebulous, Jawad.  Define "political will ".  What exactly
do you mean - contacts with the finance ministry or some supernatural
gift or what ?  Lets talk reality.  Your statement that you could
do all of the above with the current state of the economy is simply
not true.  At best, one could pull off #3 without a cash injection.
But the seminar would only be able to identify policies; implementing
them would still require funds.  The only way you can realise any of the
above education-related goals is to increase the education budget
(by several orders of magnitude).  If the economy stays the way it
is, this means siphoning money from other expenditures, such as
defense or health.  Short of a larger education budget, I don't see
it happening.  But once again, please enlighten me by specifically
saying how you would upgrade, for example, the physical state of
all schools nationwide without a budgetary increase.  I might not
have thought hard enough about it.  If you say something like
"by eliminating corruption within the system", please give
the precise measures you would use, and not just that you
would use your "political will", :-).  




Finally, I also find that your criticism (echoed by Irfan Hyder) of
the traditional routes of power in Pakistan is a tad unfair.  Instead
of assuming that *everyone* in traditionally powerful positions in
our society has lost his/her ethical and moral bearings, consider
also the possibility that they do not have enough funds at their
disposal.  Ideals are easy to conceive (and retain) but hard to
realise.  I am sure many grade 21 officers and many MNAs and MPAs
have retained their idealism into office but haven't realised
any of it thanks to a jaundiced budget.  You cannot a "will" a
plan into action, a policy into implementation.  This is real
life.



With best regards,

Saad.


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