As political and economic corruption goes on rising worldwide even in the 21st century , the Islamic world sadly has had the greatest concentration of corrupt and ivory tower (the term “ivory tower” is used to describe being far from social realities as well as the disconnection between ruler and ruled) rulers in the world. They are unelected monarchs, military dictators and even politicians all corrupt to the core. It would not be inappropriate to depict most of these leaders living in their ivory towers, unaware of or disregarding social realities. The masses, in the Arab and Islamic world stuck between ill-structured economies (rentier capitalism) and very limited freedom of expression, have been ruled by such autocrats for decades.

However, since the beginning of the New Year, the ivory towers of these leaders have been disrupted or have even begun to collapse. Almost all of the ivory tower leadership has been supported by the West. None would survive without Western help .The American/Western support for the tyrants in the Muslim world has infuriated the Muslim street against the United States and the West. The past and on-going great game has been the rationale for propping up of the dictatorial regimes in the Muslim world.

When the Soviet Union is a thing of the past, what has been the justification for supporting unelected, despotic, and corrupt regimes? Without a doubt, these facts mean a lot in an international system based on the corrupt political and economic understanding of “a drop of oil is more valuable than a drop of blood” unfortunately.

A long-awaited revolutionary change has begun blazing its way across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The corrupt western capitalism globally and the entire political system dominated by authoritarian rulers, fabricated by Kitchener, Lloyd George and Churchill since 1922, is bound to collapse in the information age as did the corrupt Soviet system earlier in the 1990’s. All of the Arab Muslim nations at this point are in the throes of a mightiest change and the wind has begun blowing to the East.

This leads us to the question as to where do Pakistan stand today? Pakistan has had a dysfunctional political system for Sixty-three years since its inception. An accidental president is today facing corruption charges and terrified of his own people, a non-sovereign parliament, and an ineffective, corrupt to the spinal cord prime minister while the opposition languishes in torpid impotence.
Strangely, we in Pakistan have had all the trappings of sham democracy – national and provincial assemblies, political parties, elected governments but they have played no constructive role in determining major policy decisions and have been, for all practical purposes, quite irrelevant to the betterment of Pakistan.

The Pakistan that Jinnah had founded is no more since the corrupt politicians and military rulers hijacked Pakistan and have been playing hide and seek after Jinnah’s early death in 1948. Thanks to 33 years of military’s illegitimate rule, periodically interrupted by 30 years of sham democratic civilian rule by corrupt politicians, Pakistan is now nothing but a ghost of its original self.

Today, people of Pakistan are fed up with the corruption, indiscretions, folly and vulgarity of the man whom an accident has planted in the presidency and who is disgusting enough that he will stop at nothing to keep power and the death throes of his regime that may take Pakistan with him.

Presently, all the conditions that precede major changes in history exist in Pakistan. The country is fast approaching revolution. Pakistan is on the verge of a total economic and political collapse. The social contract between the present government and the people has collapsed. The dialogue between the rulers and the masses has completely broken down.

It is noteworthy, that of all the decolonized, independent countries, Pakistan is perhaps the only country that has totally lost its independence after gaining it. It attained freedom from British rule, only to turn into an American colony. Today it is not only a “rentier state,” but also a client state and a slave state, misgoverned by a power-hungry junta and a puppet government that is controlled by the West.

After decades of corrupt, civilian and military dictatorships the state is so flawed and wounded that it certainly needs to be dismantled altogether and rebuilt, rather than repaired. At this point in time, it is not enough to sit back and let history take its course. The present corrupt leadership is taking Pakistan to a perilous place. This is a most critical time in Pakistan’s sad history, but still full of hope and trepidation. Today, there exists a political and moral imperative for all patriotic Pakistanis to fight for our core values, to resist foreign intervention in our internal affairs and to eradicate the insidious germs of corruption permanently from top to bottom.

The time has come when the ultimate sovereign – the people of Pakistan – must assert themselves. We have no alternative but to stand up and fight. If we succeed, and God willing we shall, we may be able to create a new corruption-free Pakistan without external interferences. We may regain control of our collective destiny, and reconstruct genuinely democratic Pakistan. We may become a proud and free country after all.

If people want a fundamental change, they must keep voting where it counts the most – in the streets – over and over again. A corrupt regime like the one in charge of Pakistan today, can only be brought down if masses vote in the streets. Only when millions take to the streets, the regime will have to choose between shooting its own people and surrendering power to people for good. And this is what the regime fears the most. There is no other path for our country except for a path being adapted by Tunisia and Egypt. There is no other solution.

We must first analyse the basic 4 Maladies and 10 root causes of present situation in Pakistan:

A. Pakistan’s identity crisis
B. Rampant corruption
C. The basic causes of extremism in Pakistan
D. The role of the Pakistani Army in politics

The root causes of the present situation in Pakistan:

A. Recognized by some political parties:
1) Great game on-going among the global powers, principally the US, Russia and China, including geopolitical issues and struggles for access to oil and gas, and historic conflicts regarding the Durand Line, the war in Afghanistan and the Kashmir issue
2) Competitions among the regional powers, principally Iran, India and Saudi Arabia
3) Negative internal religious influences and emanating from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and being ignorant of progressive societies of Turkey’s and Indonesia’s examples
4) Socio-economic factors such as poverty and poor governance


B. Causes requiring better and urgent attention by all parties/intellectual
5) Lack of emphasis on indigenous research, child, human development and role of wholesome education
6) Illiteracy and poor educational system;
7) Population explosion;
8) The persistence of feudal and tribal norms and practices within the modern nation state;
9) Climate change and environmental challenges like water shortage and pollution;
10) Energy crisis and its impact on economic development;

It is most important to note what emerges from the above is the fact that the flunked (and hierarchical) political parties remain pre-occupied with the present geopolitical and religious factors listed above as opposed to really understanding the current and grass-root crises confronting Pakistan in the context of economic, social, cultural and historical points of views. One can perhaps attribute such a simplistic approach to disorderly political manoeuvring, dichotomous positioning and failing to act constructively simply a lack of visionary leadership ( in intellectual, scholarly realms).

The political parties do not heed to those factors that are critical to understanding the predicament facing Pakistan and healing of its ever bleeding wounds.

We, as one people must face them all and prove once for all that with determination and commitment to the cause of freedom and rebuilding Pakistan , the voice and unity of the people will change the destiny of our nation and remove the most powerful tyrants and dictators who have been cancerous to Pakistan since its coming into existence.

Needless to say this is easier said than done. Some vital decisions will have to be made and a practical action plan has to be designed. The components of this plan are five-fold:

1. Transfer of authority: From the old autocratic power elite to an interim decision-making body. After the downfall of an autocratic regime a power vacuum emerges that may be likened to a “black hole.” People often dread such uncertainties. Hence, an interim government has to be established composed of trusted opinion and community leaders in the shortest possible time. Its major task should be preparing for popular national elections and devising a new constitution or reshaping the existing one. The interim government has to garner enough legitimacy to satisfy both the people at large and the socioeconomic elements of the society.

2. Making of a new constitution or fixing the existing one: It is certain that any constitution serves its makers; hence, either making a new one or fixing the old one must be based on a consensual process whereby representative actors from all provinces and walks of society must participate. An acceptable constitution by the majority is a precondition for a successful transition to popular democracy.

3. Timing of accomplishing the tasks: Determining how long an interim government must serve and in what time frame a new constitution ought to be made is critical to meeting the demands of the people and not exhausting their patience. For this is a matter of legitimacy, and legitimacy works on borrowed time. Experience tells us that people’s expectations remain fresh for a period of 6 to 12 months. Longer period than that leads to a resurgence of frustrations and disappointments.

4. Cleansing the subconscious of society: People often have bitter memories of the past, when they were jailed, tortured and or exiled and their admired ones executed. One way of reconciling with the past is prosecuting the old and corrupt elite and holding them accountable for their and their country’s wasted years and resources. This is a critical decision and the implication of such a process must be dependent on the seriousness of the crimes committed by the old rulers and their cronies.

5. Decision making concerning the above: Who will make these decisions? This is not only a procedural but a consensual matter that requires negotiations and heated debates by concerned parties with the understanding that society is a pluralistic entity. Given the seriousness of these questions and the difficult task of transformation, we can only say that the door to democratization is opened, but there is a long road ahead and the roadmap is not yet at hand. It has to be drawn up.