How would you deal with this situation if you were the chief executive of Pakistan right now?

[VCheng]

@VCheng I highly appreciate your posts on this forum and I would like to ask you how would you deal with this situation if you were the chief executive of Pakistan right now?

For this discussion, let us first start with some prerequisites.

The present situation is not just weeks and months in the making, or even years. This has been decades in the making, and will likely take as long as that to resolve. However, there are a few steps that can be taken in the short term to reduce the likelihood of further deterioration. The next thing to consider is the actual authority of the PM of Pakistan as it exists in reality, and not as the portrayal. For anything to be effective as suggested below, there must be changes that allow the PM the full spectrum of authority to be available to deal with the responsibilities of the position. Whether this is possible or not is another discussion entirely.

There are four important aspects to the present crisis: financial, economic, social, and defense.

Dealing with the financial crisis is fairly straightforward: agree upon the appropriate IMF program, and then successfully complete it, a feat that has never been achieved before. Let there be the determination not to let the difficulty of the adjustments be used as an excuse to not meet the specified goals, specially on the political front. It would be important to have everyone realize that even if the adjustments are done stepwise and not all at once, the long delayed pain will be fairly acute and sharp, no matter what. There is no way around this for anyone.

The economic crisis is much deeper that just the current imbalance of the government's books. To put it bluntly, it is an absolute disgrace just how pathetically low the economic output of a nation of 230 million has become. To begin tackling this, get the energy sector in order by dealing with the circular debt and letting free market mechanisms take hold rather than bureaucratic mismanagement, and giving the few remaining sections of the economy that produce exportable tangibles a free reign for needed inputs on a war footing.

The longer terms fixes require huge social changes: provision of health, education and justice. Two basic requirements are needed across changes of government so that consistent progress can be achieved: goal-oriented management, and appropriate funding. Making consistent policies in both domains will need commitment from all parties not to reverse any agreed upon steps upon change of government for short term political gains.

The last item is perhaps the most difficult and relates to defense of the realm. Is Pakistan ready to grow from its present demented mindset of being nothing more than a security state to becoming a state that benefits its citizens? What is needed to begin this transition is perhaps beyond the scope of the present discussion, but is included here just to highlight the importance of such a transition to make all of the above possible in an enduring manner.

 

[REhorror]

Purge of Army.
Declare martial laws with loyalists.
Amend the Constitution, laws, whatever.

 

[Olympus81]

No extension of CAOS
Army under defense ministry
Get rid of Military Secretary shadowing PM
2 years limit for CAOS
DG ISI to be a civilian
Cut ISI wings to only focus on foreign threat
MI in charge of domestic threat
Cut military budget by 20%
Cut the size of army by 20%
Privatize Fauji commercial interests
Shift 111th Brigade to Nine Zero
Cut down the size of army cantonment in big cities

 

[Chat SAMOSA]

The protagonists and antagonists vary per view.

For Imran Khan , two problems - the military and the Nawas group.

Going by what many have posted here, the military has one problem - ImranKhan group.

Nawas group has one problem - Imran Khan group

Given that there isn't much ImranKhan do, especially since population is widely split between Nwas and IK sides.

Binding force can only come from people. If IK and Shariefs have Pakistan's interests in mind, they will get together in this opportunity, push the military to background and after such united show of force for 6 months, hold elections.


This should ofcouse be done in a way that does not create enmity between military and people but I have never seen a better juncture where real democracy can gracefully and honorably right size military power.

All that needs to be done I think is for Sharief and IK to jointly ask Bajwa to resign (and a handful of others). This will restore power to the government, whoever gets to to run it.

 

[Darth Vader]

make few changes

Provide an actual feasible plan of what main steps will be done in next 5 years

1
Stop all kinds of imports for next 2 years unless it falls under machinery or such or similar smart systems, we will still keep a high import tax on mobiles but lower taxes on IT-related items.
2
Give one-year breather & re-develop and enforce quality control in everything produced in the country that's the only way Pakistan can make goods that are at international stands which will build more trust on the local industry itself.
3
Give 1 year to remove all the cash notes above 500 & 2-year limit to all existing banking organizations to rebuild smart systems from scratch, and make a state-sponsored mobile payment system such as WeChat in chat in china so people can use smart mobiles to transfer funds more easily.
More funding passing via banks and more money and goods stored in banks will help banks get more stable which will allow them to fund in private sector specially new business.
4
Police and Judicial systems,
1 Making body cam a must.
2 Updating minimum qualification for police
3 Setting courses and exams for existing and future police officers in regards to modern standards.

5
Re-invest in the Sports body of Pakistan
Bringing more private funding and setting up merit for manager roles and above.
6
Re-setting up prosecutors' office in Pakistan, giving them more involvement in all police cases so they become oversight organization.
7
Involvement of Retried Pakistani officers
Setting up a 3-year minimum wait time for retired army officers before they can apply to any federal or state organization.
And also putting a ban for them to move abroad for the next 5 years as well, For Brigadier and above
8
Setting up a committee to look at all the previous instances where the military was involved in political affairs and punish all those involved in even older instances and force the state to take ownership of all the possessions they hold in Pakistan.
And make sure its publicized
9
Minimum wage
Re-examining the living the standards and setting a minimum wage existing of 15000 is too low, And develop a PAYE system for all companies and federal organizations so we can keep eye on how many people are actually working and it will also set up a tracking system which is already in place in all developed countries.
10
Education system,
For all young pupils making the educational system compulsory and anyone providing a fund of 15K per year so kids' education is not a burden on parents, and this will also lower the chances of child labor in Pakistan as these kids will earn more by studying than working.
Also Making All Education free.
Also setting minimum standards for all the private local schools as they just harming children than actually providing any benefit to these kids.
State-sponsored higher studies funding and recipient only has to work for the state for 5 years then he's welcome to move to the private sector if he wishes
11
Taxes
The Pakistani Tax system needs a massive overhaul.
Lowering the tax limit on anyone earning less than 200K
Also lowering sales taxes so will help build the lower to the middle class.
12 Urban development
Limiting all these cities created by private companies instead of doing a 30/70 partnership with the state where the state helps in funding by 30 percent and looking at the feasibility plans and its effects on the local environment while private organizations provide the rest of the funding and oversee the management of the area.
13
Transport
Setting up safety standards ( Copying existing European safety standards ) forcing these on all existing car makers and asking them to make sure all the existing vehicles on the road pass before they can be allowed on the road.
Setting a ban on-all petrol vehicles by 2032 this will give 10 years to everyone Unless these are Diesel HTV.
Developing new routes for intercity to regional connectivity.
Developing a State-owned organization with help of china that can help Pakistan build locomotives locally,
With better and regular train routes between towns, Pakistan can enjoy this much more than other options it will be much more cheaper and in some instances quicker as well, especially when traveling between regional hubs such as Isb, Pindi, Lhr, Khi, PSH, QUT and such as this will also build more people to people contact and help local tourist industry.
14 Power generation capacity
Ban building of more future coal and such power plants
Focusing on Hydro, Solar or wind plants only.
Redeveloping all the pending Hyrdo plants, especially the water storage problem Pakistan is facing this needs to be looked very urgently
Also Setup 2 institutions
1 which Develops existing infrastructure or systems which can be purchased locally and used to build more plants
2 Which research future development of cheaper renewable sources.

got few more suggestions but list will get really long and maybe for leaving those for future

 

[VCheng]

@_NOBODY_ Please see the OP in this thread, as a brief answer to the question you posed.

 

[Samlee]

I have done this multiple times it's become a meaningless exercise now

 

[Cash GK]

For this discussion, let us first start with some prerequisites.

The present situation is not just weeks and months in the making, or even years. This has been decades in the making, and will likely take as long as that to resolve. However, there are a few steps that can be taken in the short term to reduce the likelihood of further deterioration. The next thing to consider is the actual authority of the PM of Pakistan as it exists in reality, and not as the portrayal. For anything to be effective as suggested below, there must be changes that allow the PM the full spectrum of authority to be available to deal with the responsibilities of the position. Whether this is possible or not is another discussion entirely.

There are four important aspects to the present crisis: financial, economic, social, and defense.

Dealing with the financial crisis is fairly straightforward: agree upon the appropriate IMF program, and then successfully complete it, a feat that has never been achieved before. Let there be the determination not to let the difficulty of the adjustments be used as an excuse to not meet the specified goals, specially on the political front. It would be important to have everyone realize that even if the adjustments are done stepwise and not all at once, the long delayed pain will be fairly acute and sharp, no matter what. There is no way around this for anyone.

The economic crisis is much deeper that just the current imbalance of the government's books. To put it bluntly, it is an absolute disgrace just how pathetically low the economic output of a nation of 230 million has become. To begin tackling this, get the energy sector in order by dealing with the circular debt and letting free market mechanisms take hold rather than bureaucratic mismanagement, and giving the few remaining sections of the economy that produce exportable tangibles a free reign for needed inputs on a war footing.

The longer terms fixes require huge social changes: provision of health, education and justice. Two basic requirements are needed across changes of government so that consistent progress can be achieved: goal-oriented management, and appropriate funding. Making consistent policies in both domains will need commitment from all parties not to reverse any agreed upon steps upon change of government for short term political gains.

The last item is perhaps the most difficult and relates to defense of the realm. Is Pakistan ready to grow from its present demented mindset of being nothing more than a security state to becoming a state that benefits its citizens? What is needed to begin this transition is perhaps beyond the scope of the present discussion, but is included here just to highlight the importance of such a transition to make all of the above possible in an enduring manner.

One line answer free and fair elections

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

You won't see any real change unless you get the powerbrokers on the same page (of wanting real change).

 

[VCheng]

You won't see any real change unless you get the powerbrokers on the same page (of wanting real change).

The last paragraph:

The last item is perhaps the most difficult and relates to defense of the realm. Is Pakistan ready to grow from its present demented mindset of being nothing more than a security state to becoming a state that benefits its citizens? What is needed to begin this transition is perhaps beyond the scope of the present discussion, but is included here just to highlight the importance of such a transition to make all of the above possible in an enduring manner.

 

[Ghazwa-e-Hind]

Execute all the traitors. A triator is worst than an enemy.

One of the reason behind fall of Ottoman empire is that they let too many snakes appointed in the top positions.

 

[Waterboy]

No extension of CAOS
Army under defense ministry
Get rid of Military Secretary shadowing PM
2 years limit for CAOS
DG ISI to be a civilian
Cut ISI wings to only focus on foreign threat
MI in charge of domestic threat
Cut military budget by 20%
Cut the size of army by 20%
Privatize Fauji commercial interests
Shift 111th Brigade to Nine Zero
Cut down the size of army cantonment in big cities

Sirilanka had no army oversight and they defaulted.

Army is not the issue incompetence and poor governance is.

You won't see any real change unless you get the powerbrokers on the same page (of wanting real change).

PTI had full support of the powerbrokers but still failed to deliver any promising change.

 

[Olympus81]

I was talking about keeping the army in check.

Economy wise, PTI did a satisfactory job handling the economy in light of covid and inflation.

Your point of view may differ but I’ll leave at that.

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

Sirilanka had no army oversight and they defaulted.

Army is not the issue incompetence and poor governance is.


PTI had full support of the powerbrokers but still failed to deliver any promising change.

Yeah, but the powerbrokers obviously weren't on the same page.

Basically, at some point, the ones with the most power must decide...

Do they want to be a poor country that others laugh at? Or do they want to become a great power?

When the 'ones in charge' learn to 'grow out of themselves' and push for more, then we will see more. However, as of right now, our society's leaders don't want to climb above whatever they have going right now. Not only that, but our people aren't really concerned about the 'big vision,' but are more focused on living day-to-day. So, as long as our leaders can deliver half-hearted solutions (like subsidies) to keep stomachs semi-full, the people won't really push them to think bigger and better. We're caught in a circle of mediocrity.

Now, if people's hunger gets out of control (due to chronic long-term inflation, unemployment, etc), then yes, the pressure might hit the leaders and force them to seriously change their views. Sadly, however, Pakistani elites are "deeht" in all the wrong ways and are known for literally breaking a country into two because they don't care. So, let's see...

 

[Abid123]

Do they want to be a poor country that others laugh at? Or do they want to become a great power?

I think Pakistan has the potential to be a great power. It comes down to good leadership. Which we dont have. But we do have a young population, geostrategic location, large labour force, 5th largest population in the world. It would be a shame if we cant reach our full potential.