CHITRAL:  One often wonders: if, at the time of independence, Pakistan had adopted the following policies, what would be our standing today in the comity of nations, in economic, social, and governance terms?

1. Foreign policy: If we had adopted an independent foreign policy, as India did, instead of falling into the lap of one distant superpower and annoying the other which was also our neighbour.
2. Relations with neighbors: Maintained good relations with our immediate neighbors, particularly India and Afghanistan, and avoided interference in their internal affairs.
3. Special attention to education: Instead of allowing education to go unattended and unfocused, if we had developed a standard, practical system of education, with special emphasis on character-building before anything else.
4. Priority to hydel power development: Instead of relying on imported petroleum, if we had developed our enormous hydropower potential to make the country energy self-sufficient and even an exporter of electricity, as the USSR did in Tajikistan.
5. Adopted and maintained a presidential system with strong local government: Instead of switching to a parliamentary system of government, adopted and maintained a presidential system with very strong and functional local bodies.
6. A powerful accountability system: An independent and strong accountability system, free from government interference and extending down to the district level, to check corruption at all levels.
7. Strict instructions to religious leaders: Strict instructions to all religious preachers at every level not to preach any kind of forgiveness by Allah for financial sins and sins against people and society, such as adulterating and forging foodstuffs and medicines, which is what the Holy Quran ordains.
8. Discourage vulgar display of wealth: Encourage wealth creation through honest means but discourage it’s abhorrent display in the form of palatial houses, expensive cars, and other ugly exhibition of wealth in public. A person could own a hundred houses, but none larger than two kanals, and as many vehicles as desired, but none exceeding 1500 cc.
9. A reliable justice system: Last but not least, if the foundation had been laid for a reliable and efficient justice system, there would have been no martial laws or the doctrine of necessity and all the shame.
   .. CN Editorial, 04 July 2025