Imran’s inaugural speech as Prime Minister was the best in living memory, not so much for the words he picked, but because of what these words were infused with.
They inspired and spread the message of hope, but they also announced the onset of a soft revolution.
He has raised the bar of expectations, which can go against him. He has also put fear into the hearts of thugs used to immunity. These thugs will forge unity among themselves and do their utmost to ensure that Imran cannot govern. If he cannot govern, he must expect cracks to open up in his own party. And as a spiral of fearful inflation hits Pakistan, it will destabilize society and the common man will also begin to blame Imran.
The central plank of Imran’s strategy should therefore be to keep the opposition in a state of constant imbalance.
This will best be done by fixing up FBR, NAB, FIA and by instructing them to attend to their tasks without fear of the thugs or of corrupt elements within his own party.
The best decision he has so far taken is to place himself as Interior Minister. He must now refurbish, reform, and restructure these three institutions. FBR and FIA will be comparatively easy. NAB will be much tougher.
He should use these institutions to get back looted wealth; put the fear of God into the hearts of looters without which the rule of law is not possible; keep the opposition in a state of imbalance so that instead of obstructing his efforts to give good governance, they should be worrying about their own skin–and this will also keep his own party in line; break the back of qabza groups which are responsible for sending more families into poverty than most other crimes; and while the common man awaits the results of good governance to come to him, which will obviously take time, his impatience is kept under check by the spectacle of seeing big thieves get the due of their crimes.
The start Imran should make is by the fair but extensive use of ECL; being mindful of quality of officers manning exit points of Pakistan; begin the trial of Qamar Zaman Chaudhary [ex-Chairman NAB] for his massive crimes, and cleansing NAB of his left overs; sentencing Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif without which he will not ever have the peace to attend to many urgent problems the country is beset by; making certain that Zardari is convicted on federal charges so that he is jailed in Punjab and not Sind; making certain that no convict who has raped this land is allowed any privilege which is not allowed under rules of the Jail Manual. It is ONLY this that will begin to bring the money back as each crook breaks under the power of the reality of “naya Pakistan.”
As Imran begins his effort of bailing our future out, he will find that the BIGGEST OBSTACLE in his path, will be LACK OF CAPACITY. He already has the winning formula needed i.e to put the best man on top and then support him fully. But the problem will be that even when he has been able to identify the best man, he may find that the best is not quite good enough. This is what Zardari and MNS have done to our police and civil services.
THE ONLY WAY OUT FOR IMRAN KHAN IS TO CONSIDER ALL RETIRED OFFICERS WITH A REPUTATION FOR ABILITY AND INTEGRITY, NO MATTER WHICH SERVICE THEY BELONG TO, AS A VITAL NATIONAL RESOURCE. As long as these officers are in passable health, he should have no hesitation drafting them in through 3-4 year contracts for the supreme national effort needed to get Pakistan out of its present mess. Even if Imran has to personally ask such officers to come and give a helping hand, he should not hesitate to do so, because he is the leader. They will cost Pakistan nothing because they will only be filling in spaces vacated by the many that will have to be thrown out. Such officers will not just plug important gaps in administration, but their infusion into the ranks will help bring back the work ethic destroyed in the last ten years.
In this note is the last paragraph, which is the logical conclusion of the buildup leading up to it, which is the most important one to consider.