In 2011 Javed Jabbar published a book entitled "Pakistan-Unique Origins;Unique Destiny?. The first edition had 2000 copies and it cost 325 PKR. I might've bought it a couple of years later max as I was based in Dubai at the time and was feeling the pinch of being away from the "motherland" quite a bit. Imran Khan had started enthralling the youth and overseas Pakis with the most amazing tool called facebook and was vomiting populist rhetoric which was mesmerizing quite a few like me. Therefore I was consuming everything I could on Pakistan and desperately trying to hold on to the few good things that were Pakistani, like Javed Jabbar. Advertising guru, ex information minister, ex senator, well read, well spoken, articulate and awe inspiring. I said to myself, I just have to read this book and see what he has to say. What caught my attention was the essay he had re-published at the end of the book as a vision for what Pakistan would be like in the year 2047. Now this essay had originally been published on the 50th year of independence of Pakistan, 14th August 1997, in The News and ever since I read it, I have been enthralled by it and have never been able to shake it. On key national occasions, I find myself reaching out for the book from my shelf again and again and re-reading the essay. I have tried to find an online version of the essay itself, but for the life of me have not been able to and am still oscillating between a government conspiracy to keep this piece of literature away from the general public vs. just my lame online search abilities. I have tried to reproduce this essay in excerpts on my facebook timeline before as well, but it needs to be read and re-read in its entirety as it provides key steps to be taken for Pakistan to get back on track.
Interestingly, Fahd Hussain wrote an article in today's Dawn giving a list of 10 objectives to be achieved by 14th August 2021 as well. Though Fahd's article has a chance to be read by someone in the current government and then conveniently ignore it, Javed Jabbar's essay has been largely missed or ignored by the powers that be, simply because it requires an admittance of guilt at inaction and apathy despite having power and authority to fix this country.
Just reading it again in 2020, there are some key events that have been missed and others that are supposed to happen next year. Firstly, according to Javed Jabbar, in 2021, "The Great Revolution" is to take place brought about by a group of 100 highly qualified Pakistanis. I await with bated breath. However, the essay also states that these 100 Pakistanis are graduates of the "Ijtehadi Madressas" which were established at the end of the last century and which combined the syntax of new technology with the spirit of the Holy Quran. Now, since the latter has not happened, yet, it is hard to believe where these 100 enlightened Pakistanis are going to come from. We can still hope for a miracle.
The question that has bothered me the most is what will it take mentally and physically for one of us to be one of the 100?
The answer is clear yet unattainable, given our collective state of selfishness.
Also, being graduates of "ijtehadi Madressas" seems unlikely given how fiercely the "enlightened lot" in this country shuns even the concept of madressas. Add to that the fact that there have been no reforms yet in that area apart from the announcement of a unified curriculum being announced by this government last month. So the search for the 100 continues.
Amongst some of the other predictions, a large part have already come true. China becoming an economic power while still following the single party method, US crumbling under the psychological pressure of being the custodian of the world's morality, economy and military. Pakistan's population reaching 340 million by 2047 and people living under the poverty line increasing to 60 million by 2021 and 100 million by 2047. Not much can be argued with there.
One of the most radical suggestions he makes is on how to groom the next generation of leaders, which involves compulsory 2 year military service for all males aged between 18-40 and all females who volunteer for it as a first step, which I think is a great idea to discipline the burgeoning youth we have.
Also, the same individuals deciding whether they want to enroll for public service which will require them to surrender all personal and family rights to property and income for 35 years, at the end of which the State would amply compensate them. From the age of 20 to 30, these men and women would render 10 years of rigorous service to the people in different sectors at a grass-roots level while continuing to study. They would then become members of the National Forum to serve in leadership capacities throughout the country for a period of 25 years, subject to total transparency and accountability. Their quarterly performance reports would be public documents. Such individuals would have to make huge sacrifices which would lead to a 40% drop out rate but the ones who survived would be more than able leaders for the bureaucracy and the political cadre.
He ends with a word of caution on the lasting impact of the Great Revolution of 2021 being in danger because of the fact that 1/3rd of the population would still be below the poverty line and despite the great new way of producing national leaders at the lower levels, the superior calibre required at the highest level would still be in short supply.
That's what I've been thinking of this 14th August, you? Read the essay!
