Matters in Pakistan are getting complicated by the day. No one can say with certainty what course will the future take in the country. There are many overt and covert causes deepening the prevailing uncertainty and one feels unnerved about the current state of affairs.
The lack of a credible explanation of things taking place around is simply dumbfounding. Moreover, the uncertainty appears sensationally biting because the regional situation has changed beyond recognition and the influential international interlocutors profoundly realise avoiding any old-fashioned tilts and aspire to balance things. In such circumstances the need to put things in their proper perspective with a view to allay feelings of uncertainty could hardly be over-emphasised.
Uncertainty is the ultimate expression of the inability to perceive things in their proper perspective. The feeling creeps up when the segments responsible for devising and designing future course of action face situations that are above their ability to comprehend and counter. Presently it clearly appears that decision making circles in the country are facing difficulty in getting to grips with whatever is happening around them. This is a dangerous phenomenon that may prove damaging for the polity and may well prove irreversible.
Uncertainty assuredly eats into confidence and hampers initiative. It makes mockery of all aspirations and puts cold water on all schemes of action. The current difficulty is that there is no light visible at the end of the tunnel. It may not be out of place actually to mention that the tunnel is probably temporarily lost as uncertainty has badly blurred the path towards it. It is equally difficult to predict the possible way-out of this instability that uncertainty has created.
The confusion at the top is badly impacting all ladders of national life. No one is sure about setting the goal as the feeling is mounting that someone will remove the goal-post. The reasons for change are profoundly clouded in mystery because no one knows where final decisions are taking place. Duplicity of authority was usually blamed for myriad problems existing in the policy but no one was prepared to face the prospects of multiplicity of decision-making centres. The acceptable norm of definite enunciation of principle is completely missing.
It is getting exceedingly unclear what is motivating the decision makers to take actions that are further confounding the situation. The gap between comprehension and policy-making is ever-widening revealing that, contrary to general belief, there is tremendous confusion compelling multiple factors to drive matters. The result is contradictory impulse that is now ruling the roost and is visible in almost all decisive actions. It looks as most of the primary stakeholders are either deliberately looking askance at the obvious or are forced to keep on following the murky path. In any case the gap between credibility and frivolousness keeps on increasing.
More problematic is to assess the underlying factors causing uncertainty. Apparently matters are propagated to have been aligned but in practice it appears to be a fallacy. There is hardly a cogent, single-purpose approach that could be witnessed as almost all actions are contradictory in content when viewed in their entirety. It is an amazing situation but no one is paying any heed to it. It is equally surprising to observe responsible sections beating around the bush but staying clear of main issues.
It could hardly be stressed that the prevailing uncertainty is extremely regressive in nature and is required to be overcome. Matters should be spelled out clearly and with transparency. The situation is conducive to open up and put matters in their proper perspective. It is the best time to remove the veneer of probability and assert a way of maintaining continuity with the past, and of avoiding the disruptions of political unrest such as are witnessed currently. The ritualised status of state institutions may be utilised to sanction political change and ignore some of its aspects considered inappropriate for the general concepts of governance.
It should be borne in mind that uncertainty is self-defeating and may prove untenable in the longer run. If it is perceived that by maintaining a murky stance matters will sort themselves out then nothing could be far from reality. It is imperative to appreciate that human activity is a chain of action and reaction and that keeping an action under the ambit of uncertainty is more dangerous than carrying it out. It is far more advisable to clarify matters and call a spade a spade.
It is fervently expected that the decisive strands of the polity will try to remove the prevailing uncertainty and come out with actions that may reassure the majority that things have started to improve. Let the actions, strongly guided by prudence and transparency, may take their course and let the reaction emerge. It is not very difficult to align an action with a reaction but it is almost impossible to be enveloped in an uncertain situation and then expect positive results.
Muhammad Ali Siddiqui is a writer who contributes to leading periodicals
