For another, the options are so complex that there will not be a chance to do anything about these issues. Three months to another world in Pakistan? Not a chance. The sincerity of the would-be new leaders is not in doubt in my mind but the process is so difficult that one wonders as to whether they know of the consequences of what will follow. Besides the sectoral policies there are sub-sectoral policies and the plethora is so vast that it is mind boggling. Elections are not a magic wand. I do not think that they are able to understand anything beyond their nose (to use Dicey's comment on rights of individual and to give it a twist).
Can one change anything about Balochistan where the system has gone haywire? Where the implementation process is anything but fair and just; it is not about limited resources. The habits of those that can siphon-off from the system are unlimited. Do you, for a minute think that the problems of greed can be resolved so easily? I do not think so, nay I am sure that the problems are intractable unless major surgery is undertaken. The surgeon has to be someone who understands and is sensitive to local social requirements - not some defunct economist from hereafter. Take the development payments to the elected representatives. Some of them have used them for the area developments while others have not. What is the ratio is any one's guess. Is the development process ill-served?
Three projects that would have made a difference in Balochistan province were the Chaghi project where something like 4.5 lakh acres were to come under agriculture, where the subsoil water was 60 to 90 feet. It has been made a mess by the powers-that-be in the Planning Commission and in the Ministry of Agriculture at that time. The boys who would have been gainfully employed were college students from Nushki - some one hour away. That college was set up by Shaheed ZAB and we in the Cabinet Division stated that there would be no students from Balochistan and the Afghans would come there for education. It seemed so but when I last visited the college it was booming and had students doing masters. The project's concept had been messed up and the moneys siphoned-off. The interventions were changed which the Planning Commission and the ministry concerned had no right to do.
The second was the Salicornia project, an edible oil project that was along the coastline in which seawater was used for the growth of the plant. This project was started but the morons of agriculture could not work it as no one wanted to go and work on the coastline. Imagine the unlimited potential of the coastline and the unlimited seawater and the production potential. My concept was and is that there is no bad water and that there is no banjar qadeem. Pakistan had exported the salicornia plant (edible) to France where it was used for serving prawns in gourmet restaurants (two tons in the first year). The seed was wasted after I left the ministry. No seed no work. The Chinese, in fact, had sent some hybrids that they had developed but that too was lost when the restarted project was again stopped by those who call themselves agricultural scientists.
The third project was canola project run by the Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB). This is outside the consolidated funds of the government of Pakistan and PM Shaheed BB had agreed to this project. It was funded by a cess fund. Well, the project has not been doing anything for over a decade. Project directors have been simply taking salaries and sitting quietly in Islamabad. Pensioned while in office would be a better way to define them. Some of them have built residences in posh areas of Islamabad and these allegations need to be looked into.
When these projects were launched they had in a short time done much to solve the problems of the farming community as well as the consumers. Edible oil was available at Rs 37/litre and now it is well over Rs 210/litre. That is what happens when the traders get into the act. The project went into doldrums because there was the oil trading and the palm oil lobby working against it. Cartelization is the name of the game. The country be damned.
How will these projects be revived? Let the political parties think about it. Edible oil production does not require any aspect other than minimum water and any kind goes (no need for quality water) and hardly any fertiliser. These three projects would have opened up employment for thousands of Baloch/Pathan people. What irked most of them one can never tell till they are examined for malfeasance if nothing else.
The success of these projects would have meant that there would have been a three-way win situation-farmers-consumers and the economy would have gained (forex savings and reduction in current defects). The import bill of edible oil is second to fuel oil bill. We have been extremely naïve in our options. Greed of a few has always overtaken the happiness of the many.
In macro terms, what this means is can Pakistan be dependent on local production of edible oil? Why not? The options to me are clear and I am sure the kingpins of the parties will be able to adapt to the situation. I cannot and should not doubt Imran Khan for I know him for a long time. His intentions as also the intentions of the other leaders with whom I have worked cannot and should not be questioned. The fragile and marginal areas are the most productive areas of Pakistan. I recently saw the farmers whom I had sent seed in the salt range cultivating cotton, sugarcane, maize and millet with saline water. It's not too far away. It's mentally too far away from our deranged agriculture policymakers and implementers. They cannot take a couple of hours' journey to this area but can travel thanks to FAO/ICARDA and the international agencies anywhere in the world, and come back without any technology or conceptual benefits for the country. There is no debriefing on return for what can they say for theirs was a junket tour. What are these international agencies doing within the precincts of the national agriculture research stations? This is a new kind of graft. The purpose is simple. Get recurring benefits out of the infrastructure that is national and allow the people responsible for that unapproved policy to go on consultancies whether they are capable of it or not or simply employ their daughter(s) in the FAO organisation.
The hydra manner of graft will be difficult to handle unless the system starts having people with grit and capable of standing up to the increasing snake-like habits of the educated. My thesis is that the educated are the ones that are doing all this. Amongst the educated those that have been educated on taxpayers' money are unable to do anything but cheat the country and its people.
What are the next steps? Do it if you have to. Do not look for sophistications and do not look for the perfect project/programme but bring in built in flexisecurity (flexible and security is now one word).
Does Pakistan have courageous serfs? Does it have servants of the state or is serfdom rife in Pakistan? You chose the kinds of characters you want to play for Pakistan. Can elections pick the right persons for this kind of work? Garbage can only produce garbage!!! The issues my dear friends are so intrinsically linked that the Gordian knot cannot be opened. It will take courage and thoughtful knowledge to do anything worthwhile.