“ In Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, entrepreneur and author Margaret Heffernan examines the mechanisms by which we choose, sometimes consciously but mostly not, to remain unseeing in situations where we could know, and should know, but don’t know because it makes us feel better not to know”. Such is the case of our opposition in Pakistan. They do not want to see Pakistan's upward mobility and refuse to acknowledge the milestone progress on the fronts that were never part of the government’s agenda before.
Let’s have a critical view of the following points and see if any precedents to the causes taken up by Imran Khan can be found in our recent or distant past.
- Imran khan pledged to work on the environment and remains committed to play a leadership role in keeping the issue of climate change at the forefront and making a shift towards a “clean and green” Pakistan through groundbreaking initiatives.
- He is currently working on ten dams, something that was on the backburner for the last fifty years.
- Pakistani products were being sold in the international markets by India and other countries under their own name, without ever giving credit to Pakistan. No one in the past ever attempted to rectify it, until now.
- Afghanistan issue has finally reached its climax through Imran Khan's mediation after 15 years of dead-end talks. Even Trump acknowledged Pakistan was helping the US in the Afghan peace process as he met Prime Minister Khan at the White House for the first time in a meeting.
- Among many other things, PTI has also diverted its attention to making policies on mobile manufacturing, E-commerce, and getting on-board with Amazon, one of the world's premier marketplaces for consumers. E-commerce can be instrumental in the development of a country, a source of employment for the youth and increase in exports and strengthening the digital economy. The policy will enable transactions domestically and internationally for online businesses.
- Also, under Imran Khan, the current account balance recorded a surplus after 10 years. The strong turnaround is a result of continuing recovery in exports and record remittances.
- Another area that suffered a long neglect was Pakistan’s school curriculum and educational policies. Finally, under Imran Khan, the government is working on a uniform curriculum for educational institutions, which was one of the important elements of the PTI’s election manifesto. The reasoning behind which was to do away with the inequality between curriculums, and mediums of instruction, resulting in highly inequitable and discriminatory two-tiered education system.
- Imran Khan stood up to honor the name of our Holy Prophet in the whole world and became the voice of Muslim ummah. He urged the world including the European Union to realize the enormity of defiling the sanctity and honor of our Holy Prophet (PBUH), while hurting the sentiments of over one billion Muslims in the world.
- Under the Ehsaas program, Imran Khan’s government has been delivering food to the poor, providing shelter and food to those who go to other cities for labor. The flagship poverty alleviation is a remarkable initiative of the government in reducing the poverty.
- It took 73 years to give overseas Pakistanis the right to vote, it was ONLY due to PM Imran Khan & PTI government.
- Bailed out imprisoned Pakistanis abroad, and also signed prisoner transfer agreement for return of 2,107 Pakistani prisoners languishing in KSA jails.
- Negotiated visa bans and for the first time since 2011, Pakistani passport holders can apply for and obtain a Kuwait business visa or family visa.
- Pakistan is entering a new phase of relationship with Russia, and after nearly a decade the top diplomat of Russia made a trip to Pakistan.
- THE government is anticipating substantial relief for Pakistan in the FATF’s upcoming plenary meeting scheduled at the end of the month. The official statements give the impression that Pakistan is successfully approaching full compliance on most FATF recommendations.
- Planning is in works to boost tourism as PTI sees a huge potential in the tourism industry to bring revenue and provide employment to people.
- Affordable housing projects are launched for low-wage workers in Pakistan.
- Construction of new hospitals with research centers.
- Imran Khan has announced good news for the agricultural sector, saying that the largest agricultural package in the history of Pakistan for farmers will be rolled out soon.
Let Pakistan stand at the forefront with a distinct identity under the leadership of Imran Khan with the same traditional clothes that the world once associated with terrorism. After all what is accomplished in the past three years, the audacity to ask what has he done is nothing but a show of malice and spite. If Imran Khan had not been caught in this inflation and weak economy, Pakistan would have been in a much better place than it is now.
Pakistanis do not know the true worth of their leader and fail to realize he is trying to free Pakistan of all the debt and hence being pushed to make difficult decisions, but with a hope for future and a better Pakistan.
Romana Khan
