A national agenda for 2026 |
THE start of the new year is an apt time to look ahead at the overlapping challenges the country faces, identify the core ones and consider what should be done. Needed is a national agenda on which to build a political consensus to help position the country on a sustainable path to durable political and economic stability.
The first order of business should be to establish a calm and peaceful political environment by a truce between the government and opposition. A divided and polarised nation cannot be a stable country. Hard as it may be, given the lack of trust, political parties and other stakeholders should try to de-escalate unending tensions and confrontation that create so much uncertainty and disruption in the country.
PTI seems willing for a dialogue with a government it has never recognised as legitimate. This creates an opportunity that may not last long. PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s recent statement calling for “political reconciliation” is a positive move that should be taken forward.
The government has offered talks from time to time but never shown enough seriousness. It has usually accompanied such ‘overtures’ with rhetoric that demonises the opposition. Moreover, the way it has used parliament as a rubber stamp, bulldozed constitutional amendments through the legislature to undermine an independent judiciary and cracked down on opposition and dissent has laid bare its disregard rather than respect for democracy.
Overlapping challenges facing the country are a test of leadership for all political stakeholders.
Of course, the elephant in the room is the establishment, which seems unreconciled to the idea of an accommodation between the........