Improving leadership

This refers to the letter, ‘Referendum time’ (May 5) by Sidra Alam. The writer seems to support the presidential form of government in Pakistan. Further, by giving examples of the referendum in Britain such as that on Brexit, she proposes to hold a plebiscite on the issue. However, she has failed to acknowledge the socio-political and economic difference between the British and Pakistani societies. The literacy rate in the UK is far higher than that of Pakistan’s. While the British have never let undemocratic elements intervene in their political matters, Pakistani citizens have welcomed military and authoritarian regimes in the past. Under such conditions, leaving the choice of type of government on the public sounds insensible.Besides, like the parliamentary system, it needs to be realised that presidential governments also failed to address Pakistan’s woes. Hence, there is no more need to perform new experiments in the administrative domain. What we need to do is improve our leadership. In fact, the successful working of the parliamentary system in the UK and a presidential one in the US indicates that both the models can work well, provided followed under capable leaders. Therefore, instead of changing the system, our focus should be on improving leadership and the election mechanism so that we can get administrators competent enough to lead the country to the path of progress and prosperity.Abdul Hafeez JatoiHyderabad

from The News International - Newspost http://bit.ly/2YgS93K