Role of a common man in decision making

An ordinary person plays a very vital and key role in the history of development of a state. If an ordinary or common man of a region has enough knowledge of politics, war, economy and global situation etc, then it became much easier for a nation to decide many bold and just decisions.

Unluckily, the masses from the third world were never allowed or dragged to take part in the decision making process and as a result the unpopular and a small group of privileged class has the whole task in its hands. This fact plays a substantial role in the history of those nations and after all the common man has to suffer all the agony and miseries, not the ruling-class or decision makers.   

Like many other developing states both Pakistan and Afghanistan have the very same problem from the beginning.

There are three factors involved in both the states in our recent history and these are the External Powers, the Internal Powers (governments) and the Common Men, which could brought the change in. The reasons they have not done it yet, are both intentionally and unintentional. Both the External and Internal Powers are responsible for their intentional omission while the Common man for unintentional one. The power game and greed for more and more always prevented the former two powers, to involved common man in decision making process while the later has no sense for taking part or in other words never find a way to participate.  

Decision making has three levels, which are the local, national and international. It has two forms; one is participation in any field of society such as a political party, a non-governmental organization, trade or labour unions etc, while the second is representation in legislature, federal or provincial governments and international organizations like Unites Nations, World Trade Organization etc. 

The answer, to the question that why a common man in the third world has not enough capacity to participate in the decision making process, is that the decision makers, politicians and the high ranked government officials never wanted to allow them to do so. They feared that if ordinary people stand in front of them, then he would ask for his rights and about the omissions on their part. So the common man is almost unaware of his rights as a whole.

Besides that the educational systems certainly play a vital role. Richer countries typically have better educational systems as compared to the under developed or poor nations. By the way of education a common man can understand the facts, traps and problems around him. In some cultures, parents and the society put more value on education than in the others and that is why some of the societies are advanced while others are less.

In our daily life, one can measure the degree to which, the individual members of a society value the common man through a simple indicator and it is the road traffic. 

When a large number of participants of a society in road traffic want to give way to the others because it makes sense for traffic flow overall, it means that they uphold the common good against individual advantages. Contrary to that a me-first attitude, even at red lights has the other story. Traffic chaos indicates little respect for the common good, as well as the inability of the authorities to implement rules of the common good against me-first traffic participants.

Now if we compare the flow of traffic and the attitude of individuals on roads in Europe and United States, Japan, South Korea with the situation most of African States and of course in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the picture will be much clearer.

What will then an ordinary person do, in order to have a better position in his society and participate in the decision making process with full enthusiasm? The answer is simple one while the action is as much as difficult at the same time. The basic thing is the awareness.  If a person is aware of his power as a common man in his society then he will be able to utilise his abilities. That mind set might be considered as the very first step in this regard.

The second most important thing is to get rid of the attitude of “leave it”. Most of the people in third world have the same attitude towards their participation in societies. The reason for this attitude is the problems of earning their livings. But it’s a temporary get-rid type of thing, but in fact it is there in most cases.

These and other mentioned problems must be addressed by the common man, without looking at the elite or ruling classes, otherwise there will be no change in near or far future of next generations.

The Problem Of Internally Displaced Persons in Pakistan

Thousand of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are returning from various camps to their home towns in war affected areas of Swat, Dir, Malakand and Buner etc.

Most of the rehabilitation process has been done but still some of the IDPs are in camps. Pakistan Army operations are completed in almost 90 per cent of those areas, and only search operations will be carried out in the remaining some places.

The IDPs are returning home amid fears in their minds and reservations over law and order situation , but it has a certain reason behind it and that is in fact there is no substitute for home, while in case of camps its certainly not.

Although they were provided basic facilities by the people and the government and of course by the help of international community, but everything was impossible to be provided in the camps at the same time too.

The matter of IDPs is one the worst human crisis in the world as millions of persons were displaced from their homes and had no option other than to live their life of Refugees in the camps in their own country.

The situation in those camps was worst. People were hungry. Because of the curfew there was a shortage of food. They were running out of stored food items. But they were at risk every time they go out as they might be targeted by the Taliban or the army.

There were many Taliban commanders in their village. Their intelligence was so good, they know what they discuss in our homes.

Many persons were slaughtered in Mingora city. Their dead bodies were left on the road for four days and nobody handed it over to their parents.

Among the IPDs a girl was telling her story, “A militant group from a nearby village, all of them young boys, used to come to our girls' college to intimidate the girls. They were checking the faces of girls and were saying things like "I love you" and similar nonsense. One day this group tortured a female school teacher.

I wanted to complete an MBA course. Now the colleges are closed, schools are destroyed, education is impossible. Women can't even go out on the streets any more.

I know who the local Taliban are. I know them personally. Some of them are my distant relatives. A friend of mine works for the police here and he knows them too, but he can't do anything. The ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] targeted and destroyed the police force structure, clearing ground for Taliban activities.

In the past, when people have come forward with the details of Taliban they know, they have been betrayed.

So I don't know who we can trust with that information now.

Everybody here is against the Taliban. But for me there is a big question mark over the dedication of the Pakistani army.

The Taliban have their own FM radio station. How come they can be traced by foreign media to give interviews, but they can't be traced and killed by the Pakistani army?

Mingora city is under Taliban control. What is the army doing about it?”