Faced with mounting challenges, the ruling elite has deployed high-level committees to address pressing issues. However, the recent initiatives taken by these committees raise serious concerns about whether Pakistan’s leadership is focusing on the right priorities.
The newly formed ‘Harden the State Committee’—which includes top civil and military intelligence officials—has made curbing the export of beggars to the Gulf a key agenda item. Similarly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently chaired a meeting with provincial information ministries to explore how TV dramas and films can be used to combat extremism and terrorism. These efforts, while seemingly well-intentioned, reflect a misalignment of priorities at a time when the nation faces far graver challenges requiring structural reform.
The idea of state-sponsored media productions fostering national cohesion is outdated. There was a time when government-backed dramas played a role in shaping public sentiment, but the media landscape has drastically changed. In today’s digital era, where content consumption is global and driven by production quality rather than state messaging, such efforts are unlikely to have the desired impact. Moreover, given Pakistan’s precarious financial situation, diverting resources to television productions rather than real governance reforms seems imprudent.
More concerning is the overreach of intelligence agencies into areas that fall outside their core mandate. National security agencies should be focusing on terrorism, organized crime, and threats to sovereignty, rather than matters that local police or social welfare departments can better handle. Similarly, politicians should prioritize policy-making and governance reforms instead of investing time and resources into content production. Addressing the root causes of extremism and instability requires economic revitalization, political stability, and social reforms, not government-sponsored storytelling.
Pakistan’s fragile state is a result of decades of governance failures, economic mismanagement, and institutional overreach. Strengthening the state requires acknowledging these shortcomings and implementing genuine reform, rather than resorting to superficial solutions. The government must channel its energies toward improving economic stability, strengthening democratic institutions, ensuring judicial transparency, and upholding the rule of law. These are the real building blocks of a resilient state.
Until the ruling elite focuses on addressing systemic issues rather than cosmetic fixes, Pakistan’s path to true stability will remain elusive. The state does not need to be ‘hardened’ with misplaced efforts; it needs to be made more efficient, accountable, and just.
