There is hardly a society in the world which does not have its defects. But, unfortunately, the flaws in our society are, at least in my opinion, fatal. The "fatality" in the context of a society means, it leads to its failure. So, in my opinion, ours is a failed society. State is a manifestation of the society. It means our state is also a failed one. I shall enumerate below the fatal flaws in our society. It does not, however, mean that the entire society is rotten. In my view, which may be arithmetically incorrect, only 5 percent of the population is on the right track which is not in a position to bring the remaining 95 percent to the right path. That's our tragedy. At any rate, I draw below the readers' attention to the flaws in our society. ? Immorality: We understand 'immorality' only in the context of sex. Morality also covers other aspects of human activity. It is true that our society is not promiscuous but it certainly is hypocritical which fact most of us do not want to admit. However, in this article I am not concerned with the sexual morality. What bothers me is the financial immorality. Sexual immorality is concealed anyway. Can you trust any of your compatriots with any reasonably big amount of money, say Rs 10 lacs? Can you trust the word of an acquaintance of yours in respect of Rs 10 lacs or above? I asked several people these questions. The answer was every time in the negative. Noble people are always excepted. I am talking of the generality. In short, honesty is not the basis of our conduct but making money, by hook or crook, is. Is there a faith in the world which preaches dishonesty? If not, what is wrong with us Pakistanis? Making money, regardless of the means, seems to be the basis of our faith. What a pity ? Casualness: The second flaw in our society, not necessarily in the order of gravity, is casualness. We are mostly casual in our attitude except perhaps where our personal interest is involved. We hardly ever strive for perfection. A large number of bomb blasts that occur in our country are the result of this casualness on the part of those who are responsible for checking such blasts. The security gates are normally left unmonitored on one excuse or another. No excuse for such casualness is valid where the security of a place or person is involved. Usually the measures adopted are faulty or senseless. If an airport is attacked, the security measures at all the airports in the country are tightened for a week as if the next attack will necessarily be at an airport and take place within a week. A week later all those measures will disappear. This kind of attitude on the part of those responsible for security, does not make sense. And nobody seems to be bothered. Our load-shedding is another example in point. There is no pattern in load-shedding and the consumers are not informed about it, anyway. In the matter of serving the people, in particular, our casualness is unparalleled. Unless we get rid of our casualness and strive for perfection in every field of our activity, we can hardly achieve anything worth the name. ? Delay in decisions: In the matter of decision-making, we have a tendency to delay. We seldom address the issue at the first appearance of its symptoms. We wait until it becomes too complicated to be resolved. Such delays are not understandable. The problem in Malakand is one such problem. ? Priorities: Our priorities are topsy turvy. The first priority is SELF. Nation, at best, is the second priority. It is usually the last. How can a nation survive unless it is accorded the top priority? Are we, at all conscious of the need to have correct priorities? Is there a leader who ever talked of priorities or guided the people to have the right ones? Apart from what has been specifically mentioned above, there are other deeper issues which need to be addressed separately viz callousness towards social injustice and tolerance towards lack of the rule of law. Beware, the consequences are dire. It is never too late. I do hope, the leadership corrects itself and guides the people to the right path before it really is too late. The writer is a retired judge of the Lahore High Court E-mail: samdani_2000@yahoo.com