It does not behove PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharif to sound the alarm that the country is heading towards becoming a failed state, in case the present conditions persist and nothing is done to set them right. He made this observation before the media after he had met former PML-Q MNA Ahmed Raza Maneka, who called on him at Raiwind on Thursday to join the PML-N. Before issuing the warning of an impending disaster and listing the gross misdeeds of the PPP-led ruling setup, like corruption and bad governance, we believe he should have coolly examined the role of his own party to judge whether it has, as the main opposition party, discharged its responsibility for checking the federal government’s failings that is expected of it in a democratic order. Sadly, the PML-N has been found wanting and been acting as what is generally being termed ‘a friendly opposition’. The argument that the party had to restrain itself within a certain limit for fear that the newly-reclaimed democratic structure, still trying to find its roots, might come crashing is a lame excuse. The perception of threat to the democratic system ought to have been weighed against his feeling about a failed state to comprehend which of the two spelled the greater danger. In any case, it was a gross misperception; there was little threat to the democratic system, as both the Supreme Court and the army were committed to let it flourish. Nevertheless, the idea is not to belittle the magnitude of the crisis that Pakistan is facing at the moment and to which Mian Nawaz is drawing the nation’s attention. There is little doubt that things have gone haywire in almost every sphere of life. Corruption is eating into the vitals of our key institutions and with virtually no effort made by the government to check it, it has spread far and wide. While laws exist they are flouted with impunity even if that were to result in deaths of innocent people. Law and order and terrorist phenomenon have rendered the country unsafe, both for residents and visitors. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, a large section of the population is experiencing hunger and want, thanks to the spiralling inflation. The economy is in a shambles. But should a political leader of Mian Sahib’s stature give up, it would send a message of dismay and despair across the nation. We should be looking at the resilience of our people, their hardworking nature, calibre and ability to compete in the world, as witnessed among migrant Pakistanis when they are put in a highly competitive environment. Mian Nawaz exploded the atomic bomb resisting all outside pressure and made the nation proud. One expects words of encouragement from him and firm action to stop the government in its tracks when wrongdoing.