Khisht-e-awwal chun nahad memar kaj

Ta Surraya miravad deewar kaj

(When the builder lays the first brick crooked, the wall will remain crooked even up to the star

Surraya — known in English as the Pleiades).

This Persian couplet, attributed to Saadi, is more than a poetic aphorism; it is a timeless truth about foundations, be they walls or nations.

Some time ago, Pakistan's Finance Minister held a press conference brimming with optimism and carefully chosen numbers. When confronted with the IMF's stark critique of our economic mismanagement, he brushed it aside, pointing to longstanding structural problems dating back to independence. But here lies the problem: no structure — economic or architectural — can stand straight if its first bricks were laid crooked. Decades of patronage, ad hoc policies and elite capture are precisely those crooked bricks. To speak now of heading in the right direction without acknowledging or correcting these foundational distortions is cosmetic optimism at best. As Ghalib bitterly observed:

Hain kawakib kuch nazar aatay hain kuch

Detay hain dhoka yeh baazigar khula

Glittering numbers can deceive; behind the shine, reality remains stubbornly unyielding.

Another anonymous Persian couplet complements this lesson beautifully:

Har binaye kohna ke badan konand

Bayad awwal kohna ra viran........

© The Express Tribune