The phrase “system collapse and reset” has gained currency in Pakistan’s public discourse recently. It is a superficial diagnosis of a much deeper malaise, however. To speak of resetting a system is to assume that the machinery of governance has merely malfunctioned and can be restarted. In reality, what has collapsed is not the system itself but the societal architecture that sustains it. The weakening of our social contract, the erosion of values, and the blurring of lines between right and wrong have hollowed out the foundations upon which any system must rest. A reset of administrative structures without addressing this collapse is an absurd postulate.

The collapse of societal architecture is visible in everyday life. Norms and values that once defined socially recognised behaviour have been bent, manipulated, and blurred to suit convenience. Rules are treated not as safeguards but as obstacles to be bypassed. This condition resembles what the renowned sociologist Émile Durkheim described as anomie - a state of normlessness where society loses its binding moral force. In Pakistan, this normlessness manifests in countless ways: from the casual disregard of civic procedures to the normalization of patronage and favouritism. The erosion of values has created a moral vacuum that no administrative reset can fill.

Kinship and connections have become the currency of success. Access to justice, employment, or opportunity often depends not on merit but on proximity to power. Those who are prosecuted are rarely held accountable for their damage to public interest; they are punished only when they threaten the larger elites. This skewed distribution of power is not hidden, it is celebrated. Citizens cherish their ties to influential figures, considering it the right way to socialize and succeed. Why is it that no one asks their brother or son how his extravagant watch or lifestyle is possible on a modest salary? Why do families refuse to come forward to the law when they sense that a crime was most likely committed by one of their........

© The Friday Times