Governing in a complex environment Will the status quo break and who will do it is a million-dollar question? The writer is a retired lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army and a former federal secretary. He has also served as chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board Pakistan’s leadership faces an extraordinary challenge trying to modulate national and foreign policy goals in a fractured neighbourhood and a complex world. More so, when its initiatives and freedom for manoeuvre are hampered by its internal weaknesses and heavy dependence on strategic ally China and to an extent on the United States and multilateral agencies. As though these by itself are not enough then the growing burden of facing the spread of corona and problems associated with it.