The Pakistani Spectator

Pakistan’s rich human and material resource endowments have given it the potential to become a major player in the global economy. Pakistan is rich in minerals. It has good agriculture potential. The young population in Pakistan is large — as is the percentage of young who are unemployed but well-educated, meaning there is a lot of potential political energy that can be channeled towards change. Then why is Pakistan like this? Sixty five years on and the country is still stuck in the mud. Look around. Given Pakistan’s location and ports, the country could be an economic hub in South Asia. But we cannot boast of even decent roads devoid of potholes and craters. Public schools are a study in degeneration.

Our hospitals are like an incurable disease. There’s a desperate shortage of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and community health workers. Our international airports are a journey into morass. We are a polarized society, in which the fault lines of race, class and sector run deep; we are swarmed by ethnic and religious conflicts. Civil service is a cesspool of decay, the epitome of inefficiency and extortion. Such a heavy bureaucracy and regulations only bring about corruption and arbitrary governance, which are opposites of rule of law. Rule of law is in fact the most important institution necessary for economic growth but it can nowhere be seen in Pakistan. The small and medium business is badly destroyed; we don’t worry. The foreign investment has been seized on account of unstable and chaotic situation; then what? Limited foreign investment has imbalanced the imports and exports of Pakistan; we don’t care. We wear corruption like an ornament and flaunt loot like a medal. You can hardly get anything done in the private or public sector without partaking in corruption. Regrettably, constant political instability combined with inept economic governance and endemic corruption, have squandered Pakistan’s advantages.

And so, why is Pakistan like this? Ask a million Pakistanis and you will get a million reasons. Pakistanis, it must be said, are very good at identifying problems. We’re all experts at discussing “the trouble with Pakistan”. Some would identify the problem as bribery and corruption; there would be some others who would blame unemployment, poor infrastructural development, and poor work ethics, yet another group would accuse bad leadership and ultimate bad governance. It’s all right. Nobody can take that away from us. The only setback is that we usually don’t proffer solutions. If anybody prefers viable and workable solutions; the policymakers in the Government put it in dustbin without going through it. Ironically, you hardly find any Pakistanis who are ready to accept that they are part of the problem—or even part of the solution. Everybody is fighting corruption—at state and local levels—and that leaves you wondering who is actually doing the corruption. Poor governance and lawlessness have also enormous costs facing Pakistan. Poverty, political corruption, an absence of the rule of law, and a fractious society has made Pakistan ripe for exploitation by radical Islamist groups.

I share the belief that corruption is a major obstacle to our development. Corruption has created so many fake billionaires in Pakistan; people who do nothing other than ruin the economy and impoverish the people. Money to put public schools in order and improve the quality of instruction often ends up in private pockets, so you find civil servants, whose monthly take-home is less than Rs. 150,000, sending their children to private or foreign schools where millions of Rupees are paid per term. Billions are budgeted for hospitals but the ruling elite would choose go to UK, USA or Dubai to treat headache or boil. You then find out that the money intended to put the hospitals in order is helping to fund those foreign medical trips. There is no doubt whatsoever that corruption is a major impediment to our progress. Nobody in ruling elite can be held accountable. Lack of accountability is one of the major problems that continue to bedevil Pakistan.

This Government has reportedly plundered Rupees 8500 billions (as openly debated on media) during four years rendering the people in extreme Poverty; is the deprivation of elements necessary for human survival including clean water, food, shelter, health, education and self-dignity. In the midst of political instability and weak economic situation Pakistan is now faced with the stubborn reality of widespread poverty and growing inequality and the majority of people continue to live in poverty and mass unemployment. If nothing else, this vexing situation confirms that we continue to underestimate the depth and complexity of the problems we face. Pakistan is a country of vast natural assets, human potential and wealth. If mobilized effectively by an honest and genuine leadership, these resources would go a long way to reduce or eliminate poverty.

In the context of Afghan War, the international financial community has eagerly extended substantial loans to PPP leaders. These creditors are not concerned that PPP leaders are widely recognized to be authoritarian, corrupt, and repressive. The loans are extended in order to secure the allegiance of PPP leaders to help cement their hold on power and ultimately to gain their help in Afghan war. As per SBP report Pakistan’s total foreign debts and liabilities have aggregated to $62 billion by 30th September last. This is despite PPP government’s exorbitant budgetary borrowings from local banking system that ballooned to Rs719.726 billion during July-Nov 11 FY12 compared to Rs304.802 billion of corresponding period in FY11. However, these loans have not served the interests of Pakistani populations. The loans are not intended for economic development and are frequently used to oppress people and sustain the power by PPP. In fact corrupt PPP leaders and government officials have misappropriated loans for their personal enrichment. therefore those lenders are complicit and corrupt in making such loans. The entire nation will now pay the cost.

¬An obstinate myth that refuses to die: Pakistan is incapable of producing responsible leadership. The country’s problems are a direct result of a lack of leadership. Pakistan has experienced no genuine democracy after independence due to inefficient, incapable, and corrupt civilian leaders. It seems that in this regime, nobody is acting in the public interest. They’re so busy trying to get maximum money through corruption that the public interest is lost and as a result of it people are getting angrier and angrier. PPP leadership is autocratic, corrupt, and self serving: for their own personal enrichment.

Unfortunately, our today’s leaders are hardly effective or even known on the local level but got on the national stage by buying their way to the national level through looted public funds. These new set of leaders do not love themselves, their family, their tribes or their nation. That’s Pakistan in a nutshell. Look at our current Government, run by outdated old politicians that should have been sent into retirement a decade ago. In politics, being old doesn’t make one wiser; it means they become the party leaders and run party and this country into the ground.

My conclusion, therefore, is that I agree with those who say leadership is the biggest problem, if not the only, obstacle to our progress. Pakistan is like this because we have always had the wrong people in authority over us. The day the right people begin to call the shots, Pakistan will be so transformed it would be impossible to believe. We don’t need to import anything to make Pakistan great—all the ingredients for greatness are here with us. What we need are leaders who can harness these potentials and unleash us to greatness. The focus of our agitations, therefore, should be: how do we make sure we are led mainly by the right people at all levels? Lamentation will not solve any problem. Name-calling will get us nowhere. We need a new generation of Pakistan who discuss both the problems and the solutions. Let’s continue to mobilize ourselves for the task of electing good leaders, leaders who are competent and patriotic. It may not happen today or tomorrow. Change may not happen overnight, but the journey of a thousand miles, we are told, begins with a step. This I believe.