By Ahmad Abubakr
I could spend an eternity listing reasons for this lack of development but I will have to settle at just talking about the main reasons.
First of all the statement in itself is false. Pakistan is developing. The problem is that it is not developing fast enough. Another thing that must considered is that development is a slow process and takes time. The best example of this is India. If you went to India from a first world country, it would seem extremely underdeveloped and you might come to the conclusion that India is not improving. However this couldn’t be further from the truth. India is one of the most rapidly developing countries in the entire world.
Just look at Lahore. This would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Does anyone remember the massive traffic jams on Canal road every single day due to poor quality and small roads. Or the non existent public transport system.
The problem is that Pakistan needs to grow much faster that it currently is. Now lets get into the reasons that it is unable to do so.
Governance
Pakistan needs to decide whether it wants to be a military dictatorship or a democracy. A country cannot keep on rotating between dictatorships and democracy every couple of years. You need to choose one or the other and stick with it. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for foreign investors when no one knows what method of governance will exist the next year. A stable dictatorship inspires more confidence than our current merry-go-round system.
Stability
No one in their right minds is going to invest in a country where terror attacks happen every week. The government needs to clamp down on any sort of terror activity. Pakistan also needs to stop getting involved in random conflicts that have nothing to do with it. Focus inwards and root out any form of instability.
Long-term goals
A country cannot develop if there are no long term goals. To understand this look no further than China. The CCP has long term goals for the next five years, the next ten years and so forth. These goals usually are not set in stone but they do provide a much needed general guideline for the future. Pakistan follows a much different system. It flings from one goal to a completely different one every time the government changes. Long term goals must be established for everything. From education, transport, economy, foreign policy, etc. Set a reasonable goal and make all future governments follow those guidelines. This usually works better in the absence of democracy.
Corruption
Corruption runs rampant in this country. It is so bad that it has become a part of the culture not only is Pakistan but the entire South Asia. Does anyone even think twice when they pay off a policeman? Is it even considered corruption anymore? This corruption must be weeded out from society. An absolute theocratic dictatorship like Saudi Arabia is less corrupt than South Asians. What does that say about us? I have seen many people complain about the military corruption being responsible for our lack of development. Yet almost every politician is a thousand time worse. We are the country that elected Zardari as Prime Minister. That alone should be enough evidence.
Education
The illiteracy in this country is mind-blowing. Pakistan has a literacy rate of almost 60%. To make matters worse the definition of literacy in Pakistan is “Ability to read and understand simple text in any language from a newspaper or magazine, write a simple letter and perform basic mathematical calculation”. The definition of literacy in the western world is “The ability to read, write and use numeracy, to handle information, to express ideas and opinions, to make decisions and solve problems, as family members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners”. Do you see the difference? If the latter definition is applied, just how much lower would Pakistan’s literacy rate be. The sad part is that the definition of literacy in Pakistan came into effect just last year. Prior to that the definition was even worse. This map should speak volumes. The only country with a worse literacy that Pakistan in Asia is Afghanistan, a country that is a war zone. Let that sink in.
Pakistan has created a horrible image for itself in the world. Ask a random person what they think of Pakistan and the answers will not flatter you. Not only that but Pakistan has created a horrible image of itself in the neighboring countries. On top of all of this Pakistan seems to have absolutely no soft power at all to influence other countries. India has Bollywood and shows itself as the culture of the entire Indian Subcontinent. Iran despite being a theocracy still has the Persian history and culture. China has the martial arts movies and East Asian culture. Japan shows itself as a culture of honor, discipline and Bushido intermixed with Anime and technology. Pakistan shows itself as one thing only and that is Indian but not India. An idiot could have come up with something better. To really drive it home Bhutan, a tiny country, has more of an image than Pakistan.
Pakistan needs to create a new image for itself. It should show itself as the land where different cultures meets. A place where the Indian subcontinent meets the Middle East and Central Asia. It should promote all of Pakistani cultures especially within the large cities of the country like Lahore and Karachi.
Foreign Policy
Does anyone even know what Pakistan’s foreign policy is? It just seems to be picking fights rather than resolving conflicts that already exist. Pakistan does not really seem to have a foreign policy and till they can come up with a workable one I do not think that anything will change.
The People
JFK once said “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.
Pakistani people have a different take on it. From their point of view it would be “Ask what your country can do for you, never ask what you can do for your country”. No one in Pakistan seems to want to help fix anything. But everyone is first to complain. Everyone seems to ask where all of the money goes, yet no one wants to pay taxes. Everyone complains about load-shedding yet no one wants to pay their electricity bill. Pakistani people complain about the garbage piling up while tossing garbage out of a moving car.
Abdul Kalam said “Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow”. How many Pakistani people are honestly willing to do that. Less than one percent maybe.
The leaders of a country almost always are a representation of the people. The reason why corrupt leaders rise in Pakistan is because of the corrupt people. Till the people change neither will Pakistan.
There are many other reasons that I could go into but I do not have the time to do so. The truth is that every Pakistani knows the reasons why Pakistan is a mess but no one wants to do anything about it.
This was not meant to offend anyone. It is simply the truth. I wrote this as an extrinsic view on the problems of Pakistan rather than an Intrinsic one.
I will end this with a quote from a man who knows more about development of a country than most. (Source: Quora)
