pakistan used to be rich compared to india
now due to runaway population growth and wrong policy of unnecessary and expensive confrontation with india pakistan sliding in to economic mess. also involvemt in afghanistan created refugees for pakistan and
misery for afghan people.
following article examines the economic
decline of pakistan
Economic growth or Jihad
By Kunwar Idris
Every government in Pakistan ends in failure after initial promise of success. At its heart always lay, as
it does now, the intellectual failure of the elite. The burden of poverty and deprivation that follows is
left to be borne by the common man. The elite revels as much in national failure as in success.
This failure in the decade of nineties became catastrophic. It ravaged not the economy alone but the
established values and procedures which were the mainstay of our public affairs.
In this wider context the argument between the governor of the State Bank, Dr Ishrat Husain, and
former finance minister, Sartaj Aziz, on the rate of economic growth over half a percentage point is of
little significance. The nineties may be remembered not for the diminished rate of growth but for the
damage inflicted on the administrative machinery which has made it incapable of regaining the lost time
and ground even when the world economic environment and political attitudes towards Pakistan turn
more favourable.
That is not to understate the setback suffered by the economy and pride of the country during the
decade dominated by the feuding politicians. In its closing stages India overtook Pakistan in per capita
income. Now an average Indian, whose actual buying power is $392 (about Rs 23,500), is richer than
a Pakistani.
The Indian economy is growing at seven per cent and is forecast to rise to nine per cent next year.
Pakistan's actual growth and forecast is not even half of that. We lost of India in democracy at the
very beginning, then in military combat half way through and now are left behind in the economic race
as well. And yet we always felt pity overlaid with contempt for the meek, miserly baniya and still think
of liberating its oppressed people.
In the world poverty ranking Pakistan's position has fallen through the last decade from 94 to 159.
With 2.3 per cent of the world population it has only 0.2 per cent of its income.
The real and lasting damage in the nineties, however, lay in the super session of the institutions by
individuals. The damage to the economy showed up in aggravated poverty and unemployment.
Injustice and insecurity caused by the authoritative personal governance hurt more deeply but less
visibly.
The rules and procedures for investment, public or private, in our system are well defined. No
expenditure is incurred unless the project proposal is professionally scrutinized for its feasibility and
approved by the cabinet or the National Economic Council on the recommendation of their executive
committees and development working parties which meet at short, regular intervals.
In the appraisal and implementation of Nawaz Sharif's costly and ill-fated motorway and yellow cab
projects these committees played little or no role at all. The motorway was built because Nawaz
Sharif so desired. By distributing duty-free vehicles against unsecured bank loans he created a cadre
of loyalists but damaged the banks and industry both.
The motorway carries not even one-tenth of the traffic it is designed to carry. It caused no qualms,
only jest. Nawaz Sharif was then quoted as saying that Shershah Suri was still remembered for his
Grand Trunk Road; the money spent on it was quickly forgotten. So would it be with Nawaz Sharif's
motorway. Another less charitable motive attributed to him for building the roadway was to have a
road wide and smooth enough for his fleet of fast and fancy cars.
Such anecdotes apart, it is absolutely certain that the two projects would never have been approved
had the mandatory procedure in determining their economic feasibility and priority in the allocation of
resources been followed.
The costly precedent set by Nawaz Sharif was followed by Benazir Bhutto in approving the private
power projects. Hidden cells of apparatchiks replaced the specialist forums to sanction generation
capacity in excess of need at a high cost which later led to protracted disputes and bankruptcy of the
country's derelict power network.
The home-grown experts and the comeback kids from international banking can still rehabilitate the
economy provided the government of the day, through its policies and outlook, creates an atmosphere
conducive to it. Most of the time it appears acting to the contrary.
The major thrust of such a policy should be the creation of a moderate tolerant society in which the
law and rights are respected. The trend is towards the reverse. Extremism is gaining ground. We have
chosen to support a jihad in Afghanistan which has become a metaphor for displacement and death
through violence, hunger and cold and at the same time has given a free run of our own country to the
armed militants.
The blunt truth must be recognized that the country can wage jihad either against poverty and inequity
at home or for nebulous, controversial causes abroad, not both. The choice, as always, rests with the
elite, not with the common man. The let-down this time may prove fatal.
now due to runaway population growth and wrong policy of unnecessary and expensive confrontation with india pakistan sliding in to economic mess. also involvemt in afghanistan created refugees for pakistan and
misery for afghan people.
following article examines the economic
decline of pakistan
Economic growth or Jihad
By Kunwar Idris
Every government in Pakistan ends in failure after initial promise of success. At its heart always lay, as
it does now, the intellectual failure of the elite. The burden of poverty and deprivation that follows is
left to be borne by the common man. The elite revels as much in national failure as in success.
This failure in the decade of nineties became catastrophic. It ravaged not the economy alone but the
established values and procedures which were the mainstay of our public affairs.
In this wider context the argument between the governor of the State Bank, Dr Ishrat Husain, and
former finance minister, Sartaj Aziz, on the rate of economic growth over half a percentage point is of
little significance. The nineties may be remembered not for the diminished rate of growth but for the
damage inflicted on the administrative machinery which has made it incapable of regaining the lost time
and ground even when the world economic environment and political attitudes towards Pakistan turn
more favourable.
That is not to understate the setback suffered by the economy and pride of the country during the
decade dominated by the feuding politicians. In its closing stages India overtook Pakistan in per capita
income. Now an average Indian, whose actual buying power is $392 (about Rs 23,500), is richer than
a Pakistani.
The Indian economy is growing at seven per cent and is forecast to rise to nine per cent next year.
Pakistan's actual growth and forecast is not even half of that. We lost of India in democracy at the
very beginning, then in military combat half way through and now are left behind in the economic race
as well. And yet we always felt pity overlaid with contempt for the meek, miserly baniya and still think
of liberating its oppressed people.
In the world poverty ranking Pakistan's position has fallen through the last decade from 94 to 159.
With 2.3 per cent of the world population it has only 0.2 per cent of its income.
The real and lasting damage in the nineties, however, lay in the super session of the institutions by
individuals. The damage to the economy showed up in aggravated poverty and unemployment.
Injustice and insecurity caused by the authoritative personal governance hurt more deeply but less
visibly.
The rules and procedures for investment, public or private, in our system are well defined. No
expenditure is incurred unless the project proposal is professionally scrutinized for its feasibility and
approved by the cabinet or the National Economic Council on the recommendation of their executive
committees and development working parties which meet at short, regular intervals.
In the appraisal and implementation of Nawaz Sharif's costly and ill-fated motorway and yellow cab
projects these committees played little or no role at all. The motorway was built because Nawaz
Sharif so desired. By distributing duty-free vehicles against unsecured bank loans he created a cadre
of loyalists but damaged the banks and industry both.
The motorway carries not even one-tenth of the traffic it is designed to carry. It caused no qualms,
only jest. Nawaz Sharif was then quoted as saying that Shershah Suri was still remembered for his
Grand Trunk Road; the money spent on it was quickly forgotten. So would it be with Nawaz Sharif's
motorway. Another less charitable motive attributed to him for building the roadway was to have a
road wide and smooth enough for his fleet of fast and fancy cars.
Such anecdotes apart, it is absolutely certain that the two projects would never have been approved
had the mandatory procedure in determining their economic feasibility and priority in the allocation of
resources been followed.
The costly precedent set by Nawaz Sharif was followed by Benazir Bhutto in approving the private
power projects. Hidden cells of apparatchiks replaced the specialist forums to sanction generation
capacity in excess of need at a high cost which later led to protracted disputes and bankruptcy of the
country's derelict power network.
The home-grown experts and the comeback kids from international banking can still rehabilitate the
economy provided the government of the day, through its policies and outlook, creates an atmosphere
conducive to it. Most of the time it appears acting to the contrary.
The major thrust of such a policy should be the creation of a moderate tolerant society in which the
law and rights are respected. The trend is towards the reverse. Extremism is gaining ground. We have
chosen to support a jihad in Afghanistan which has become a metaphor for displacement and death
through violence, hunger and cold and at the same time has given a free run of our own country to the
armed militants.
The blunt truth must be recognized that the country can wage jihad either against poverty and inequity
at home or for nebulous, controversial causes abroad, not both. The choice, as always, rests with the
elite, not with the common man. The let-down this time may prove fatal.
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