I have been thinking and wondering how a country like Pakistan can be poor or needy or underdeveloped?! A country which posses a generous supply of all kinds of resources, human resources (with a population now around 190 million), natural resources, fertile land, most of world’s highest snowy peaks, vast deserts, the Indus river and its tributaries, its canal irrigation system, moderate and bearable temperature, minerals, sea shore and its resources, historical reserves, strategic location, healthy, intelligent, hardworking, beautiful people and nice location in the globe, what else can man ask for? The list goes on and on. Given this fact the undeserved demoted situation in which our country exists is very questionable.
When the leading elite lacks vision, lacks knowledge about how to utilize the resources along with corrupt and selfish bureaucracy and has no will to change anything it becomes a country like Pakistan. This results in a dead economy, derailed law and order situation, lack of control and huge money and brain drain from the country. For the last many years we are engaged in fighting our own people causing huge economic, social, moral and human loses. This engagement must be stopped now. It is time that all major political parties, true nationalist, top notches in civil and defense services, respectable citizens and entrepreneurs must get together; join hands and heads to discuss how to prevent the tribulations faced by the country. They should also look into ways to correct the trends for future generations. The problems are definitely with the management and judicial system and not with the people of the country.
Due to our internal and external policies we are suffering badly in all fields including economy. We are lavishly spending on imports which are double to our exports, which can easily be reduced by operating strict rules. We are spending overseas Pakistanis’ remittances and loans from IMF instead of limiting imports and increasing exports. We must enhance our Engineering, Agricultural and SME sectors to correct the worsened economic situation. We must immediately start state of the art technical schools and institutions for our increasing population and exporting them to badly needing countries.
Instead of importing electricity we should be working hard to finance and start some Hydro power dams as is being done by all our neighbors. In the last few months the new government has fixed some new work trends but they have been slow in operation and execution. Nothing is being done for direct taxes from the elite class they need to be brought into the tax net. A vast surgical operation against corruption is needed. This can only be done by honest law makers and dedicated officials which means cleaning our corrupt bureaucracy. The Government must hire younger, highly foreign educated technocrat to work for new development projects such as working on Basha Dam and settlements along Coastal belt, investing in Private Hydro power development as well as Human Resources developments and Development of Information, Bio and Rebotics Engineering & Technologies
ZAFAR AHMED,
Sialkot, January 6.