It is generally believed that the high level of illiteracy is one of the major causes of Pakistan's economic misery. What a nonsensical belief The belief is a horrific distortion of reality. Actually, it is not illiteracy but literacy which has mangled Pakistan's economy. A handful of literate Pakistanis have deprived some Pakistani banks of billions of rupees. They borrowed gigantic sums of money and got the loans written-off. Is there a single illiterate Pakistani who has ever borrowed a colossal sum of money from some bank and got it written-off? Not at all Only some literate Pakistanis have done so. What a magical power literacy commands in Pakistan? We must be grateful to our illiterate haris, our illiterate street-vendors, our illiterate street sweepers, our illiterate peasants etc, for their inability to rob the country. Had there been no educated Pakistanis there would have been no plundering of the banks. The plundering is a blessing in disguise. It warns us that if we really want to secure our banks against their molestation then we must forthwith abolish all our educational institutions. When there will be no educational institutions, there will be no education. When there will be no literate Pakistanis there will be no loan eaters. What an economic relief Instead of looting the banks, the illiterate Pakistanis have been serving the country with their blood. Pakistan's very survival is a gift of the illiterate Pakistanis. A million cheers for illiteracy Normally, if the borrowers do not repay in accordance with the rules, the lenders prosecute them. But our banks have a very soft heart for a special breed of Pakistanis. The banks serve these Pakistanis in two ways. First they serve these Pakistanis by lending them phenomenal sums of money. And when the borrowers decline to repay, the lenders serve them again by transmuting the loans into charity. Probably, some banks believe that some Pakistanis have a divine right to rob them. No wonder such banks allow themselves to be voluntarily robbed. They can't afford to interfere in divine affairs. The NRO is dead. Its corpse should be cremated and the ashes should be presented to the creator as a gift. Musharraf has confessed that the ordinance was a mistake. But a mere confession can't undo the immeasurable damage the ordinance has inflicted upon the nation. Only the banks can rescue. They should jointly declare: "We revive the written-off loans. The beneficiaries must repay or face the consequences." The beneficiaries who do not repay within the specified time period must be given one more warning: "You are given one more month to repay. If you still remain adamant then we shall start publishing the details on a regular basis in the national newspapers. The publishing shall continue till your repayment." If such an operation is launched, it shall be a glorious chapter of Pakistan's history. Politics is the most profitable business in Pakistan. If you have the right sort of political influence, the country would become a gold mine for you. The beneficiaries were the beneficiaries only because they had minefuls of political influence. Their minefuls of political influence became their gold mines. Pakistan has borrowed billions of dollars from various international lenders. It pays millions of dollars as interest every year. It is a horrific agony. Some Pakistanis were not satisfied with the quantum of the agony. They loved to augment the agony as much as they could augment it. They borrowed billions of rupees from various Pakistani banks and got the loans written-off. The agony went sky high. What some literate Pakistanis have done to Pakistan is a gruesome story. Let's pray that some other literate Pakistanis are not tempted by the successes of the loan embezzlers. The writer is an academic.