If our PM wants Pakistan’s economy to develop and adopts Turkey or China as a role model, than he must understand that all this is possible after they had developed their human resources and employed the best in the fields of science, technology and economics to head various state owned enterprises. Nepotism, conflict of interest and cronyism, that dictates choice of men to head state institutions in Pakistan is the biggest impediment to progress. China became an economic giant because of excellent leadership, by patriotic leaders, such Mao, Chou en Lai and others. Those who have visited China in the 70s and 80s would remember that there was no semblance of luxury, nor any imported items, or any extravagance indulged by their leadership, civil or military, unlike Pakistan, where more than half the population lives below poverty line, our public servants live like royalty at state expense, which many in the West would never dare to emulate, because of fear of censure and accountability.
Therefore the best that can be expected would be to follow Turkish model. For starters just compare the academic professional qualifications, experience and integrity of the Chairman, MD and senior executives of Turk Hava Yollari, their national airline, with choice of men placed at helm in PIA by Musharraf, Asif Zardari and now Nawaz Sharif, or compare qualifications of their Advisors on Economic, Planning Commission, Science, Water & Power, Health, Education, NHA, Railways etc and individuals assigned to work and their professional discipline and competence.
It is not that Turkey is corruption free, or has had decades of democratic governance, but it is a country where democracy and its institutions have developed only recently yet they have a far better ‘Monetary and Fiscal Discipline’ regulated by qualified economists at the helm, not commercial bankers with an independent Auditor General. Turkey is a majority Muslim populated country, relatively free of sectarian or ethnic violence, at the level that prevails in Pakistan, because political parties, its establishment and media refrain from exploiting religion. Turkey has developed, because even military dictators that preceded democratically elected governments stressed upon development of human resources. Within Turkey the corporate business community is forced to adhere to ethics, through strict regulatory controls, although their foreign investments are not subjected to similar discipline.
MALIK TARIQ ALI,
Lahore, November 10.