What is holding Pakistan back?
In just over a month, Pakistan will mark its 77th anniversary of independence. It is a time for celebration but also for reflection. Though Pakistan has made progress in many areas, it remains a long way from realizing its promising potential, and even further from fulfilling its founding fathers’ vision of a stable, liberal democracy responsive to the needs and aspirations of its people.
Pakistan, in its 77th year of independence, is at a turning point as it finds itself in a precarious situation with little optimism for the future. Pakistan is currently facing multiple intersecting challenges in governance, economy, politics, security, education and demographics that are reinforcing each other and creating a compound crisis that is more frightening than any single crisis.
Pakistan’s quest for stability has been hampered by poor governance, rule without law, political turmoil with alternating military and civilian rule, visionless leadership, and of course headwinds from an unstable neighbourhood which has created a perpetual security dilemma. These factors have combined to severely slow Pakistan’s progress, with the country lagging behind its regional peers and neighbours in almost every indicator of economic and human development.
Now in its 77th year of independence, Pakistan is at a turning point, with little optimism about the future and a state of uncertainty.
– Maleeha Lodhi
Perhaps the most significant factor that has held the country back is the small oligarchic power elite that has dominated politics and controlled the economy for so long. Their grip on the state and stranglehold on national affairs has clearly come at the expense of the welfare of the people and the progress and development of the country. This power elite has prioritised maintaining their control and privileges over addressing the country’s problems. As a result, governance challenges have gained momentum and intensified and the country continues to remain in a state of instability and insecurity.
Over the years, this power elite was not interested in reforms such as land reform, economic restructuring, or reforms in the means of governance, as they viewed these as undermining their political or economic interests. This elite also acquired a “rentier” character, i.e., they used their access to public office as a means to transfer wealth and obtain a source of unearned income by utilizing state resources. This is a common characteristic of both civilian and military ruling elites. Both used patron-client relationships to strengthen their dominance and protect their interests and privileged positions.
To maintain and consolidate their power, both elected and military governments have practiced patronage-based politics, which relied primarily on networks of powerful political families, kinship groups, and local strongmen. Clearly, this form of governance failed to meet the needs of society. However, unmet popular expectations never convinced the elites to meaningfully respond to the demands of the people, even for their own benefit. The people were always taken for granted.
The results have been dire. Pakistan has been hit by one economic crisis after another. Successive civilian, military or mixed governments living beyond their means, unwillingness to mobilize domestic resources and aversion to economic reforms have plunged the country into repeated financial crises, with almost every government in the past few decades leaving its successor in a much worse economic position for its steward. Governments from different political backgrounds have pursued similar economic policies and borrowed heavily both at home and abroad to manage twin budget and balance of payments deficits. As a result, the country today has unprecedented and unsustainable levels of domestic and foreign debt. The fact that Pakistan is about to enter its 24th IMF bailout program is a testament to this dismal economic record.
The power elite’s neglect or lack of interest in human development has had even more grave consequences for Pakistan’s future. Today, Pakistan is in the midst of a human development crisis, with most indicators of literacy, education, health, poverty and other dimensions of human well-being worsening in recent years. The UNDP places Pakistan 164th out of 193 countries in its Global Human Development Rankings.
Pakistan’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, once said, “Education is a matter of life and death for our country.” However, his advice was not heeded. As a result, Pakistan has the second-highest number of out-of-school children in the world, with over 26 million. This means that over 44% of children between the ages of 5 and 16 are not attending school. The literacy rate is stagnant at 59%, which means that over 40% of the population is illiterate. With such illiteracy and lack of education, no country can achieve economic development. Yet, there is a conspicuous lack of official efforts to change this, even though investing in education is the surest way to change a country’s fortunes.
The phenomenon in question is child stunting, which a World Bank report rightly calls a “public health crisis.” According to the Human Capital Review report, about 40 percent of Pakistan’s children under the age of five are stunted, a shocking figure. The state of poverty in the country is also alarming; poverty is now estimated to have risen to nearly 40 percent, according to the World Bank.
The country’s population growth, the fastest growing in South Asia, is posing new challenges with far-reaching economic, social and security implications. This has increased the need for population control measures at a national level, but the ruling class has failed to do so. A demographic crisis is looming as education opportunities and employment are not keeping up with the uncontrolled population growth.
Ignoring this dire situation does so at great peril for the country. The choice is stark: remain mired in a quagmire of weak governance, political dysfunction, economic stagnation, internal security threats, poor education, unchecked population growth and declining public trust in state institutions; or forge a new direction by improving governance, implementing far-reaching reforms and putting the public welfare, rather than the interests of a select few, at the heart of the enterprise. Seventy-seven years later, this choice will determine the country’s fate and fortunes.
– Maleeha Lodhi is a former Pakistani Ambassador to the US, UK and UN. She posts at X/@LodhiMaleeha.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arab News.
