The Problems of Pakistan: Causes and Cures
Mir FahadShaikh
The Main Problem : The problem is that whosoever has had the chance of being in power and authority in any form has only acted to fulfill his personal desires, greed for money, fill his own pockets and lust for power. No one has ever thought of Pakistan or the ordinary people, or to improve their living and their miserable plight.
Pakistani Society: There are still few people left whom we can call true Muslims or good humans, but in general the majority is corrupt in one way or the other; that’s why we have such rulers and that’s why we are in such a miserable plight. No rule of law:In Pakistan, there is no rule of law. The only rule that is prevalent is “Might is Right”..
Institutions & Individuals not performing their duties: The institutions (e.g., Army, Law enforcement agencies, Judiciary, Parliament, National & Provincial Assemblies, Bureaucracy and other Governing bodies) and the people at various positions are not performing their duties with dedication and sincerity. Since the national institutions are the structure on which the political, social and economic system of the country lays and the moral values of the society are directly related to the system of the country. At times people are more afraid of the law enforcement agencies than they are from robbers or thieves.
Corruption, Greed for wealth and Mismanagement: The funds allocated for development in almost all the sectors (health, education, transportation, infrastructure etc) are looted by government officials, politicians and members of other government bodies.
Illiteracy, Ignorance and the Education System: We spend around 2% of our total budget on education, while in some countries (e.g., Japan etc) it was around 30-40% when they were really putting focus on education. There is no research culture. There are government schools, there are private schools (which has become a big business providing low quality education), then there are madrassas; each one of these branding a different system and producing a different class of people, the first system produces rulers and bureaucrats, the second system produces workers and the last one produces mullahs and so-called terrorists.
Lawlessness, Poor law & order situation: Most of the times the law enforcement agencies are busy in fulfilling government orders of arresting people from opposition or for giving protocol duties and providing security to the VIPs and VVIPs, or may even be busy in theft and robbing themselves. Crimes like theft, robbery, rape, murder, kidnapping, fraud, car lifting, smuggling etc are common. The reasons of corruption and miserable performance of law enforcement agencies include very low pays for them, illiteracy, improper training, the social structure and values and the plight of the society in general.
Inequality, Difference of classes and Poverty: There is Elite class, Middle class (upper and lower), Poor class, then there are people who are living below the poverty line (around 33% of the total population) and can hardly afford meal two times a day. The gap between the ultra-rich elite class (which make app. 2% of the whole population) and the poor class is very large.
Poor Economy & Unemployment: There is no security in the country hence no industry and no foreign investment. The driving force for today’s worldwide economy is technology but we lag far behind. In 2006, we have foreign debts estimated at $40 Billion. When and who is going to pay these debts and the yearly interest on these which keeps on increasing every year And when you realize that most of these debts were never spent on Pakistan or its people.
In 2007 the inflation rate was 11%, as a result of which the poor suffer badly. Petrol prices are increased every few weeks by giving a lame excuse that it is linked with the international market. In the past few years, prices of almost all the things have increased 3-4 times, while in comparison the incomes of the majority of the people have increased only slightly, resulting into very difficult circumstances for the majority of the people. The plight of our economy is such that we have to import most of the things from abroad, from technical equipments for day-to-day life to machinery to other commodities and even edibles like wheat and vegetables. In the past few years, the areas of major financial activities have been investment in real estate and loans by banks to end consumers for car financing and other commodities or luxuries; this clearly depicts a stagnant economy having no industry and no opportunities for employment.
Because of poor economy, unemployment is very high (around 8% in 2006); hence youth and other people who have degrees, but don’t get any jobs because of poor economy or because of no rule of merit, ultimately get frustrated and tend to indulge in crimes.
( Mehran UET-SZAB Khairpur)
