South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, and China along with some other Southeast Asian countries had a per capita income of $ 350 some fifty years ago. Today all these countries have per capita income of $ 20000 except Pakistan in whose case this figure is $ 950 only. Why this difference? The answer lies in the change brought about in the basic thought pattern of the people of those countries. But the only way to bring about such a change is through two methods combined together. One, by liberalising the constitution and basing its clauses entirely upon the modern scientific principles. Two, changing people’s mindset to scientific way of thinking. This can only be achieved by starting at early level in schools. Therefore, school attendance for every child between the ages of 6 to 16 should be made compulsory under penalty of law and the government should be responsible for providing full facilities for such attendance totally free of cost.
If we cannot adopt theses measures, then we can only expect to remain toys or slaves in the hands of other countries for the foreseeable future. This basically means availability of all the comforts of life to only a small section of the society comprising bureaucracy, big politicians, businessmen, landowners, and some vested interests while the overwhelming majority of the people shall continue to live at starvation levels.
SYEDA SARAH HAIDER
Karachi
