A need for reality check
Dreams are no doubt needed for achieving success. However what differentiates a successful nation from the one that fails is that the former keeps its feet on firm ground while looking at the horizons whereas the later loses touch with ground realities and stumbles. A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) titled ‘The Long View — How Will the Global Economic Order Change by 2050’, predicts that Pakistan could become 16th largest economy by 2050, overtaking Italy and Canada, which currently rank at 12th and 17th places. The prospect is stunning but it is based on the presumption that the country would overcome some of its systematic woes.
Political exigencies in Pakistan tend frequently to take toll of the national economy. The priorities in development planning are determined by the ruling party’s fixation on the next elections rather than through a balanced appraisal of present day needs and long term requirements. Population control is ignored, size of national debt is allowed to balloon hoping that IMF would ultimately bail out the country. While promising the pie in the sky it is forgotten that unless terrorism and extremism are firmly brought under control, the country develops a large reservoir of healthy and trained manpower, the required infrastructure is in place and corruption in government departments is dispensed with, hopes of foreign investments will remain an illusion. With the army taking charge of a major aspect of foreign policy, attempts at dispute resolution through talks, increased trade and enhanced economic relations are replaced with an emphasis on increasing the defence budget, even if it has to be done at the expense of health, education and social development.
Pakistan can no doubt evolve into what PwC visualizes. But with an all out war with India or a major terrorist attack inside the US traced to an area under Pakistan’s control, the dreams would shatter into smithereens. To achieve the goal of prosperity and a respectable place in the comity of nations Pakistan needs a flourishing economy and peace in the region.
