Ahsan says geo-economics should take over geopolitics

• Interior minister says democratic continuity, political stability vital to economic progress

Minister for Interior Affairs Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said that the democratic continuity and the political stability were vital to economic progress and now was the time that geo-economics should take over geopolitics in Pakistan.

Speaking at the three-day Pakistan Development Summit and Expo on the occasion of 70 years celebrations of Pakistan’s independence here, he said that many countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand went ahead of Pakistan because of continuity of the economic policies.

“Then Bangladesh moved ahead of Pakistan in terms of exports and now Afghanistan can even go ahead as both these countries sanctified terms of governments,” he said. In Pakistan, no prime minister could complete his tenure, he pointed out.

“Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, Muhammad Khan Junejo and Zafarullah Jamali could not complete their tenures. This political uncertainty raises a question mark,” he said. In 70 years of its existence, Pakistan saw many ups and downs and lost many opportunities due to political shakiness, he said.

He noted that South Korea whose leadership was still thankful to Pakistan for helping it with economic planning in 1960s has exports of $570 billion as compared to $22 billion exports of Pakistan.

Pakistan, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif in 1990s, opened up its economy and financial and telecommunication sectors by adopting policies of deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation and started to build modern infrastructure with motorways and airports, he said.

“The defining line between Pakistan and other countries was continuity of policies as we suffered from political instability,” he pointed out and said that peace and security could only be ensured through strong economy. In 2013, electricity shortages were 20 hours long and the industrial activity was hampered, he said.

He recalled that the law and order situation had worsened in the country and no day passed without incidents of killing. Ahsan said then Pakistan moved ahead and last year it registered an economic growth of 5.3 percent and its stock market index touched the height of 54,000 points.

The pinnacle of economic activity was China’s announcement to launch the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said, adding four leading automakers declared to set up car plants in Pakistan and the leading countries once again turned towards this country to look at the investment opportunities.

He cited the example of Soviet Union which had the biggest nuclear arsenal and massive red army but it could not sustain itself when its economy went down. He said that the security was inherent in strong economy which could be achieved when democratic governments would complete their tenure to ensure long-term policies.

“We have to stop playing the geopolitics and start focusing on the geo-economics and join the new global supply chains,” he said, adding that now the landlocked Central Asian states like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan eagerly want to use Gwadar Port in search of new markets to expand their trade.

The minister said at the time of independence in 1947, pundits were saying that Pakistan would not sustain and would fall back in the lap of India in five years. “When Pakistan started its journey as a nation, it was burdened with millions of refugees,” he said. Despite all adversity, Pakistan’s early leadership turned the impossible into possible, he pointed out.