OldLahori

The article is by Shahid Kardar, former finance minister of Panjab.
Interesting to say the least. Hope Mush can pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat.


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http://www.dawn.com/2002/09/07/op.htm
... The most startling statistics that a recent World Bank report reminds us of is that in 1965 Pakistan exported more manufactures than Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey combined compared to the situation today of our exports being half those of the Philippines, one-seventh of Thailand and one-ninth of Malaysia. Together with our shameful social indicators on levels of literacy could there be more telling evidence of where we stand among the nations today. For the mess that we have landed ourselves in, the blame cannot be placed at the doors of our favourite bogeymen, the IMF, World Bank, the US and India. We have done this to ourselves and with such aplomb and, seemingly, conviction that one is left aghast and speechless, unable to explain such behaviour ...

Pakistani Tiger

My feeling!

The middle class in Pakistan wants everyone other than itself to be regulated. We all want high quality of services but are not prepared to pay for them. Part of the problem stems from our history in which even the middle class did not grow independently of the dynamic process of economic growth, but flourished through state patronage, be it through employment opportunities in the public sector or through industrial units established in the public sector and then handed over to private entrepreneurs. It also benefited by setting up private industry which the state protected against competition, both domestic and international.

I hope Privatization sector works for Pakistan and most importantly for its people.

Ameen

Adnan Ahmed

Not an easy road for Pakistan im afraid

OldLahori

AMEEN.

Pakistani Tiger

Believe in Allah(SWT). Everything would be fine

Mr Fraudia

belief enough is not enough. Allah asks us for effort too, effort has to be based on planning, planning has to be based on analysis and solution formulation.

Sadly, for all our political "leaders" like BB and NS and even idiots like qazi saab and all, I have yet to see a concrete plan by any political party. what garbage they have managed to put forward does not even compare to a business plan going to a VC firm here.

Mr Xtreme

The sad fact is that Nawaz and BB helped turn democracy into a farce in Pakistan and as a result Musharraf has been legitemised as a ruler even though he is military dictator.

What's even sadder is that he's turned out to be a better politician than either of those two despite the fact that he's a soldier.

PyariCgudia

everything is in the relative, xtreme, everything is in the relative.

Mr Xtreme

yeah, that must be why BB's and Nawaz's relatives have been heard about so much recently

ahmadjee

People running the country back in the 60s were honest and were there because they were competent, not because they had sifarishat!

I say still there is a lot of potential in Pakistan. Even if we use half of that potential in building the nation, it will be one of the great nations of the world.

Chaltahai

Once again a post was deleted that contained no foul language or misinformation. If the mods have an issue with knowledge then put that up in the sticky thread.

What I see is blame for this or that. Are there no scholars or let alone capable people with nough experience that can offer a solution?

Akif

Analyses by ex-politicians are worth dime a dozen. You would never see Mr. Kardar writing such analyses while he was in power. Back then of course he would always be gung ho about how Pakistan was doing this and that and the other under his classic policies. And now all of a sudden he seems to be perfectly educated in what our exports were back in '65, and what they are now.

Pakistan has a long way to go, no doubt about that. The problem is with naysayers, who expect the ruling government to bring the country out turmoil overnight, regardless of the fact that it took 15 years to get the country into this turmoil.

Citizens have a responsibility towards the country as much as the country has a responsibility towards the citizens. So long as each of them keeps on waiting for the other to make the first move, things will never move ahead.
This is one of the brightest things I have seen in Pakistan, more so in the past 6 months, where the people and the government seem to be making reciprocal positive gestures towards each other, without waiting for a first move. Perhaps this change has come about because of the events that shook the world since 9/11 last year. But then again, that is what was perhaps needed...a jolt of some kind, to get things in working order.

Chaltahai

These things will make it happen for Pakistan

1) Deregulation of the financial, telecom and other major sectors

2) Disinvestment and shutting down of non-performing PSU's

3) Commitment to capital markets transparency

4) Decententralization of power from center to the provinces

5) Return to demcracy. Thap had plotted a graph of democracy vis-a-vis corruption. Democratic countries were more transparent than autocratic ones.


then....

6) Better fiscal management

7) Allocation of greater portion of GDP to education and social services

8) Development of a lead sector that can carry a larger portion of GDP

NYAhmadiX

Chaltahai Bhaijan, when we see him on Friday, we will pass your suggestion on to him. He would love the last one.

None of this will happen until our screwedup priorities are redirected. 1/3rd of the GDP to defense, another 3rd to debt servicing, and that leaves rotten peanuts for anything else. With unemployment hitting the loop, how can one even think about deregulation? It needs a big overall.

Chaltahai

The problem is indeed with fiscal mismanagement but that takes care of the immediate problem. For the future those steps are absolutely necessary to make pakistan a vibrant economy as well as a vibrant democracy.


I am sure some mod would delete this because of some insecurity or another. So eat it up.

Akif

Chaltahai..I dont know about any of your post that was deleted, but Im sure there was a valid reason. So you can either wait for an explanation, or just know that the reason was valid.

I agree with your suggestions for the most part. But I dont think such moves can be universally applied. Every country has different dynamics and different circumstances. The corruption level in Pakistan is too high for such commitments to be made in one go. But the bright side is that things are on the right track...so long as we can give the current system a chance to expand.

OldLahori

60% of the population is under the age of 19 and mostly illiterate, and nearly except for a very small percentage functionally illiterate. Any infrastructure that exists is limited to a small fraction of the country.
Here is technology news from todays NYtimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/te...gy/10CHIP.html

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 9 — Researchers at Hewlett-Packard laboratories have developed a manufacturing process capable of producing molecular-scale circuits vastly denser than today's most advanced semiconductor chips.
The discovery offers the hope of assembling billions or even trillions of molecular-size switches in an area comfortably smaller than a fingernail and at a cost far lower than today's computer chips. The advance could lead to immensely powerful and inexpensive computers capable of holding entire libraries of music and movies for the consumer, or calculating scientific problems that are now unsolvable.

And As Parvaiz Hoodbhoy said in one of his columns, we don't even have 10 'real physicists'!!! We have to get single minded about education education and education. The rest will follow.

Chaltahai

OldL: Education is only part of the mantra. 20 million physicists don't mean jack if they can't employ their talents and logic in an environment that can't promote entrepreneurship and is averse to change. 99% of them will leave for greener pastures unlesss you develop an industry that can empoly such brains. What is the lead sector in Pakistan? IT? Agri? manuf?

OldLahori

I don't think anyone is going to be a jackass and just produce physicists. Education goes far beyond just the technology. The environment cannot be created just from the top. It has to be by participation of the population and that population better be informed and educated. Yes you do need an environment that promotes business, and again to get there you need education. Hot headed and easily impassioned is NOT going to get us there. The lead area in Pakistan is Agriculture, and even that is being reduced to shambles!!! That is the real shame.

NYAhmadiX

We need integrated policies, that tackle multiple issues. Not education alone, not industry alone.

The problem with Pakistan is that we know what we need to correct (there are tons of feasibility studies gathering dust in Secretariats in Islamabad) but we don’t have the balls to pursue some hardline policies. Agricultural tax is one area, deregulation is another.

Chaltahai has a point, the reason India and countries of the far east attracted so much foreign investment is due to the availability of an educated English speaking labor. So education is perhaps where we need to concentrate most, along with other areas.