Like it or not, but the foreign observers are not much hopeful about the future of our beloved country, in which the constitution is in abeyance since Nov 3, and Allah knows up till when it would remain so, though they have given the date of Dec 16, this year. I just came across this observation by the Asian Development Bank about the current situation in Pakistan, and it hurts a lot. Let’s share the pain:
Pakistan has provided a challenging context in which to implement a programme of development assistance — wars and cross border conflicts with its neighbours; strong ethnic and cultural divisions; continued existence of feudal social relations in some parts; a complex structure of government, three periods of military rule; 10 changes in the leadership of civilian governments during 1988-1999; erratic economic growth, with periods of faster growth not sustained and not translated into better social outcomes; rising poverty rates throughout the 1990s; international sanctions following the testing of a nuclear weapon in 1998; serving as a key ally in the ‘war on terror’ following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the US; poor governance and endemic corruption; and social indicators that are among the worst in Asia.
So what’s the way out? Whatever the foreign observers say in their cozy and posh offices, we in Pakistan know that we are here to stay, but now its up to us that whether we want to stay like this in the state of comatose and supine and get thrashed and exploited by the wadera-shahi and men on the horse-backs and spineless politicians, or shall we rise to the occasion, and resonate far beyond the vested interests of the country?
