Our ruling elite - trio of indomitable civil-military bureaucracy, inefficient-cum-corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen - is suffering from three maladies: self-praise in all matters, phobia of losing power and money and despair arising out of affluence. Their problems are self-inflicted.
They are victims of their own wrongdoings. The gargantuan wealth accumulated by them - at the expense of the poor of this country and by unlawful means - coupled with power struggle and lust for control has made their lives miserable. They try to pose as being "strong" but in reality they are the weakest - dying every moment from disquieting feeling of insecurity and nurturing all kinds of phobias.
Their escapism behind iron-curtain security, complete isolation from the people who elected them and military engagements against own people confirm their pathetic syndrome - they are not the beloved ones of the masses, but the target of their hatred. Their collective failure is self-evident and needs no elaboration or debate.
The principal and unforgivable crime of this ruling clique is squandering of public money, monopolisation of resources and non-payment of taxes. They are filthy rich yet keep on fleecing the poor for their luxuries. The underprivileged are paying exorbitant taxes and getting nothing in return.
Adding insult to injury, the money collected from them is wasted ruthlessly on luxuries of the ruling trio - have a look at their fleet of cars, army of servants, palatial bungalows, foreign tours and what not. The corrupt and inefficient departments - especially the police and revenue - faithfully serve their masters, unleash a reign of terror on common citizens - who pay for their salaries - and extort money from the helpless for their self-aggrandisement.
Take the example of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It has failed to tap the actual tax potential, which is not less than Rs 4 trillion. Then whatever it collects - in the fiscal year 2008-2009, it collected only Rs 1130 billion - the same is plundered and wasted by the ruling elite. The civil-military bureaucracy, ministers, state ministers, advisers, MNAs and MPAs together wasted Rs 700 billion in fiscal year 2008-09 on perks and perquisites.
These privileged classes are not concerned about inflation and employment, trade, fiscal and current account deficits, rising cost of doing business, burden of new taxes, price-hikes of petroleum products, increases in utility bills, economic stagnation and industrial slow-down.
They are either engaged in self-praise or in-fighting. The economy is fast plummeting. People's purchasing power is rapidly diminishing, banks have less liquidity, lending rates are soaring high and activities at the stock markets are sluggish. The investors are shy and afraid, mainly due to the law and order situation, suicide bombings, unprecedented corruption at all levels of governments, perpetuation of political instability and economic uncertainty.
Life for the common man is becoming a misery leading to social restlessness. Official quarters keep on reminding us that ours is basically an agricultural economy, but never explain why a vast majority of the people do not have enough to eat. Why we have shortage of sugar and other edible items. Why are their prices skyrocketing day by day.
The Chairman of Competition Commission is doing some investigation against cartels, but he also believes in free-market competition! Mir Kya sada hain bemar huaya jis ke sabab, usi atar kai londay se dawa latain hain (what a simple soul is Mir that he seeks prescription from the one who is responsible for his illness).
It is tragic that being an agricultural economy, we import agricultural products. We have miserably failed to develop any worth-while agro-based industry since independence. What a decline from the times when this region (United Punjab before partition) had the undisputed position of being the granary of the entire Subcontinent!
Look at the mess our successive governments - military and civilian alike - created on the debt front. The figure of foreign debt is a monstrous $50.1 billion after devaluation of our rupee in the last few years and that of domestic debt is over Rs 4 trillion now.
The ruling elite is borrowing more and more and then blame the lenders for imposing "harsh, insulting and unreasonable conditions". What an ugly joke! Have beggars ever been choosers? We are not ready to set our house in order, there is no willingness on the part of the ruling elite to surrender its monstrous wealth - created through disgusting means by cheating all and sundry - and pay taxes. But we keep on blaming others for all our ills.
Pakistan's economic maladies are due to criminal culpability of our ruling elite. The policy of appeasement towards tax evaders, money launderers and plunderers of national wealth - NRO is a classical example - is proving disastrous: political culture is loathsome, nation is in high debt and social order has fallen apart. State is becoming bankrupt but those at the helm of affairs are living lavishly - see their residences and investments in London, Dubai and elsewhere. The mighty bureaucrats get unprecedented perks and perquisites even when nation is heavily indebted.
We are victims of our own wrongdoings. Had we adopted the right course, things would have been much different today. If the $78 billion in development assistance provided to Pakistan between 1960 and 2007 had been invested during this time to yield a moderate real return of 8 percent, it would have grown into assets equal to $439 billion in 2006, many times Pakistan's current external debt. Instead, this debt now stands at over 60 percent of the GDP, and is in itself a constraint on growth.
The most worrisome sector of the economy is agriculture. Our rural population is constantly being pushed below the poverty line, making all the targets of growth unachievable. Keeping in view the fact that nearly one-fourth of the total GDP and 44% of total employment is generated in the agricultural sector, the country can never progress unless the rural population (constituting two third of the total population) is taken care of.
The overwhelming majority of the rural population is not getting the minimum nutritional diet as indicated by the International Labour Organisation that "75% of the farmers operating farms under twenty-five acres suffered a decline in the quality of diet, while over 25% suffered a reduction in the quantity of diet".
Vital areas like mechanisation, irrigation, plant protection and improved seeds have not been given proper attention, although on papers, there are many departments (including agricultural universities) spending millions and millions on claiming to have achieved wonders.
In reality even the issue of loans to small farmers is nothing but just another scandalous affair where a few are making huge money in the name of poor farmers. The planners have never bothered to look forward and provide for an efficient irrigation system. The result is acute water shortage hampering the already depressing agricultural sector.
In the rural areas, though, women play a major role in economy - their share in farm labour is never accounted for in official figures - yet they face exploitation, domestic violence and all sorts of discrimination. They have fewer assets, limited economic options and less access to social services.
They have high rates of illiteracy. Their burden of labour has increased many times in recent years when poor levels of agricultural productivity forced men to migrate to cities to find work. Nobody has ever raised this point in the media.
This does not end the list of problems: the power shortage is horrifying, avoidable imports continue, rulers keep on indulging in wasteful expenditures, trade deficit remains worryingly large, inflation is still a major headache, no acceleration in exports, and the domestic industry remains both costly and uncompetitive.
The grim reality of Pakistan is the prolongation of the unholy alliance of the ruling classes against masses. All the governments, including the present one, have never been concerned about the welfare of masses. Now the time has come that masses should discard the "dominant faces" and promote leadership from their own ranks and files. This is the only way to defeat the anti-people forces responsible for the present disarray and turmoil.
(The writers, tax lawyers, are members of visiting faculty of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).)