This might come as a surprise but it is worth exploring. How much has Pakistan spent on Board of Investment and how much foreign direct investment have they brought to Pakistan? The answer will not be forthcoming for they have been grossly wrong in their assertions. Yet every government that comes tries its level best to interest foreign countries. Exaggerated claims mention billions of dollars worth of investment yet nothing to show. Is it because of the law and order and the fight against terrorism? Or is it something else? What is the economic climate like? Is the climate fair and is it possible to do business without really suffering at the hands of the mafia?
If one were to ask the existing entrepreneurs they will state that nothing works? Contractual agreements are not honoured and there is a general atmosphere of take what you can from wherever without ever bothering on the ethics of it. The civil courts do not function and the dispensation of justice in the lower courts is a 10 to 15 years stunt. It was Macaulay who stated that any one who has a right to hanging has also a right to education, meaning thereby that when an individual is not given education then the resources are used on law and order and the strengthening of police and paramilitary forces. That is what is happening. It has been happening for a long time. Were we fair to former East Pakistanis? Search introspectively and the answer comes in the negative. Consider the peripheral areas and the answer is still in the negative. Democracy is a burden if it is not used fairly and evenly.
Economics of fairness is not only to be understood but also implemented without let or fear. Do the elected think that their misdemeanours will not be known? Do they think that their cheating will not be brought out? The powerful are hungry for assets and what they have done in Sindh and Punjab is really frightening. Why does this not happen in Balochistan and KPK? When the last government came to power I suggested to them they should immediately take over the land records and start checking. They dilly dallied over the entire issue and the result was that the criminal gangs had all the files burnt. My experience in government is that when the bureaucracy takes the line of least resistance then things go wrong. If the bureaucracy aligns with the political power you have a patch work of eunuchs supporting those in power and seeking crumbs from their political bosses. Then things go very wrong. Punjab may be seen as a test case. No bureaucrat has the ability to stand up to the political powers and the crimes committed in the name of democracy will one day spell a doom to the process of democracy. The political bosses are busy making the most of a frightened bureaucracy. Democracy is a burden that Pakistan can ill afford. Pakistan generally has no gumption for accepting any kind of argument. Does it mean that we have to find a tyrannical system? No. What it does mean is that the elected have to understand the limits of their power. Language is the source of conveying and hence of indicating democratic tradition.
Of late we have developed a language that has no meaning, the language of one page and of being on the same table. Page and table do not indicate a mental state of mind. All that the words indicate is a physical presence and that's it. Yet we have no one incisively considering what is going on. Language is indication of suaveness and if there is one intangible that will get us anywhere it is this.
Of the mega projects that have made us suffer the most one can count the Pakistan Steel mill as one, the nuclear project and the motorway. Instead of going in for economic infrastructure projects that could be useful for the industry to roll on and thus opening up the hinterland. In fact Pakistan has not done enough to understand that the road structure required for industry is different from that required for agriculture. The motorway was not required at that stage. There are so many 'bad and irrelevant projects' that the good projects were thrown out. That generally happens and the bad projects crowd out the good ones. Pakistan's planners are subservient to the power politics, whether they be of the civilian or the tyrannical type. The problem is with the thinking. Projects have no meaning except that they serve the interests of the politicians.
But more importantly the fairness principle was not implemented by the various powers that be in respect of the marginal and peripheral areas. Take the case of the underdeveloped areas. These are the areas where opportunities are few and far between. With the power structure using its power to use these resources where they lived it was no surprise that the misallocation of resources was the biggest economic disaster as this led to separatist movement. With the loss of East Pakistan we had hoped that we would learn the lessons of history. That was not so. There are now difficult positions in Balochistan, Sindh and as I write there have been more killings.
Pakistan's political system as well as its bureaucratic system has been pushed around by the West. There has to be a mind of one's own, and the ability to perceive the future. Perception is not every one's ability. It takes some doing. It is fraught with pitfalls and dangers. Three aspects of macroeconomics have assumed importance. Inflation, debt and employment, all three macroeconomic features are poor. Urbanisation is going to add pressure on every aspect of life. It is already very visible that the urban inflation is not controllable. That jobs are not being added. To the normal population increase one has to add the migratory population from the rural areas. We have disturbed the equation and now we have hell to pay.
Let me add a generic statement, rather sweeping but true nevertheless. Pakistan's priorities are incorrect and any project that does not add to the creation of wealth and income needs to be discarded. To that may be added a corollary 'the greatest good of the greatest number'. Bentham's philosophy is still relevant.