Pakistan’s Three Biggest Issues

Pakistan’s Three Biggest Issues

And why we are still failing?

Zainab Zahra

Pakistan has faced major challenges in its socioeconomic situation over past seventy years. However, not all problems have been overcome. And, even today, the country is facing a number of problems that are impeding its progress towards being a modern, developed nation. A brief description of three major issues Pakistan is faced with nowadays is being presented hereunder:

First of all, Pakistan is facing a myriad crisis of political instability. Since its inception, the country has been subject to political emergencies, constitutional deadlocks, assassinations, bombings, demonstrations and sit-ins. Smooth transition of power has largely been rare in our political system – almost every time, the power was grabbed either by military or politicians belonging to the elite. And, this is the root cause of all the problems that also logically explains why the economy of Pakistan is in a downward spiral and masses face poverty and unemployment. When political leaders are busy in blame game and point-scoring, who the hell would care for the unprivileged?

Second problem is a flawed educational system and very low literacy rate. Right after the independence, our government opted for the British style of education which sadly could not meet the needs of the Pakistanis people. Also, there is a division of private and government sector which has led to the coinage of the term “Best education”; something like this “Our institute provides best education.” Can anyone define what actually is meant by ‘best education’? Before getting introduced to this term, we knew only about ‘education’; which is always good.

Furthermore, our government has a non-serious attitude towards acknowledging the importance of education. This might make you wonder but it is a reality that only 2.5% of the national GDP is spent on education in Pakistan – quite negligible if compared to that in other advanced countries. Unless we realize the importance of education, we cannot move forward. Moreover, there is a barrier for women education. We take women as domestic appliances and keep them inside the four walls of the house, without realizing that they make more than half the population of Pakistan.

Another critical issue is the rampant corruption that has permeated every sector of the country, plaguing everyone from top to bottom. Everyone is busy in pursuing her/his own interest; no matter what way one is doing it.

A brief commentary on these issues is as under:

1. Marriage of religion and politics

This point cannot be emphasized more. Most of our major problems have their root in this issue. Be it terrorism, sectarian violence or intolerance in general.

2. Corruption

And when I say corruption, I don’t mean only the conventional corruption that is associated with politicians; we, as a whole, are a corrupt nation. From a poor hawker to the prime minister, everyone is involved in corruption in one form or another. Professional ethics in offices are almost non-existent. Corruption is ubiquitous here. Stealing electricity, for example. Most people who are involved in this crime consider it their right. Surprisingly, these very people also blame government when there are power outages, I.e. load-shedding, due to production shortfall.

This also has something to do with the next point:

3. Alarmingly low literacy rate

Emphasis on education in Pakistan is virtually a thing of bygone days. If some people somehow get educated, economic opportunities for them are very less and it causes the menace of brain drain, and people prefer to go abroad in search of greener pastures. We have no regard for even the basic manners; look at our traffic, breaking signals is considered one’s right.