An All-Inclusive Rejoinder to All the Chronic Complainers

Re: Burki`s article in Dawn
No doubt, Pakistan has saved itself from being a defaulter by agreeing to co-operate with USA. The latter has rewarded Mushy with readjustments in debt and soft loans.
But, unless i missed something, Burki does not say how Pak is going to go on to a higher growth rate. What is going to spur that growth? There is a severe water problem and Pak will have accentuation of the problem in future. Pak, unless one forgets, is (like India) a predominantly agrarian economy.
What else has Pak got? IT. But IT in Pak has failed to take off.
All that Burki`s article in Dawn (pointed out by our chowk general) says is that Pakistan is doing some right things: like getting SBP on right track, privatising some sick units etc. Consider the following from that article:

``The best example of this is perhaps the much celebrated performance of the Indian economy over a fifteen-year period from 1985 to 2000. Readers would recall that for nearly forty years after independence the Indian economy was stuck at what their own economists called the Hindu rate of growth. Once the highly debilitating licence raj began to be dismantled, and the hold of the Indian bureaucracy on the economy began to be loosened, the suppressed growth the country had experienced for so long catapulted the economy towards a considerably higher growth rate.

The same could happen in Pakistan. Like India in 1947-85, Pakistan too has experienced suppression of growth for a decade and a half. Once conditions are put right, we should expect the rate of growth to bounce back. ``
Again, all presumptions! Once Pak puts conditons right, it too can have same growth rate as India . No mention of the booming IT industry in India, the fact that this boom has a lot to do with careful nurturing of some centers of excellences like the IITs, IIS during the period of ``hindu growth``. NO mention of how democracy and liberalisation has unleashed a ``thirst`` for knowledge among the middle class, which is sustaining the IT boom and spilling over into other areas like biotechnology.
If Pak has to duplicate what India is doing, it has to be a sustainable democracy (ensuring continuity of reforms), shed its jehadic aspirations vis-a-vis India and the world and most importantly have trade with India. It makes a lot of sense to catch the elephant`s tail and go where it goes rather than reinvent an elephant!
Sridhar

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Shahid Burki is now bullish on Pakistan (as am I):

One of the most well-recognized Pakistani economists in the world, Rhodes Scholar and ex-VP of World Bank has the following to say:

``For forty years, between 1950 and 1990, Pakistan was transformed from being by far the most backward area of what was once British India into the most prosperous and vibrant part of South Asia. I had then said - in particular in a long lecture I gave in 1997 at the annual conference of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics - that policy missteps by Islamabad in the 1990s had turned Pakistan from a healthy economy to the sick man of South Asia. Had my views changed? Did I continue to be as pessimistic as I was in the late 1990s, or did I see now some reason for hope?

My answer was simple. I had shed my pessimism and I saw considerable reason for hope. This switch in my perception was the result of five developments in Pakistan`s recent economic history each one of which suggested that the country could begin to grow once again - to change the structural rate of growth from the present three to four per cent a year to six to seven per cent a year in the next several years......

One of the most impressive legacies of the Musharraf period is the restoration of health to the financial system. A group of highly dedicated and professional managers has guided public sector commercial banks away from bankruptcy. Privatization has reduced the public sector`s share in the banking sector.

Complete article at http://www.dawn.com/2002/11/26/op.htm

re tahmed32 (# 99):

thanks for not taking my last post personally. i do think that the person at the top of the pyramid can make a difference. i have a detailed response at the ``games generals play`` board.

S,P, Wakil #95 Perhaps the Peter Principle (we can indigenonize this by calling it the Pakistan Principle) could be stated thus for Pakistan: Every incompetent inter-graduate becomes a commissioned army officer, thus making him eligible to transfer his incompetence to every top post in every institution in the country, and to the top post of the country itself.
Would this work??

faisuluno #94 you write ``do you honestly think that having the prince of darkness lording over the current cast of whores will make pakistan a prosperous country twenty years down the road? ``
Hey, I am allowed to dream, am I not?? :-)
Seriously though, I dont think the prince of darkness or his bearded whores (or any government for that matter) is as important to the future prosperity of Pakistan as people (both for and against the government) imagine. External factors are far more important, at least in case of Pakistan and other developing countries whose current culture provides very little impetus to progress. Prosperity in other parts of the world - PARTICULARLY the neighboring parts which include not just the gulf states but increasingly India as well to the east, as well as other up and coming or mature parts of the world.
So let the VVIPs of Pakistan (uniformed and otherwise, bearded and otherwise, fat like fazloo and skinny like mushy) scoot around in their motorcades, with sycophants buzzing around them like flies around a sick buffalo. The saving grace of Pakistan lies in development outside Pakistan. And in the innate qualities of the Pakistani people in terms of hard work and enterprise which has allowed millions of them already to benefit from these influences.

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S. P. Wakil: How are you doing? Long time no interaction.
Remember ``khar-e-mugheelaN lai bahar, te mele mitraaN de``.

re: faislauno


...how`s that ``military`` government in south korea doing?...

re tahmed32 (post # 59)

Your response is typical of a kgs/kas democrat who has never missed a meal in his life and who probably never took the time to find out about the life of the driver who came to class each day after school ended to carry chotay sahibs basta. Any idea of price of mutton in Karachi? how much do you think does it costs to visit the neighborhood general practitioner? How about the price of a litre bottle of johnnie walker black in karachi? Do you think the peon who works for habib bank and makes pkr 8,000 p.m. and supports a family of 7 including his sick mother really gives a rats ass about who is sitting on the throne in margala. Do you honestly think having the prince of darkness lording over the current cast of whores will make Pakistan a prosperous country twenty years down the road? And do you seriously think that the prince will voluntarily hold elections that will return a government that will throw his ass back where it belongs? Might be a moot issue if you are one of the people who has benefited for the prince’s legendary generosity to his friends.

re tahmed32 (post # 59)

your response is typical of a kgs/kas democrat who has never missed a meal in his life and who probably never took the time to find out about the life of the driver who came to class each day after school ended to carry chotay sahibs basta. any idea of price of mutton in karachi? how much do you think does it costs to visit the neighborhood general practitioner? how about the price of a litre bottle of johnnie walker black in karachi? do you think the peon who works for habib bank and makes pkr 8,000 p.m. and supports a family of 7 including his sick mother really gives a rats ass about who is sitting on the throne in margala. do you honestly think that having the prince of darkness lording over the current cast of whores will make pakistan a prosperous country twenty years down the road? and do you seriously think that the prince will voluntarily hold elections that will return a government that will throw his ass back where it belongs? might be a moot issue if you are one of those people who has benefited for the prince’s legendary generosity to his friends.

tahmad #90

I am holding my breath to see the Pakistani counterpart [of sorts; after a fashion, that is] of the old ``Peter Principle``.

re tahmed32 (post # 59)

your response is typical of a kgs/kas democrat who has never missed a meal in his life and who probably never took the time to find out about the life of the driver who came to class each day after school ended to carry chotay sahibs basta. any idea of price of mutton in karachi? how much do you think does it costs to visit the neighborhood general practitioner? how about the price of a litre bottle of johnnie walker black in karachi? do you think the peon who works for habib bank and makes pkr 8,000 p.m. and supports a family of 7 including his sick mother really gives a rats a$$ about who is sitting on the throne in margala. do you honestly think having the prince of darkness lording over the current cast of whores will make pakistan a prosperous country twenty years down the road? and do you seriously think that the prince will voluntarily hold elections that will return a government that will throw his a$$ back where it belongs? might be a moot issue if you are one of those people who has benefited for the prince’s legendary generosity to his friends.