2009 Failed States Index - Interactive Map and Rankings | Foreign Policy
Now that is just a flame - I challenge you to show me how Somalia and Afghanistan compare to Pakistan in terms of economy, stability, development and functioning governments.
Economic Decline Index:-
Pakistan- 6.4
Somalia- 9.5
Afghanistan- 8.3
There is no denying the fact that Pakistan is in deep Economic mess. The President of a country without any reason do not ask donations worth 60% of his country's GDP( Mr. Zardari asking for 100 billion dollars in aid)
President Zardari calls for $100bn grant from world community - GEO.tv
Now one will say that Pakistan has been fighting an insurgency in it's tribal areas so the economy dwindled, etc, etc..
Its agreeable.
But then comparison with India is not agreeable. Why? Because Pakistan has only been fighting an insurgency for 4-5 years in only one area, whereas India has been fighting insurgency in Kashmir for over 20 years, against Maoists in many states from many years, and against the North-east militants for decades. Despite that Indian President never asked for 660 billion dollars(60% of Indian GDP) from anyone.
So no comparison here.
External Intervention:-
Pakistan- 9.5
Somalia- 9.8
Afghanistan- 10.0
Most Pakistanis claim that CIA, RAW and Mossad have deep network inside Pakistan. Unconfirmed claims suggest Media & Press Control by External Agencies as well. A Successful state does not have and does not allow such level of external intervention at any cost.
Preparing for war on Pakistan | Pakistan Daily
Wicked CIA-RAW-Mossad axis against Islamabad: Pak media - Pakistan - World - The Times of India
so explain to me how Pakistan is a failed state like Somalia and Afghanistan.
Well Somalia is ranked 1, but Pakistan is ranked 10, so Pakistan fares better than Somalia, not equivalent to Somalia. And one can see the indices given there, and they seem quite correct to me.
People who made this are no kids. Either ,
i)they possess high acumen to make such conclusions,
ii)or by intent they want to demarginalize, demon-ize Pakistan in front of the world.
Choice is one's own to make of these two.
There was no 'chance', West Pakistan started of the poorest and least developed of the three current nations - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Any link please. I didn't find any.
In my opinion Bangladesh or East Pakistan was poorest, and continue to be.
The growth in the sixties and later was entirely due to the correct policies followed at the time and hard work by Pakistanis, not some 'chance', and the advantage was frittered away by subsequent poor policies, economic and political.
Despite all that stop and go economic development, and the slowdown post 2007, Pakistan is still largely at the same level as India in terms of per capita indicators, as I mentioned earlier. Once the scourge of terrorism is banished, I see Pakistan rapidly progressing once again -now we need to get that poverty rate down from 17% to under 10%!
This is a good article related to all you said.
Transcript of Dr. Kaiser Bengali’s Lecture – Making sense of Pakistan and its Economy | Teeth Maestro
And what 'advantages'? It is fact that West Pakistan had a fraction, if any, of the industrial infrastructure and infrastructure and development period, compared to East Pakistan and India.
It is a self-satisfying statement. There was no Industrial Infrastructure in India in 1947. Nearly 90% of population was rural agriculture fed. India still lags way behind in Industrial Infrastructure. At the time of independence the only something in the name of Industries in India were some Textile Mills in Bombay and some Jute Mills in West Bengal.
India's bicycle industry, scooter industry, car industry, truck manufacturing industry, all were initiated after independence.
Pakistan also had opportunities to make its OWN bicycles, cars, bikes, trucks. Policies or no Policies, hard working Pakistanis should have over-taken those "Policy Red-Tapes".
Everything that has been accomplished in Pakistan has been accomplished due to the hard work and ingenuity of Pakistanis, despite stop and go policies, political instability and wars
Let me give you an example. India was in License Raj till 1991, which means that nothing can be manufactured until a businessman gets a 'license from a bureaucrat', which made it almost impossible to do business in India.
But hard working Indian Businessmen fought against this medieval practice of business, to overcome Policies, Bureaucrats, Politicians, System, Political Instability, Insurgency and Wars.
That's what Hard Working people do. They overcome the hurdles in their path. Indian businessmen were able to convert the atmosphere inside the county in favour of doing business which thus led to Continuous Economic Growth.
My point is that, it makes a conflicting statement to say that, Pakistani businessmen are hard-working but their growth have been stopped by non-helping Policies. My point is nothing can stop hard-working businessmen. Not even their own Government. And in Pakistan's case, many businessmen are in Politics, so I don;t see the point raised.
. Despite all that, and starting off at a disadvantage compared to India, Pakistan is still comparable in per capita numbers to India,
What disadvantage?
India's Per Capita GDP was lower than West Pakistan's at the time of independence, till the start of this decade, when India overtook Paksitan.
India and South Asia: economic ... - Google Books
so if there is any need to point fingers at a nation for not taking advantage of the head start it had, then that is India.
India's literacy rate was nearly 15% in 1947. Today India produce more than 5000 PhD.s every year, more than there are in whole of Pakistan.
More than 8,00,000 car units are manufactured every year by India's Own car companies all of which started after Independence.
The list can go on and on.....
If you are saying that India has an 'advantage' of having Visionary People, then that's a different thing.
The whole point is that whole of South Asia was non-industrialized in 1947. But in 1991, India decided to break free from the shackles. And in the process India overtook Pakistan in terms of Per Capita Income. India has been Consistently growing over 6-7% for last 15 years, and by 6.7% even in amidst of Global Recession. This all happened when India was fighting war, or was making nuclear bomb, or is engaged in multiple insurgencies.
I have no doubt that Pakistan businessmen must be hardworking like the Indian ones. But if they want to make a mark then they have to overcome Policy Barriers.
India can be mired in multiple problems right now. But looking ahead there is a clear winner. Arguments can be made now, but most people believe that there will be no comparison in 10-15 years.
Yes, we know, no one has seen the future, but assumptions can be made taking "Past-to-Present" as the base.