The issue is if the west is not happy then Pakistan economy will suffer, then our elite assets will suffer and this includes current and retired establishment people. What could you do to make this better?
IK and PTI need to come with alternative plan which would benefit Pakistan. ie more trade with China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, ASEAN, Gulf, Africa, Russia, Turk Nations. The question is are these importing nations or are they in the same as category as Pakistan, which is a nation which is desperate for exports. The west is mega rich and they import from Asia because its cheap.
We are desperate for gas and oil, we made contract with Iran for the pipeline, Iran built their side of pipeline but Pakistan is acting like a coward nation and not building it on their side.
Pakistan’s elites need to concede some of their monopolistic control over key industries and allow new entrants with money to invest. Land reform should be enacted so smaller farmers can earn profits which they should be incentivized to reinvest into their farms to boost yields.
Pakistan needs investors, investment in Human capital and access to technology.
Mines like Reko-Diq need to be strategically opened up with a western partner to gain business partners in western capitals. The knowledge and experience gained from this project can jump start the mining industry. We should have these kinds of ventures in each industry. Ventures that bring in technology, training for our human capital, and enough influence abroad to “refinance” not just our loans but our political relations. If we can achieve a faster then 7-8% annual growth sustained over a number of year we will attract foreign investors and the associated political capital.
We also need to make the Indus and all associated rivers navigable. navigable rivers in Pakistan are one of the key to rapid industrialization. We can’t move most of our population to the coasts to make labor Available to the global companies, but we can bring ships to our populations in the form of navigable rivers. Couple this with a canal (The “Makran Canal”) from Karachi to Gwadar and you have a way to make Gwadar, with its deep water port, relevant to global trade, a potentially viable competitor to Dubai, and therefore more Chinese investment, not just in Gwadar but the whole of a Pakistan. Gwadar with a canal via Karachi and not a rail line directly north to Quetta would also make it more secure from potential future successionist plans.
We need to think big, and a lot of the work we can do ourselves. Think of our rivers like they were the Mississippi River or the Yangtze with each of their tributaries. I use to live near one of the tributaries of the Mississippi and would watch the barges going by day after day. Shipping by sea is the cheapest form of transport. Couple this with a railway from the Rivers to China via Afghanistan and Central Asia, and you get a non-Malacca Route for Chinese trade; commercial customers. with a trade route like that, commercial investors would come from both East and West, making Pakistan important to global trade; because it would be the like the “Suez Canal” to Central Asia.
We can start by being more careful in how we use our water. We need to use modern farms of agriculture and conserve the water so there is enough to make the rivers Navigable all the way down into the Indus delta.
In fact with the following chart, you can know exactly how deep the water level needs to be to carry ships of a certain weight down River.
The Indians have been studying the navigability of the River Ravi for Years
A new Indus waterways transport system could revolutionise the economies of South Asia
www.google.com
With the right boat (A Stern Landing Vessel),
a ship could travel the Rivers of Pakistan, AND traverse the Arabian Sea and make it to the port of Djibouti, where trade with Africa would be at the lowest possible cost. If Ethiopia and Djibouti use some of the water from the Great Renaissance dam to build a canal from the dam to Djibouti, a ship like this could sail into the African interior (and wouldn’t need a prepared port to trade in); merging on the west coast and could sail through the entire Niger a river system as well. HUGE trade potential with a few key infrastructure projects.
This kind of ship would not only be good for commerce but Pakistani military logistics, and would make the profit margins even higher for existing industrialists. It’s a win win that any Smart party would do, especially if they can convince the people that conserving water and using it wisely will benefit them greatly.
Then Pakistan could easily trade in higher amounts with Africa and Central Asia, as well as earn from the transit trade accordingly.
