Haq's Musings: Pakistan's Year 2014 Review
I wish all my readers a very happy new year!
Pakistan's year 2014 saw major anti-terror actions by the military against the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in their safe haven of North Waziristan and elsewhere in the country. The year-end massacre of children at a Peshawar school further galvanized the nation against terrorism. Pakistan Tehrike-e-Insaf's political rallies against the government drew huge turn-out of young urban middle-class Pakistanis. Pakistani economy showed clear signs of improving confidence with 3G-4G mobile broadband roll-out, Chinese investment commitments and booming stock market. Key challenges are successful execution of anti-terror campaign and energy-infrastructure projects. Here are some the major highlights and lowlights of the year 2014 in Pakistan:
Highlights:
1. Outrage against the killing of 130 school children in Peshawar helpedgalvanize Pakistanis to fight terrorism.
2. Civilian casualties from terrorism in Pakistan significantly declined from 3001 in 2013 to 1774 in 2014, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal. Biggest drop occurred since OP Zarb e Azb started 15 June 2014 after the terrorist attack on Karachi Airport.
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
3. President Ashraf Ghani's election and policies helped improve Afghan-Pakistan ties, just in time for the US military pull-out from the region.
4. Deal signed for $45.6 billion to build Pak-China industrial corridor. It has the potential to set new FDI records and solve Pakistan's energy crisis and spar new wave of industrialization in special economic zones.
5. 3G-4G rollout and growth of smartphones helped increase access to Internet. High-tech startup ecosystem took shape with several successful startups in e-commerce, smartphone apps space, gaming, etc. Several VC deals closed. A dozen e-commerce startups are starting to take off in Pakistan.
6. New face of political protests rallies emerged with massive turn-out of young urban middle class Pakistani turning out for Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf rallies with music, containers, and drones.
7. In 2014, the KSE-100 Index gained 6,870 points thereby generating a handsome return of 27% (31% return in US$ terms), making Pakistan's KSE world's third best performing market. Total offerings in the year 2014 reached 9 as compared to 3 in the year 2013. After a gap of seven years, Rs 73 billion were raised through offerings in 2014 as compared to a meager Rs 4 billion raised in 2013. Foreign investors, that hold US$ 6.1 billion worth of Pakistani shares -which is 33% of the free-float (9% of market capitalization)-remained net buyers in 2014.
8. Pakistan organized biggest ever arms show IDEAS 2014 in Karachi. It attracted 333 defense-related companies including 50 companies from Pakistan. Delegates from 50 countries attended the show this year.
9. Malala Yousufzai became youngest Nobel Prize winner. Education got a boost with new reports indicating increased enrollment.
10. Several Pakistani-Americans, particularly women, made news in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in America. For example: Ashar Aziz, Umaima Mendhro, Shama Zehra, Mir Zafar Ali, Novaira Masood, Shan Kandawalla, Hana Dehradunwalla.
11. Pakistan was accepted as an associate member of CERN, one of the world's top research labs, ahead of India.
Low-lights:
1. Slow recognition of the existential threat terrorism cost a lot of lives and hurt confidence in Pakistani state and economy. Failure to convict terrorists made the situation worse.
2. Violence against minorities continued with some of the most horrific incidents of killing and burning of innocent people.
3. Abuse of blasphemy law took its toll on an increasing number of people...both Muslim and non-Muslim.
4. Polio continued to take its toll on children with number of confirmed cases at an all-time high of 296 in 2014.
5. India-Pakistan ties hit new lows after Hindu Nationalist hard-liner Narendra Modi was elected India's new prime minister. India stepped up covert war in Pakistan.
6. Poor governance created chaos with failure to respond to Model Town incident and rigging allegations.
7. Execution of energy and infrastructure projects continued to lag.
8. Thar drought and children's deaths exposed incompetence and corruption of Sind provincial govt. Pakistan ranked worse than India on World Hunger Index for the first time in history.
9. Pakistan-bashing books made brisk sales in the rapidly growing Indian book market.
Future:
Key lies in successful execution of anti-terror campaign and energy-infrastructure projects. It'll be a huge challenge for all Pakistanis, particularly the political and military leadership of the country.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
China to Invest $45.6 billion in Pakistan
High-Tech Investments in Pakistan
E-commerce Growth in Pakistan
Malala Inspires School Enrollment
Pakistani-American Women Excel as Entrepreneurs
Thar Drought Claims Children's Lives
Modi's Covert War in Pakistan
Anti-Pakistan Book Market in India
Haq's Musings: Pakistan's Year 2014 Review
I wish all my readers a very happy new year!
Pakistan's year 2014 saw major anti-terror actions by the military against the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in their safe haven of North Waziristan and elsewhere in the country. The year-end massacre of children at a Peshawar school further galvanized the nation against terrorism. Pakistan Tehrike-e-Insaf's political rallies against the government drew huge turn-out of young urban middle-class Pakistanis. Pakistani economy showed clear signs of improving confidence with 3G-4G mobile broadband roll-out, Chinese investment commitments and booming stock market. Key challenges are successful execution of anti-terror campaign and energy-infrastructure projects. Here are some the major highlights and lowlights of the year 2014 in Pakistan:
Highlights:
1. Outrage against the killing of 130 school children in Peshawar helpedgalvanize Pakistanis to fight terrorism.
2. Civilian casualties from terrorism in Pakistan significantly declined from 3001 in 2013 to 1774 in 2014, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal. Biggest drop occurred since OP Zarb e Azb started 15 June 2014 after the terrorist attack on Karachi Airport.
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
3. President Ashraf Ghani's election and policies helped improve Afghan-Pakistan ties, just in time for the US military pull-out from the region.
4. Deal signed for $45.6 billion to build Pak-China industrial corridor. It has the potential to set new FDI records and solve Pakistan's energy crisis and spar new wave of industrialization in special economic zones.
5. 3G-4G rollout and growth of smartphones helped increase access to Internet. High-tech startup ecosystem took shape with several successful startups in e-commerce, smartphone apps space, gaming, etc. Several VC deals closed. A dozen e-commerce startups are starting to take off in Pakistan.
6. New face of political protests rallies emerged with massive turn-out of young urban middle class Pakistani turning out for Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf rallies with music, containers, and drones.
7. In 2014, the KSE-100 Index gained 6,870 points thereby generating a handsome return of 27% (31% return in US$ terms), making Pakistan's KSE world's third best performing market. Total offerings in the year 2014 reached 9 as compared to 3 in the year 2013. After a gap of seven years, Rs 73 billion were raised through offerings in 2014 as compared to a meager Rs 4 billion raised in 2013. Foreign investors, that hold US$ 6.1 billion worth of Pakistani shares -which is 33% of the free-float (9% of market capitalization)-remained net buyers in 2014.
8. Pakistan organized biggest ever arms show IDEAS 2014 in Karachi. It attracted 333 defense-related companies including 50 companies from Pakistan. Delegates from 50 countries attended the show this year.
9. Malala Yousufzai became youngest Nobel Prize winner. Education got a boost with new reports indicating increased enrollment.
10. Several Pakistani-Americans, particularly women, made news in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in America. For example: Ashar Aziz, Umaima Mendhro, Shama Zehra, Mir Zafar Ali, Novaira Masood, Shan Kandawalla, Hana Dehradunwalla.
11. Pakistan was accepted as an associate member of CERN, one of the world's top research labs, ahead of India.
Low-lights:
1. Slow recognition of the existential threat terrorism cost a lot of lives and hurt confidence in Pakistani state and economy. Failure to convict terrorists made the situation worse.
2. Violence against minorities continued with some of the most horrific incidents of killing and burning of innocent people.
3. Abuse of blasphemy law took its toll on an increasing number of people...both Muslim and non-Muslim.
4. Polio continued to take its toll on children with number of confirmed cases at an all-time high of 296 in 2014.
5. India-Pakistan ties hit new lows after Hindu Nationalist hard-liner Narendra Modi was elected India's new prime minister. India stepped up covert war in Pakistan.
6. Poor governance created chaos with failure to respond to Model Town incident and rigging allegations.
7. Execution of energy and infrastructure projects continued to lag.
8. Thar drought and children's deaths exposed incompetence and corruption of Sind provincial govt. Pakistan ranked worse than India on World Hunger Index for the first time in history.
9. Pakistan-bashing books made brisk sales in the rapidly growing Indian book market.
Future:
Key lies in successful execution of anti-terror campaign and energy-infrastructure projects. It'll be a huge challenge for all Pakistanis, particularly the political and military leadership of the country.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
China to Invest $45.6 billion in Pakistan
High-Tech Investments in Pakistan
E-commerce Growth in Pakistan
Malala Inspires School Enrollment
Pakistani-American Women Excel as Entrepreneurs
Thar Drought Claims Children's Lives
Modi's Covert War in Pakistan
Anti-Pakistan Book Market in India
Haq's Musings: Pakistan's Year 2014 Review
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