Five E challenges for todays Pakistan

By. Javed Ali Kalhoro

Published in Weekly Pulse
Dated. May 12, 2014
Two months ago, I was given a chance by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) to visit
the USA and meet some American renowned scholars like Stephen Philip Cohen and other
senior journalists. After having brief discussions on various issues related to US-Pak
relationship, I came to the conclusion that USA wants Pakistan now to be independent both
politically and economically in its decisions and plans. There are some challenges the country
needs to address in order to put a new step towards development. These challenges or five Es
include; Extremism, Economy, Energy, Education and Establishment. Pakistan has to make
some important decisions or design some policies to address these challenges. The country is still
going through the toughest time of its history. However, there have been some major positive
developments in last couple of months by the democratic government, but the main challenges
are yet to be addressed. Here I will like to highlight these five Es that have become main hurdles
in the progress and development of my country.
Extremism
After 9/11, extremism is not a new phenomenon for any country around the globe. In fact,
extremism re-connected entire globe to address the issue in a proper manner with its full sprit.
Pakistan is ranked amongst the most insecure countries where in spite of the constitutional right
of freedom of expression, some journalists have lost their lives while some are still getting the
life threats. The suicide bombings in Pakistan started in 1995, when some militant groups hired
a suicide bomber to attack the Egypt embassy in Islamabad. Since then, the suicide attacks in the
country are not end yet. As per survey by a non-governmental organization, there have been
21989 civilian causalities in various suicide/planted bomb attacks till March 2014 and 4994
causalities in drone strikes. The situation is still understandable that who is killing whom. The
Pakistan Army itself is doing its best job, but the situation is still seemed to be more difficult
than in past.

The NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan has started, the forces are rolling back their military
equipment and many corners in Afghanistan are being vacated. Some troops will remain in
Afghanistan, (if the BSA is signed) but would not be affective against terrorists, as the remaining
NATO troops in Afghanistan would be trainers, not attackers and their security responsibility
will lie at the shoulders of the Afghan government. On other side of the border, Pakistan itself
cannot afford its troops to be remained at the Durand line as growing clashes on its eastern side
(India) will lead the army to focus more than to its western border. This situation, will, somehow,
create trouble for Pakistan; if the ongoing talks with the Taliban and other militant groups fail.
Therefore dealing with growing extremism within Pakistan is one of the greatest challenges for
todays democratic government.
Economy
The economy of Pakistan has been passing through its worst period of history. The economy of
Pakistan is partially dependent upon the financial assistance that is being provided in the form
grant. USA wants Pakistan now to be a bit independent economically as aid in the form of
grant is now annoying a big proportion of public as they dont want to pay huge taxes to be
used for development of any other country. According to a recent report of International
Monetary fund (IMF), Macroeconomic imbalances and longstanding structural impediments to
growth have prevented full realization of Pakistans potential. Problems in the energy sector,
security concerns, and a difficult investment climate have combined with adverse shocks to
undermine economic performance in the past decade. As a result, GDP growth has only averaged
3 percent over the past few years, well below what is needed to provide jobs for the rising labor
force and to reduce poverty. This statement of the Monetary Fund clearly shows that if the same
economic situation persists, it would economically be even more difficult for the country to
reach even 7% of GDP growth in next two decades.
Energy
Pakistan is facing the energy crises for the last more than one decade. According to the official
statistics, the government has paid the circular debt of 506 billion rupees to the IPPs while it has
to pay more than 300billion rupees more. The electricity shortfall has reached 6000 MW while
long-term projects like construction of dams, will ultimately reach its completion somewhere
near to 2020, when the public demand could be higher than todays scenario. Pakistan, recently
has borrowed 100 million Euros from a EU private bank for the construction of Keyal Khwar
Hydropower project plant, which will create 122 Megawatts of electricity. The project is
expected to be completed by 2016. Due to this energy crisis, foreign investors are reluctant to
invest in Pakistan.
Education
Unfortunately, Education is one of those sectors that have always been ignored in Pakistan, As
per Pakistans constitution 1973, Article 25 A, Right to education which clearly says that: The
State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen
years in such manner as may be determined by law. Pakistans first ever education census was
conducted in 2005/06 by the ministry of education and the Statistics Division. According to the
consensus, there are 245,682 educational institutions around the country, which include religious
madrassas (Religious education in masques), schools, colleges and universities. Various reports
state that 20% population is considered to be educated whereas more than 13% out of these 20%
is having just the primary education. This means, the 13% boys/girls can read and write their
names. Remaining 7% students are either graduates (Bachelor) or have completed their masters
degrees. As per Pakistans last budget 2013/14, presented in the parliament, education sector is
allocated only 8 percent of the total budgetary allocation. According to the UNDP Human
Development Report 2013, only seven developing countries in the world spend less on
education than Pakistan.

Establishment
Most of the Pakistani consider Establishment a term that is used to define Army and
Intelligence agencies while in fact, it means the government machinery. Unfortunately, the
governments in Pakistan had always been lacking the political will. Except the last democratic
government of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), none of the previous governments enjoyed their
tenure for full five years. Lack of political stability led to the poor management of government
institutions. That in the long run failed to uproot the seeds of terrorism from its soil. The recent
attacks on journalists especially attack on senior journalist Hamid Mir had led common people to
talk more about role of establishment ISI in Pakistan. On one hand, the ambiguous civil-
military relationship in the country has made the people uncertain and a bit scared about their
future while on the other hand, the people of Pakistan feel that any sudden interruption in the
existing democratic system would be totally un-acceptable. But one thing is sure that the role of
Establishment in the overall development of the country cannot be ignored at as most of the
policies of the country including the National Security Policy are designed with the consent of
the Establishment.
ENDS