(August 17, 2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said the development of some countries that became independent after Pakistan has become a cause of surprise for the whole world.
On the other hand, the majority of people living in Pakistan are facing poverty and hunger which is the direct result of the wrong priorities of the rulers.
The situation in Pakistan is the most alarming in the region except for Afghanistan, while the situation in Iran, which has been under international sanctions for decades, is better than in Pakistan.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the reason for Pakistan’s worrying situation is the priorities of most of our rulers, while the situation in other countries in the region, including China, Bangladesh and India, is due to the good priorities of their rulers.
Pakistan has received more loans and aid from other countries in the region, but investment in human development has not been prioritized, due to which the economy has not been able to develop, he added.
The business leader said that due to these policies, neither the economy developed nor poverty decreased, but the problems of corruption and militancy have increased.
During the policy-making process, the pleasure of the electorate was always prioritized over the economic interests of the country so that the rulers could extend their stay in power, he observed.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that every government raised the slogans of reforms, but meaningful reforms were always considered against their interests, so they had to take loans from IMF repeatedly, while the reforms suggested by the international organization have never been fully implemented.
He added that many were pinning high hopes on the incumbent government, but so far there has been no progress in the privatization of failed government institutions, theft of electricity and gas, elimination of line losses, restoration of agriculture and increase in exports.
The government’s focus seems to be on getting a loan from the IMF, he said, adding that it is impossible to realize the dream of development and eradication of poverty without fundamental reforms.
