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HVK Archives: Has Pakistan failed? Ask the visa queues

Has Pakistan failed? Ask the visa queues - The Asian Age

Irfan Husain (Mazdak) ()
16 September 1997

Title: Has Pakistan failed? Ask the visa queues
Author: Irfan Husain (Mazdak)
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: September 16, 1997

How does one measure the success or failure of a state? Apart from the
normal criteria like literacy rates and GDP per capita, surely one
yardstick should be the number of citizens who want to live in a country by
choice.

If we apply this criterion to Pakistan, we find that given half a chance,
people would vote with their feet. Judging by the endless queues outside
the consulates of the United States and sundry oil-rich countries, it would
appear that nobody wants to live in this country excepting the. privileged;
and even they keep a flat and a nest-egg overseas. Virtually anybody who
can afford it - as well as thousands who can't - sent their children abroad
to study in the hope and expectation that they will find gainful employment
there. Illegal emigrants in their tens of thousands risk their
life-savings, ,and occasionally their lives, to sneak into countries where
they find subsistence-level jobs.

All too often, they end up on the streets, in jail or are deported after
spending a few months in police custody. But despite these setbacks,
millions of Pakistanis are planning or dreaming to move to other climes.
Economic opportunity is only one motivating factor behind this lemming-like
rush. "Many Pakistanis, specially from among the professional class who are
living fairly comfortable lives here, are joining the stampede to escape
the lawlessness and the chaos that have come to characterise life in
Pakistan today.

Even the very rich - or rather, specially the very rich - are living in
fear. Every day, a new horror story of a break-in, an armed robbery, a
murder or a carjacking does the rounds on the party circuit. The police,
needless to say, are helpless spectators to this unending crime wave.
Ethnic and sectarian terrorism are on the rise, and this government has
been far less successful than its predecessor in curbing the spiralling
death toll. Under these circumstances, it is small wonder that Pakistanis
across the socio-economic spectrum are heading for all points of the compass.

Even people who would not have dreamed of leaving their country a year or
two ago are now talking about applying for residency permits in Canada or
elsewhere. Among the soul-searching and breast-beating that accompanied our
fiftieth anniversary, this aspect of our national life deserves a small,
sorry footnote. Let's face the fact that nobody wants to. go off and
settle in a foreign, often hostile, land among total strangers unless he
has run out of options in his own country. And most of us are running out
of hope and options. When a virtually unbroken succession of knaves and
poltroons sit in Islamabad to decide our destiny, how can we blame anybody
for deserting the sinking ship of state? When the only priority our leaders
have is to enrich themselves at our expense, who but their immediate
families can dream of a better tomorrow?

It is sobering to reflect on the fact that what the vast majority of
Pakistanis would most like to do is to be elsewhere, almost anywhere but
here. Well over three million - the exact figure is uncertain - have
succeeded, and these hardy souls are supporting not only their own numerous
dependants in Pakistan, but have also helped plug the yawning trade
deficit. Imagine for a moment what the situation would have been hid other
countries not accepted all these legal and illegal immigrants. In a sense,
this migration has acted as a safety valve as the more desperate elements
in our society have found employment abroad instead of putting further
pressure on our very small job market. Had they all still been here, it is
likely that an explosion would have occurred by now. This would not
necessarily have been a bad thing, given the rottenness of the status quo.

As it is, those with neither the skills nor the initiative to go abroad now
constitute a dangerous underclass that threatens the foundations of the
state. Much of the criminal and terrorist activity that plagues us today
can be traced directly to the seething mass of frustrated, angry young men
who have no marketable skills, and lash out at a system in which they have
no stake. They may masquerade under blood-stained political, sectarian or
ethnic banners, but the bottom-line is that this proletariat wants to pull
down the system.

Unfortunately, their agenda stops here: their vague and woolly panaceas do
not stand up to any sort of rational analysis. What they have succeeded in
doing is to derail the economy by frightening away local and foreign
capital. In the process, they are also pushing out capable professionals
who see no future for their children in a state under siege. But if the
brightest and the best leave, what hope is there for the country? As it is,
for years talented Pakistanis have steadily been moving to greener
pastures. Engineers, doctors, bankers and accountants have carved out
rewarding careers for themselves in countries around the world. Students
have got well-paying jobs abroad on graduating from foreign universities.
Those few idealists who returned with visions of serving their country have
soon become disillusioned. Here, a corrupt and cynical elite strangles
creativity and enterprise, and promotes mediocrity. Small wonder that
intelligent and sensitive Pakistanis leave their country as soon as they can.

How long can Pakistan sustain this unchecked haemorrhage of talent? In
effect, we are caught in a no-win situation: the emigration of our best
minds leads to a further deterioration in the quality of life which leads
to more and more people opting out. But in a sense, this situation is
largely the product of past and present politicise, Scientists and
engineers find that their is no research worth the name happening here, and
so leave for countries that will use their experience and education
productively. Other professionals find they are not adequately rewarded.
Nobody honest and intelligent wants to join government service any more
because it pays peanuts. And when you pay peanuts, do not be surprised if
you end up hiring monkeys. Just about everybody is fed up of the endemic
corruption and red tape they have to put up with. Finally, the random
violence and crime that have become a permanent feature of life in
Pakistani cities is the clincher in the argument over whether to stay here
or leave. It has become almost a cliche, specially in our golden jubilee
year, to say that Pakistan is a failed state. The reasons cited are many
and varied, ranging from the increasing polarisation to the fact that while
we may have a state, we still have not managed to become a nation. However,
if we do deserve the label of failed state, it is ultimately because so few
Pakistanis want to live here.

(By arrangement with the Dawn)


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