Where Do We Stand in South Asia?

The inefficiency and global recession that is hovering around the world has also engulfed South Asia, and this time, Pakistan is the most affected in the region. We created political dwarves by knowing the process of rearing political chicks for the centralisation of the state power, on whose heads Dulha Shah’s rat shackles were put.

Our political process has not been subservient to the people’s wishes and aspirations and their wants and needs rather it has proceeded with the prescription of alienating the people from the political process. The political process has been handed over to those who sell dreams. They were given emotional slogans that had nothing to do with the real world.

Poverty, ignorance, population pressure, inflation, lawlessness, unemployment, horrendous corruption of the ruling class, nepotism, extremism, bad governance, terrorism and brutality have been among the major problems of Pakistan.

Our state system kept cultivating these problems instead of resolving them. Even though it was the process of fulfilling all kinds of demands of the world power that depend on it, it also fulfilled the task.

On the contrary, it seems that our main goal is to obey the orders of the world power. In these circumstances, our economic indicators look disappointing, compared with other South Asian countries. Not only the economies of India and Bangladesh are better than ours but we are also far behind Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan in many respects. The height of plight is that in terms of inflation, Afghanistan also seems to be better than us. We explore American examples in each case. According to the American journal Global Finance, Pakistan is poorer than Bangladesh and India.

There was a time when our state power used to inspire us, showing dreams of the past and making us clash with the other superpower for the benefit of one superpower. After seeing Eagle and the last rock, our young people used to live their lives on dreams, becoming a practical image of “Lada De Mamule Ko Shehbaz Se” (make vulnerable bird fight with eagle) The rest of the youth got consumed with drugs. After the passing of that period, the youth were made to fall in love with the Turkish Caliphate. Emotional dramas were ordered from Turkey and now it was the turn of the youth to become Ertugrul. Our youth are not told about the arrival of the last Turkish Caliph in Hyderabad Deccan after the end of the Caliphate and his personal life and today Turkey has the highest inflation rate in the world. Our youths were caught up in the fever of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a local form of his practical imitation was found here, as well.

Without getting into this debate, know that inflation in Turkey is the highest in the world. We first present the inflation rates of South Asian countries for comparison so that we can better understand the current situation in Turkey. The most dangerous situation in our region is Sri Lanka, which has been declared bankrupt.

The inflation rate in Sri Lanka is 68.9 per cent; followed by Afghanistan, where the inflation rate is 47.83 per cent. After that we have the worst situation in terms of inflation in South Asia, the inflation rate in Pakistan is increasing on a monthly basis.

In September 2022, Pakistan’s inflation was 23.2 per cent and in October this rate reached 26.6 per cent. Now look at the Turkish figures in this context. The inflation rate in Turkey has reached 85.51 per cent in October 2022 and is the highest in the world. Here our people are selling dreams.

Our ruling elite has been presenting Turkey as a role model for development. Forty years ago, the Turkish autocrat Canaan Avern was presented as a savior and now, the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998 and the elected prime minister and president of the country from 2003 onwards, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main character of the rise and fall of Turkey, has brought the country’s inflation to the highest level in the world and we have been made a prisoner of his love.

We must admit that our dreams are bigger than our expectation and capabilities. We are running towards shortsighted and short-visioned centralisation and we have long since begun a futile and pointless race to shift the concentration of power from institutions to individuals.

We are fighting this race as the last battle. Are the people and institutions who aspire to the centralisation of power keep an eye on the current economic situation of the country? We are also behind Nepal, Bangladesh and India in the region. The economic condition of Bhutan and Maldives is also better than ours. Under these circumstances, why do we persist in adopting those paths of development, which will necessarily lead to degradation and decay?

We are also not making a good record in our region in terms of unemployment. Even if we do not compare with the countries with better economic indicators and if we compare the unemployment rate with the countries that are smaller than ourselves, a painful situation emerges.

In Sri Lanka, declared bankrupt in South Asia, the unemployment rate this year was 4.60 per cent. The unemployment rate in Bhutan has reached 4.10 per cent. Unemployment in Maldives stood at 6 per cent. The unemployment rate in India reached 6.50 per cent, while the inflation rate in Bangladesh is 5.40 per cent.

If we compare this situation of the entire region with the dear country, we have to face severe disappointment. The unemployment rate in Pakistan has reached 12 per cent. As if in terms of unemployment, the situation of Sri Lanka, the country declared bankrupt, is better than us. We are heading towards an all-round crisis, riding on a huge bomb of rapidly growing population, growing narrow-mindedness, lustful centralism, intellectual, political, social and communal extremism.

Our political and institutional elites are not even aware of the seriousness of the situation. The majority of the people are rapidly falling below the poverty line. Life is becoming more and more difficult for the common man. The people of this beautiful region of the world, Pakistan, are waiting for someone, while danger is standing on our head. The threat of default is looming over us and we are engaged in a dangerous power struggle. Will anyone be conscious enough to do something? Will this beautiful resource-rich country continue to be the center of global conflict due to its extremely attractive geographical beauty? Will we continue to be a pasture for the personal desires of the swashbucklers? We have to think. We have to do something.