How does one chart Pakistan's development? From the fact that the rich have 2 cars in their driveways, that supermarkets in the big cities are well-stocked with imported food stuff and other consumer items; that we are now in the age of dishwashing liquids, aluminum foil-packs, milk-packs, yogurt in cartons, thirty-two flavors of ice-cream and the prospering fast food business. Additionally, there are the imported washing machines, refrigerators, televisions and VCRs stashed away in a room in some village, awaiting electrification of the area, to become of use to the proud owner - the Middle East worker. And last but not least, we have mastered nuclear technology.
If these examples are anything to go by, then I would be the first to concede that development has indeed taken place. For like many others, I too am benefiting from these advancements. What, however, is difficult to grasp and even more difficult to digest is the fact that even after fifty four years, this development seems superficial and progress remains a relative term.
What is not existent to this day (whether for reasons of resource constraints, outside pressures, lack of democratic processes, but primarily to my mind, short- sighted planning and administration), is a nation not blessed with a growing literacy rate, better health facilities, equal employment opportunities, citizens sharing a sense of civic duty (simple things like standing in queue, not spitting on walls and throwing garbage outside our thousand-yard homes); in short, a nation which is not geared or prepared for advancement in all sectors.
To this day, the roads and transport system can in no way be called even satisfactory. Cars like Honda Accords, Mercedes Benz and Toyota Crowns ply these roads, carrying officials of the administrative machinery of this country, who know how to use the taxpayers' money for luxury cars but do not know how to use it for planning a proper road system. One is constrained to say, were it not for our colonial past, we might not have had roads at all. Of course, our gratitude must also be shown to Sher Shah Suri for giving us the Grand Truck Road. In the last ten years that I have traveled to various cities by road, I can honestly say that it has never been smooth sailing. The roads have all been in either repair or disrepair as far as I can remember.
Before I engage in further discussion, there is a priceless quotation from the Economic Survey 1984-1985, which I would like to reproduce. I must point out that the Economic Survey is supposed to provide an independent analysis of economic issues and does not necessarily represent the views of the Government, although a government ministry publishes it. The quote reads "the key issue is whether society at large would be prepared to accept a major erosion in social morals and values in return for more health, education and material comforts (desirable and often necessary as they are). Obviously judged from our own spiritual and social values, the quality of life in Pakistan as it is, would on balance be considered vastly superior to that in non-Muslim countries, and would compare quite favorably to that in our brethren Muslim countries".
I will not attempt to dilate on whether better health and education means that moral and social values suffer, instead I would like to point out the horrifying fact that only 29 percent of Pakistan's entire population has access to a safe water supply. Here, I would like to give the example of an area outside Dera Ismail Khan (NWFP) where this lack of safe water has been the cause of a terrible disease: worms in the knees of people whose only source of water are the potholes full of rainwater.
In the educational area, literacy remains a mere 24 percent. Despite repeated assurances by policy-makers that health and education would be special target areas and the pace of change would be accelerated, progress still remains slow and even stunted. It appears that the planners have got caught in their own web. Although numerically speaking the number of colleges and universities have increased, but to what avail? The quality of education being imparted is creating far more harm than good. As someone remarked, "we seem to be mass-producing M.A.s and B.A.s with an end to becoming a Babu population". Does Pakistan not require more skill centers and polytechnics instead?
Therefore, it appears that we in Pakistan have allowed almost four decades of our national life to lapse and as yet have not evolved a process for speedier development. Experimentation in the name of development has been allowed to go unchecked. Whereas allocations are announced with great fanfare, the general public must also be made aware of how these allocations are put to use and with what measure of success. If Pakistan is to develop, more than mere fund allocations and rosy-sounding schemes will be needed. Implementation can take place only if Pakistan's population is fully equipped and its man-and-woman power is harnessed for developmental processes. A compulsory ‘Service to the Nation' scheme must be formulated wherein every citizen lends a hand in bringing Pakistan to a smoother path of development, where the frills match progress in all vital sectors and it can be said that an educated Pakistani nation has now the right to enjoy the fruits of their hard-earned labor.
If, however, the developmental pace remains lopsided, where education and health for the few is the prerogative of the moneyed and the administration continues to fail in providing the balance, then even we, the first generation Pakistanis will meet our Maker without having seen any positive results. Our prayers, however, should be that the next generation of Pakistanis fare better. After all, why should they be asked to eat cake when it is bread that they want?
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