According to the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom (EFI) prepared jointly by The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan ranks 89th ahead of many regional economies. That is, Pakistan offers a lot more “economic freedom” than many other countries in the region. India is ranked 104 out of 161 countries. Let us see how this so-called economic freedom is gauged by these prestigious institutions.

According to this index, freedom is gauged as fiscal freedom, business freedom, freedom from government, and labour freedom and Pakistan “scores well” on all of these scales. Basically, it gauges economic freedom in terms of “ease of doing business, regulations, investment freedom, financial freedom, fiscal freedom, property rights, trade freedom etc.” The long and the short of it is that this EFI is based on freedom to make profits by the trading and business classes. In the process, a whole lot of other freedoms may be denied or trampled upon that this EFI ignores or sweeps under the rug.

What is fiscal freedom in a country where tax evasion goes unchecked mostly? According to a renowned development economist, tax evasion in Pakistan is of the order of five per cent which if controlled will wipe off the fiscal deficit. So, fiscal freedom is a lot about denying freedom to evade taxes with an iron hand that this EFI does not reflect.

What is business freedom in a country where there is freedom to hoard and jack up prices as in sugar and cement occasionally or to hike milk and vegetable prices without effective restraint? Or, to keep increasing the support prices of wheat that is basic diet of all and that then spirals into increasing inflation that none tries to bring down. This business freedom to increase food and consumable prices by fair means or foul denies the freedom of food. Freedom to eat and live and to live well, ala Amartya Sen, is a very basic human freedom.

Our so-called business freedom usurps this fundamental freedom to eat by eating into the food share of the deprived or even the middle classes in the country. If business freedom denies the right to eat and live, there is something seriously amiss in the economic policy outlook that this so-called Economic Freedom Index promotes in the interest of the dominant global elite network.

The token petroleum product price decrease in election year is a pittance if compared with a fall in the international oil price level from over $70 a barrel to around $50. This small mercy will feature in policy makers’ rhetoric for a long time to come.

Under the weight of this favour, will we be expected to crumble when we are already crumbling under the weight of unbridled price increase in nearly all items of daily use including food, pharmaceuticals, travel, healthcare, education, utilities, and housing to name a few ? Does any one listen at all to a groaning public in this “democratic” dispensation?

With rising healthcare costs, it is freedom from disease, ala Amartya Sen, or freedom to live a healthy life that is denied? With rising educational expenditures, it is freedom to see light that is denied to vast majority of the population that dies in ignorance. Freedom to have basic amenities of life is denied with costly utilities and roof required essentially over the head. So, whose freedom does the Economic Freedom Index portray? Of those who already have most freedoms on earth by virtue of the wealth they are born in and who keep claiming successfully a bigger and a bigger share of the same by virtue of their headstart!

To give high marks on labour freedom is certainly a mockery of the state of “labour freedom” in Pakistan. With retrenchments, layoffs, and downsizing on the rise; labour are losing the freedom even to work according to their choice in an environment that does not have many choices to offer. Freedom to work according to capability is not available to the educated and professionally qualified either who have to put up with discrimination and exploitation at work places because the external environment does not offer many alternatives.

Employers may carry on with their discriminatory practices knowing all too well the constraints within which the employees work. So, where is the economic freedom for labour of various shades if they do not have freedom to choose or have a very limited freedom to choose a desirable workplace?

The more courageous may choose to migrate. This, however, entails huge human costs and suffering in terms of separated families. People then do not even have the freedom to live happily together as a family in close proximity just because of non-availability of appropriate economic opportunity and freedom to work as per one’s liking in the homeland.

And, when the most deprived cannot provide the bare minimum of food, shelter, and clothing to their off-springs; some start trading them at a very young age for small sums of money. Consequently, we are known for providing camel riders for the sheikhs in Dubai which is a horrendous practice in usurping basic freedom of the child to be raised well and respectably that the policy makers give no thought to at all nor did the prestigious institutions that rank us decently on the “economic freedom” index.

Then, there is the huge supply of internal child labour to households, motor mechanic workshops and other vocations, retail trade, carpet manufacturing units, and brick kilns to name a few. A sizeable percentage of the population does not have the economic freedom to bloom. Many a potential stars fade away before growing into robust, happy, and willing input providers to our economy that fails to realise its full potential year after year after year as we begin wasting our precious human resource from their very young age.

Even though there is great emphasis on exploitation of “natural resources” such as water, wind, mineral, and even solar energy; not a thought goes towards developing the human resource that gets wasted primarily because of the lack of economic freedoms that they must have from day one. From day one, they must have freedom to drink milk. Milk prices skyrocket as traders/businesses have a lot of freedom according to none other than the worldwide Economic Freedom Index. But, countries underprivileged, underfed, and undernourished mothers suffer as do their babies born to experience one denial of economic freedom after another throughout their existence on our part of earth.

And, the cheek of it all is the “freedom from government” that this economic freedom index also boasts of. Which country on earth is free from government or should be free from government? The very presence of governments means that the societies are not self-governing. That is, governments are required. If governments are required, they must govern well. Good government does not mean interference in all business and socio-economic activity.

However, it does mean effective intervention wherever and whenever societal segments fail to make good of their freedom from government. And, this failure is writ large as depicted herein already. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the government to discharge its responsibility. It is further incumbent upon the government to provide us with roads, electricity, gas, healthcare, education, and all the infrastructure that the society needs without

burdening the salaried taxpayers unduly. Taxes must be shared equitably horizontally and vertically.

None must have freedom from tax payment no matter how wealthy or privileged socially. “Freedom from government,” in our environment, is actually freedom for the government to be in government without doing what a government is supposed to do. This freedom cannot be allowed to governments that have yet to discharge for the benefit of all alike without discrimination.

Unless the above economic freedoms come to prevail through governments that are not left free to offload to those who already hog the financial resources, economic performance will only be gauged by growth rates for the benefit of economic policy makers and the beneficiaries of such policies. The vast majority will continue to standby idly due to a gross lack of economic freedoms. A “booming” economy must provide economic freedoms to all even-handedly otherwise it is non-performing. The much avowed correlation between “economic freedom” and “economic performance” must then be qualified to be considered true for a select minority segment only that may not stand the test of justice and equity now or in the future in Pakistan if we “stay the course.”