THIS is with reference to the article ‘Can democracy deliver prosperity?’ (Dawn Business and Finance, Dec 30). The writer rightly observed that, despite the injection of $28 billion in the economy through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the economy remained stunted. The scribe, however, failed to elaborate the reasons.

According to the World Bank, good governance is crucial for economic growth. The outgoing decade so almost no solid measures from successive governments to establish good governance. Accountability was mostly misused at penalising political opponents. Furthermore, the bureaucracy remained partisan.

These last 10 years were also haunted by persistent insecurity caused by terrorism, a menace that hampers economic growth. This not only restricted entrepreneurship, but also hindered foreign direct investment. This marauding force of terrorism, inadvertently, forced the state to spend more and more on the security of the state. This amount, in the absence of insecurity, could have easily been utilized for development of infrastructure and workforce.

Similarly, dirty politics, in which one party focuses more on destroying its opponents than making vital decisions, widely served as a stumbling block to economic growth. Mudslinging, one-sided accountability and vested interests were prioritised over national interests.

This decade, alas, saw little progress regarding women empowerment, which is the key to prosperity of any nation. According to one estimate, equal participation of women in the job market ensures a 30 per cent GDP growth per annum. Although a 10 per cent quota has been fixed for women in all jobs, their participation in workforce remains miniscule owing to social and religious misconceptions. Sadly, women continued to face violence, abuse and discrimination in various walks of life as feudal-societal mentality was hardly challenged by any governmental interventions.

While the economic figures show that the tilt of the incumbent government regarding ‘change’ and prosperity seems to be in the right direction, one hopes that its policy regarding accountability should not force one to believe that it is on a path of vendetta.

Uzair Baloch
Turbat

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2020