THESE are early days for the new government in office for it to be judged, but it is quite clear that the country is still struggling with chronic maladies of poor governance, political polarisation and the ever looming economic crisis. But there is nothing new about it. Since its inception in 1947, Pakistan has been at the proverbial crossroads, struggling for survival, making some progress and then security issues — internal or external — pulling the whole thing back to square one. That is an unfortunate, almost undeniable reality.

But, of course, things need to change for the better otherwise we will not be able to cope with tech-based globalised world of the 21st century. It seems that the so-called ‘dependency syndrome’ has become normalised in Pakistan and not a single regime is willing to break the vicious cycle of depending on loans and financial bailouts.

In this context, blaming the predecessors is a favourite pastime. Even when political parties return to power in a cyclic pattern, they keep blaming the predecessors, forgetting the simple fact that they themselves are their own predecessors. This is as tragic as it is ironic.

The need of the hour is to change our policies and shift from dependency to industrialisation for the sake of getting financial independence. And when it comes to industrialisation, one must remember that it has to be climate-resilient to be successful in today’s world.

Unfortunately, the sitting government seems to be interested only in transportation infrastructure and not ready to think beyond the metro stations. Transport is one of the most essential services that citizens are entitled to get, but other things are way more important than climate polluting policies.

Why Pakistan is left to become solely dependent on loans and financial aids? Why Pakistan was never made to capitalise on its natural resources, a right that every state has under the international law?

Why our successive leaders never thought of converting the country’s raw material into finished products to be sold in the developed world? Why was Pakistan made to rely on foreign assistance to mine minerals on its own land? Why cannot Pakistan adopt the policies of, say, South Korea, Japan and China, to become a manufacturing hub?

Budgetary allocations for defence and security have always been criticised for not leaving enough for services and delivery, but, realistically speaking, the billions used for transport infrastructure development could have been utilised for industrial development.

Climate change is going to test every nation’s ability to survive, and this energy-intensive infrastructure will extract a huge cost. Things need to get better, and climate adaptation and mitigation is necessary for survival.

For fighting this war of survival, Pakistan will need finances generated on its own because, as things are unfolding, neither the developed Global North nor the United Nations will be able to provide funds for the developing Global South in its fight against catastrophic consequences of climate change. Pakistan needs to be decisive in its decision-making. Needless to say, earlier done, the better.

Saman Aftab
Lahore

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2022