KARACHI: Talks on how to improve Pakistan’s economy and the country’s world view by economist Kazim Saeed and geopolitical expert Salim Aziz, respectively, were held here on Friday evening.

The event was organised by the Concerned Citizens Alliance in collaboration with the Pakistan Medical Association at PMA House.

Mr Saeed’s presentation was focused on his book Dou Pakistan: Har Pakistani Gharanay Tak Khushhali. He was of the view that financial issues haven’t yet been part of our national discourse the way they merit.

He told the very small number of people that had turned up for the event that there are two aspects to his thesis: ways to eliminate poverty and a rapid economic development. In that context he gave the example of China. He claimed that during Den Xiaoping’s rule, China made the target that from 1980 to 2000 they would increase its GDP four times. Not just that, it went up six times.

Similarly, during Mahathir Mohamad’s rule in Malaysia, the target set from 1990 to 2020 was eight times increase in the GDP. They came pretty close to it. He said Pakistan needed to have a target of eight times from 2017 to 2047.

Mr Saeed, a public policy expert, then highlighted the structure of Pakistan’s economy. After touching upon the low per capita expenditure in a Pakistani household, he said in order to eliminate poverty export-led growth is required. Pakistan is an agricultural superpower. The greater economic value is in hi-tech.

“Even in the 21st century, Pakistan’s productive capacity is concentrated in low-tech. Eliminating poverty requires that we take the economy up the productive ladder. In the 21st century countries that create new knowledge are the winners. Eliminating poverty will not be by growth alone because there are two Pakistans, one is inside the castle in which every 100 women have 270 children in their lifetimes, and the other is outside the castle in which every 100 women have 420 children in their lifetimes,” he said.

The geopolitical expert Aziz spoke on ‘Understanding Pakistan’s World View’. Most part of his presentation was pre-recorded which kept interrupting due to some technical fault.

He began by giving a historical perspective of things, telling the audience that as a child he used to read atlases. He stated that Pakistan’s biggest problem is its foreign policy. He then introduced the audience with a German word ‘weltanschauung’, meaning the view of an individual of a group based on geography.

Mr Aziz going back in history talked about the North Atlantic part of the world and then about the Silk Route. Moving forward, he argued that the conflict between Russia and Britain resulted in the Great Game. Dr James Burns (Karachi’s Burns Road is named after him) was a court physician of Sindh’s rulers. His brother Alexander was given the task to navigate the region by travelling across the River Indus. It was a reconnaissance mission for which he used the excuse of taking the gift of a horse for Maharaja Ranjit Singh from Britain’s king. When he succeeded in navigating the area he told his bosses that there wasn’t a single hindrance (aik rukawat bhi nahin hai) which set off the alarm bells for British rulers. Thus began the first Anglo-Afghan war, followed by the Battle of Miani in 1843 and a couple of other wars in the region.

Crossing to the next phase, Mr Aziz shed light on the Baghdad Pact and Cento, followed by the Arab-Israel war and the OIC Summit, and the subsequent removal of the Shah of Iran and Z A Bhutto.

He emphasised that the region where Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan are located is the centre of the old world and connectivity between them is needed.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023