EVER since opinionated people began recording their views, every generation has expounded at length on how things are going to the dogs.
In most cases, this is just a case of calcified minds unable to come to terms with a changing world. But in Pakistan, there is clearly some justification for this refrain, and when we talk about a continuous deterioration, we can actually quantify it. On my recent trip (too soon over, alas), I travelled to England, Canada, the United States and Turkey, and in each country, solicitous friends asked in hushed tones how Pakistan was doing, almost as though they were asking about the health of a terminally ill relative on a life support system.
Although I knew these well-meaning people were genuinely concerned, I must confess to a flash of irritation whenever I faced this question. And while I replied glibly that the patient was limping along in the fashion of many Third World nations, I knew in my heart that things were far worse than I implied. In most countries similarly placed half a century ago, there has been significant progress with very few exceptions. Indeed, it will be difficult for the younger generation to believe that Pakistan was often cited as a model developing state.
To this day, many old PIA hands will tell you that the Pakistani flag-carrier had played a crucial role in setting up Emirates Airlines. They do not often reflect on the irony of the fact that Emirates is today one of the best airlines in the world, while PIA is among the very worst. In many ways this reversal in fortune parallels the trajectory Pakistan has followed.
A couple of months ago, the Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research (PILER) organized a seminar on PIA, and it was interesting to note that the airline management largely blamed the "Open Sky" policy that opened up the country's airports to foreign competition for their present woes. I pointed out that this policy had made life a lot easier for the travelling public as competition had forced airlines to lower fares, and that it is not the function of the state to support an inefficient organization at the cost of its citizens.
However, one factor that was rightly highlighted was the absurd practice of making the defence secretary in Islamabad the chairman of the airline while the managing-director in the PIA head office in Karachi had very limited powers. Also the MD was changed as often as the Pakistan cricket team's captain. In both cases, such short tenures are a formula for failure. Management also cited low labour productivity as a major factor contributing to its decline. For instance, a certain check on the Airbus took other airlines 11 days, while PIA engineering staff took over 35 days. In their turn, the unions blamed the management for PIA's flawed policies, and said, while union activity had been banned, senior managers were not held accountable. Given the tension between the management and the workers as well the low morale, it is doubtful if this once-proud organization can pull out of its slump. With accumulated losses of over 11 billion rupees, the airline has been haemorrhaging red ink over its balance sheet for years.
Pakistan Railways is another national institution that has been run into the ground. An efficient and profitable outfit until the sixties, its slow but steady decline began when the government began starving it of resources and shifting its attention to road transport. It is currently creaking along, incurring huge losses every year. Hardly any train now arrives on time, and journeys in its once comfortable coaches is a torture.
Other public sector departments such as health, education and engineering are in similar free-fall. While our engineers worked with distinction on construction projects abroad until a few years ago, now we have to import these skills if we want decent roads or bridges. Water mains and sewage lines are a mess our engineering staff wisely leaves well alone. WAPDA and KESC are kept afloat through massive subsidies.
The performance of all these organizations is measurable by that most pitiless of all yardsticks: the bottom line of their balance sheet. Or since physical and social infrastructure departments prepare no profit and loss accounts, their output can be gauged by the state of public education, health and roads. Granted there is a uniform shortage of resources that affects efficiency, it can hardly be said that in its infancy. Pakistan was rolling in money. The sad fact is that this sharp decline in standards has been caused more by mediocrity and demoralization than lack of funds.
Friends as well as many readers over the years have complained that I always dwell on the negative aspects of life in Pakistan while failing to highlight any positive developments. While admitting to a certain innate pessimism. I must say in my defence that as I have watched the decline and deterioration of much that was good in this country, I find that I am honestly unable to balance this with whatever has been achieved.
Currently I am involved with running an ambitious private sector educational institution, and my colleagues and I are evaluating applications for new admissions. I must say that every year we are appalled by the falling standards of those passing the intermediate examination and seeking a professional education. Probably the worst of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's many disastrous policies was his government's nationalization of private schools and colleges. After nearly three decades, several generations of boys and girls have suffered the consequences, and now enter adulthood ill-equipped to compete. This single factor is responsible for many of Pakistan's woes as products of an increasingly ramshackle educational system assume positions of responsibility.
According to received wisdom, our social indicators are poor because the government does not spend enough on this sector. However, given the chronic leakage of resources, the quality of manpower and the low level of motivation of the staff manning state institutions in these areas, I doubt that there would be much improvement if we were to even double the budgets of these departments. Indeed, this is true of virtually every public sector institution.
This is a frightening prospect. All along, we had assumed that our under-development was caused by a paucity of resources, and if we could somehow curtail our defence expenditure, things would improve overnight. But if in truth our backwardness is the result of deeper causes, we have to look elsewhere for answers.