Pakistan: failing, failing, failing...

These lists are not very scientific and should not be taken seriously. I doubt that the authors of such reports ever get out of their cushy offices and visit any of the countries classified as “endangered”. Ask any foreigner who’s been to Pakistan and countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq etc and he will laugh at your face at that comparison. India though having more insurgencies than Pakistan is ranked 87th? Even higher that China? You got to be kidding me. The media should utilize its time highlighting real issues rather than discuss these stupid lists.Recommend

We are making of fool of ourselves pretending we don’t care of anyone’s perception about us. Number one the perception is incomplete, Number two editors are short sighted, Number three editors are short of memory too, Number four the list is made with the ink of prejudice and Pakistan’s very own ‘list of failed lists’ goes on.

It’s not only Pakistan’s government that needs to respond but every individual in his own mind-set. If the perception irritate us it should lead us to understand ourselves better.Recommend

@Hamood.Sir,Why don’t you thank God that the anticipated collapse has been delayed? But I can assure him that his wait will not be too long.East Pakistan did take a few decades.But due to the geography of West Pakistan( now beloved Pakistan) it may take a little bit longer.But we are doing our very best to speed it up.I visited East Pakistan in 1969 and somebody in Chitagong warned me that the East is breaking away from the West.Back in West Pakistn Altaf Hussain Qureshi of Urdu Digest was serialising his travelogue about East Pakistan under the caption :Muhabbat ka zamzam beh raha hai.:(Zamzama of love is flowing).
Hamood talks of real issues and says these lists are stupid.Well,of course,these lists are preapared on the basis of real issues.Let,s accept the facts and stop the satisfaction of claiming to be better than the worst.Recommend

No Pakistan is not a failed state – but it will eventually fail though for a combination of reasons other than political. Firstly there is the demographic. The population bomb has already gone off and we now live with the reality that there are going to be twice as many people in Pakistan in under thirty years than there are now. Then there is Himalayan glacier melt – the glaciers that serve the Indus river system are retreating fast and getting faster. Within fifty years the IRS will be a trickle. Allied to this is increased desertification and rising salinity that is taking agricultural land out of production. Food insecurity will reach ever upwards and, long term, famine is going to be a feature. There is little sign that governments are going to take the steps that might mitigate some of the worst effects of all of these. Dams are not going to be built, population control is a distant dream and developments in arid agriculture too slow to make a significant difference. The drift towards extremism will stifle development. There is unlikely to be a catastrophic collapse, more a slow deterioration that will hit some parts of the population harder than others. There will be civil unrest and some cities may destabilise under the sheer weight of population as it competes for infrastructure resources, but this is not a country that is ever likely to see a full-blown popular mass uprising. The innate sense of fatalism and the cultural desire for conformity make revolution most unlikely. The system of elected feudalism and the rule of the establishment will persist for the rest of the life of the nation, and any development towards true democracy will be checked by a system that invests heavily in the status-quo. But as we are, no we are not failed. It’s coming, and there is no stopping it now – we missed too many chances – and we have perhaps fifty years before a final collapse. Which is far enough away for nobody to worry about, isn’t it?Recommend

@sarwar, you are wrong. You seem to be quite experienced and yet missing the main point here that things are on the upswing. You also missed the fact that Bengalis had a different culture and language than West Pakistanis and that there was thousands of miles of India in between. Pakistan only started appearing on these lists in the last few years and its mostly because of this so-called war on terror across the border. Foreign forces presence in neighboring Afghanistan started all this mess. With US looking for ways to escape from this region, things will improve. This collapse will never happen because there is no India between the two Pakistans this time.Recommend

another hateful and biased report. Remember Mr.writer a failing Pakistan is more dangerous for Indians .. lolRecommend

Normally this type of lists prepared in a very specific scenario….. n not show any reality but a best thing to take under pressure that nation….
despite all mentioned problems Pakistanis are very hopeful about their future As Iqbal said…….
Nahi Hey Mayoos Iqbal Apni kast e virah sey
Zara Nam Ho tu Yeh Matti bari Zarkheez hey Saqi.Recommend

To those making this an India-Pakistan thing:

First of all we are not talking about India here, and secondly this is a very well written article with some proper analysis behind it (which is more than what we can say for 80% of our own “armchair intellectuals”).

Btw if you guys actually bothered to read through it and understood the content, you would realize that this is actually a very positive take on the issue.

Thank you for your contributions Mr.Patel.Recommend

I would also like to appreciate Mr.Patel’s effort, since he has rightly pointed out that we have few but big problems that we face currently. Food and energy crisis are just the symptoms of the problems pointed out by Mr.Patel. We have to realise that our country is currently in a state of war and even worse our government is at a state of war with its own people. Until we get on an even ground with our tribal lords we cannot and should not expect to get out of the top ten list.Recommend

I disagree with Mr Pakistan Zindabad

I wish we could follow Iqbal’s ” SABAK PHIR PARH SADAKAT KA, ADALAT KA, SUJHAAT KA …”

In reality we are following lies in shape of promises of the government and witnessing unprecedented corruption in every deal, department from top to bottominstead of SADAKAT,Recommend

Very good article Mr. Patel. An eye Opener for us. We should analyze ourselves, and try to correct instead of closing our eyes.Recommend

Comparison of Pakistan with Iraq, Chad, Somalia automatically turns us into a failed state. Regardless of how much we deny but we’re indeed traveling towards failure.Recommend

@Chris, I absolutely agree with what you have said about the missed opportunities and the catastrophic direction we will continue to head in. I’m not sure why would you give Pakistan 50 years though. In my estimation, Pakistan may face collapse within the next 15-20 years. How would it continue to survive for another 50 years?Recommend

aakar patel has in no way demeaned pakistan, infact he has presented the reality as it is, remaining neutral. please stop making everything a pakistan india war, we have to be more concerned about the state of our own future, than worry about what the indians are saying.Recommend

@ Zohair and Pakistan Zindabad—did you even read the article? Far from an Indian bashing Pakistan, the writer has tried to distinguish Pakistan from the other countries that made this infamous top 10 list. I don’t think your attempts to demean the writer on account of his nationality undermine his piece in this case or bolster your own patriotism.

@ Chris Cork—I am really struck by your comments. Your regular column gives me so much cause for optimism and I often quote what you write in my conversations with others as reasons for why Pakistan is not failing. But your comments here seem at odds with what you write in your columns. And although I have to take whatever you say with a lot of seriousness, I think your comments here are a bit harsh.Recommend

It is realy time for us to grow up from the indians-naturally-hate-pakistan crap and vice versa. This is not Pakistan Bashing, this is the truth.
Have we been able to control the extremist killing machines, obviously its not an overnight job, but the state finds the most pivotal duty to name them first, whether they belong to punjab or KP, which btw shows how divided in provinces we have become.
Our budget for education and health care is very small, that is in other words, investing in the people the future and the present is not important then how can anyone expect the state not to be termed as failed, because the areas they need to spend, focus are put aside.
No denying Pakistan is faced with problems. But the real problem is there is less of a will of our politicians and leaders to make a way out. We are not on the same page. Dont have clear objectives.
Living in denial is not being optimistic.
I am a Pakistani. and the country is dear to me and that is the reason why I refuse to shut my eyes.Recommend

Well Aakar, I am impressed by your analysis. It was very balanced and factual. Well written.

I hope what you have analysed, is seen by every Pakistani. Yes we are not a fail state. But if we keep on making these mistakes, this list might be true after sometime.

Allah bless Pakistan!Recommend

Agreed with the author. Pakistan need to grow and the most important thing to do is decrease govt. expenditure and to encourage private sector to contribute to the economy since govt. has less resources.
Some other countries have also twine deficit like Pakistan but it is due to acquiring recourse like investment in mines. We are not increasing our resources both in quality and quantity.Recommend

Pakistan is steadily driving towards anarchy and unless we take measures to de-radicalize the society this catastrophe is unavoidable. Religious extremism is rampant and it is one the prime reasons behind readily available militants who have an obscure understanding of IslamRecommend

@rehman.As if America is on a picnic in Afghanistan.Both America and Soviet Union left Afghanistan after the great and America-sponsered Jihad,so ably executed by the Mujahid-e-Awwal,Ziaul Haq.What did Pakistan get out of it other than a prosperous Ijazul Haq and the curse of brutal fundamentalism which is the problem the whole world is now facing.What is Alqaida and the Taliban of all hues and shades? This is the legacy of Afghan Jihad and Mujahid-e-Islam Ziaul ul Haq and his coterie of generals.(How brilliant does Akhtar Abu Rehman shine.).When the current Afghan war ends,who knows when,you cannot imagine what will be the after- effects and how much will Pakistan suffer more during the process.And by Pakistan I mean the common man and this nation and not the generals and their newly recruited allies,the Zardaris and Gilanis and Sharifs so ably represented by Babar Awan,Fauzia Wahab ,Ch.Nisar(the great actor) and above all His Holiness,the one and only Fazul ur Rehman.Where is the food,housing,health,education.clothing and the security for common man and any plans for these needs when the war goes on and when it ends.Recommend