Speakers cite political issues, high defence spending, misplaced national priorities.
ISLAMABAD:
Participants in a national conference on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concluded that MDGs would be unachievable because of soaring defence expenditure and rampant corruption, among other factors. Other reasons cited during the ‘National Conference on Monitoring the Achievements of the MDGs and Weaknesses of the Existing Budgetary Allocations’ were the impact of the passage of the 18th amendment and capacity issues for provincial institutions.
Parliamentarians, civil society activists, economists and academicians were in attendance at the conference, which was organised by ActionAid Pakistan and AusAid.
Dr Qais Aslam, a senior economist, said it is unfortunate that a large portion of Pakistan’s budget is allocated to defence, while the social sector remains neglected. “Unfortunately, ever since the inception of Pakistan, no long-term policy or plan has been made to address and overcome social issues,” he said.
He added that in next three years, 60 per cent of Pakistan’s population will be in the labour force.
He said it was ironic that being an agricultural country, Pakistan regularly ended up importing farm products.
Irfan Mufti, deputy director of South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAPPK), alleged that the human development agenda had been dropped and the country’s economy is no longer focused on growth and progress.
“Failure to achieve the MDGs represents a failure of the government to give a minimum standard of life to its people so how can we expect anything more from it?” he asked rhetorically.
Rana Riaz Saeed, a Coordinator at Global Call against Poverty alleged that a report launched by the Planning Commission of Pakistan in July 2010 was misleading as all the data for it was collected by government sources without independent verification.
“The report stated that poverty was decreasing in Pakistan, which is completely false,” he added.
He said a poor man in Pakistan had to spend 77 per cent of his income on health issues.
Naseer Memon, the executive director for Strengthening Participatory Development, said that the question of MDGs is of a political, rather than an administrative nature.
Addressing the participant of the conference, MNA Qamar Zaman Kaira acknowledged that there is corruption in governance.
He said that under the 18th Amendment and National Finance Commission Award, the social sector remained neglected.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2011.
