Muslim states have failed because their rulers are feudal.
KARACHI: Muslim states have failed because their rulers are feudal. Pakistan, in particular, is controlled by landlords who don’t pay taxes, and steal the taxes that the poor citizens are made to pay. The solution, at least in the case of Pakistan, is to divide the country into several provinces, with each province raising its own revenue (by taxing the rich landowners) and not dependent on the centre. The Pakistan Resolution of 1940 said that the constituent units should be sovereign and autonomous. We should make that the starting point if we want things to turn around.
Shakir Lakhani
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2011.
