The choice is between alleviating the miseries of the common man and manufacturing and testing missiles.
ISLAMABAD: In a span of the last one month, Pakistan has test-fired five hi-tech, ultra-sophisticated, stealth-featured, nuclear-capable, long-range ballistic missiles. Even superpowers at the height of the Cold War were unable to afford so many tests of their nuclear arsenal in just one month.
On the other hand, it is apparently ‘rocket science’ for Pakistanis to produce a single megawatt of electricity, construct new dams, provide regular supply of gas to industries, CNG stations and consumers through new LNG terminals/pipelines, develop basic infrastructure for the people, repair damaged locomotive engines of the Pakistan Railways, overhaul grounded engines of PIA aircrafts, complete the Lowari Tunnel, which remains incomplete even after a passage of 40 years and exploit the coal reserves in Thar and other untapped mineral resources. The choice is between alleviating the miseries of the common man and manufacturing and testing missiles; our priority seems to be the latter.
Dr Irfan Zafar
Published In The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2012.
