Reality check, please

PESHAWAR: We are a weak and poor country struggling to feed and clothe a large percentage of our population, but look at our strategic goals and ambitions. Our people are made to believe that we are a strong nation with a great army. The sad truth is that we are not a power. We are a dependant nation with a massive budget deficit which is bridged by aid handouts and foreign loans.

We need a reality check. We should be concentrating on improving our economy far more than on any perceived security threats. We should come out of our fantasies regarding Afghanistan and also let go of Kashmir. We need friends around us rather than hostile neighbours who are forever scheming against us. For all this to happen, we have to become a normal country thinking more about economics rather than security.

Mudassar Salim

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2011.