Not to live in Pakistan

Making Pakistan a more liveable country for the next generation should be our top priority.

Pakistan isn’t a great place to be born and it certainly isn’t one you’d want to live in, according to a new list released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). We ranked 75^th out of the 80 countries surveyed in this list, the purpose of which was to rank countries that are the best to be born in and live in right now. The metrics used by the list do not augur well for our long-term health either. Since it measures life for those born in 2013, it uses projections for things like economic growth, crime, trust in public institutions and likely level of violence 30 years from now. The bottom line is: we are bad now and likely to get even worse.

Not that we needed the EIU to tell us that. Any Pakistani can see the country is sliding downhill and fast. It takes undue optimism to make the case that the Taliban will be defeated anytime soon and equal amounts of good luck to witness an economic turnaround. We are already going through a power crisis, one that is exacerbated with every passing day thanks to the circular debt issue. This problem, too, is not about to go away. We are lagging behind on all indicators of being a prosperous country, with our statistics in the domains of health and education being particularly pitiful. The only surprise for us should be that there are actually five countries ranked below us in the EIU list.

Being ranked a little higher than rock bottom in a slightly arbitrary list is not likely to spur us into action. Making Pakistan a more liveable country for the next generation, however, should be our top priority. This means making sound investments in infrastructure, health and education. It means finding a solution to the militant menace before it devours us. It means making peace with our neighbours and increasing trade with them for mutual benefit. The stewards of this country have led us astray and the future looks bleaker than ever. We need to change this course immediately for the betterment of this country and the generations who will live in it.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2012.