The tragic boat accident involving death of over 600 in the vicinity of Greece, a large majority, almost 400 of them being young Pakistanis, including women and children, is reflective of the rising frustration of our youth, driven to desperation, putting at stake their lives, in search of a better future. It is the state of Pakistan and various tax payer-funded institutions and departments that have failed to serve and protect citizens from abuse and exploitation by these vultures involved in this unchecked human trafficking.
This has been happening for many decades now, but other than mere rhetoric that the state will clamp down on human smuggling, nothing concrete has happened. Even the magnitude and enormity of this tragedy will soon be forgotten and it will be business as usual. This too shall pass, given the abject lack of seriousness and resolve by the state from taking concrete steps against the real sponsors of this racket. The powerful will manage to bribe their way through and instead the second cadre of recruiters and agents will be caught, prosecuted and then let off.
During the tenure of Musharraf junta, the UK government had in writing warned that all flights outbound from Islamabad would be banned because of the large-scale boarding of Pakistani origin citizens, including many from Afghanistan holding fake travel documents. We live in an elitist capture society which can be judged from cry and hue raised over the arrest of Khadija Shah, allegedly involved in promoting and inciting those who vandalized Jinnah House Lahore, the official residence of Corp Commander.
Desperation amongst the youth will continue to aggravate as long as the economy does not revive. Hard choices must be made because state security hinges on the economy and so does our sovereignty. Irrespective of the interest and clout of powerful individuals and beneficiaries of subsidized allotment, this patronization of the real estate sector must stop, so that investment in industry increases, which will offer more employment opportunities and boost our exports and tax revenues. This will dampen anger amongst the educated and skilled youth of Pakistan.
Rehiring retired servants of state, who are beneficiary of state pension and other perks, including tax rebates on property etc., must stop and instead educated youth should fill these vacancies on merit. Unless and until major structural economic reforms are incorporated and the tax net is widened, the economic nightmare that stares us in the face, cannot be averted.
The choices before us are very clear and closing our eyes to the ground realities, will only further aggravate the economic crisis that Pakistan faces and the anger on streets will rise. Agriculture growth must increase to keep pace with rise in population and that can only take place if the total acreage of fertile land and yield per acre rises. Unfortunately, the total agriculture producing area is shrinking because the powerful real estate land developers are converting them to concrete jungles.
Pakistan was created to function as a modern democratic welfare country, catering for welfare and security of citizens, whose taxes fund the salaries of the paid elite, employed to perform various tasks in accordance with their designated constitutional roles. It seems that instead of these paid servants, serving the people, the reverse is happening.
A state cannot function and deliver to citizens, unless it collects taxes directly from all those gainfully employed or earning profits from business, both private and public sector. Subsidies should only be given to those who live in utter poverty, instead of what is happening in this country, where there are endless tax amnesty schemes for the real estate sector and other such irregularities that earn millions, but hardly pay any taxes.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
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