177 million. That’s how many people live in Pakistan. After spending a month there, it seems that instead of benefitting from the demographic dividend, like some of its Asian peers, the bulging population is a huge strain to the country’s natural resources, infrastructure, environment, economic development and public policy.
Despite its vast size, its geography, combined with the political situation, is incredibly claustrophobic. The Arabian Sea on the south, sparsely populated Baluchistan with a rugged, dry and extreme climate to the west, the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges, with some of the highest peaks in the world, to the north, and the Indus river plain, with the Thar desert, on the east. The majority of the population lives along the fertile plains of the Indus river and its tributaries.
Combine that with the political situation in the region. Vilified Iran as your western neighbor, turbulent and unstable Afghanistan along the Durand Line, China across the Karakoram, and finally, an arch-enemy India, together with the disputed Kashmir region, at your eastern border.
A perfect recipe to develop a feeling of being somewhat pushed into a corner. And the country’s elites have used these circumstances ever since the partition of British India in 1947 to maintain the status quo.
The military establishment hasn’t been able to keep it’s hands off the political power struggle in the country and has had a dominant role, either through direct military rule or strong influence over the civilian governments. Through various businesses and conglomerates it has a dominant stake in the country’s economy as well. It is a common joke that usually every country has an army, but in the case of Pakistan the army has a country.
The other side of the unfortunate coin that has befallen on Pakistan is that, apart from the military, it’s economy, and subsequently politics, is controlled by a small number of wealthy landowning families, whose interest is to maintain their privileged positions and therefore largely the status quo. This is reflected in all sorts of poor indicators of human and economic development that exhibit where the country’s elite’s priorities are. One of the most telling indicators for example is that in 2011 only 57.7% of adult Pakistanis were literate.
Corruption and graft are widespread. Asif Ali Zardari, the current president of Pakistan and widower of the assassinated two-times prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been dubbed “Mr. 10 percent” because of his alleged role in “facilitating” government deals during the premierships of his wife. Today he is supposedly the second richest man in Pakistan, with an alleged wealth of $1.8 billion and estates in England, Normandy, Manhattan and Dubai.
The military, on the other hand, has received more then $11 billion since 2001 from the United States government as an important ally in the global war on terror. A question of allegiance therefore occurs: is the Pakistani military, together with it’s government, responsible to its people, or does it serve the highest bidder that shows up with the sweetest deal?
All of the described factors makes me think that under the current circumstances the Pakistani people are trapped in a deeply claustrophobic political, social and economic environment that doesn’t look to get better anytime soon.
