Decline of Pakistan and No End in Sight
Pakistan's power as the second biggest Muslim state has diminished over the past 15 years. Blame it on its military’s ambition of political power, economic mismanagement and its intelligence services running amok. For most of the 74 years of independence from Britain, it remained under military rule. To start with, it was a prosperous agrarian society except it wasted its advantages on picking up three wars with India in 1965, 1971 and 1999, which Pakistan lost. All the wars had one central issue, i.e. Kashmir. This issue and desire to forcibly take it away from India drove straight into the hands of US and the quicksand of the Cold War. Over the decades, the nation received enormous military and economic aid, but wasted it on military maintenance and the purchase of war toys and they still lost.
Today, after 74 years of independence, its economic performance is declining. Inflation has gained the upper hand. The generals who virtually run the government under a civilian face & elections have only one motive i.e. to grab as much of the Treasury as possible to buy new military toys. They have rendered the Treasury bare with no reserves to run the economy.
For the most part, generals are bad economic managers. That is not their training. That is what politicians and economists do. They are better suited for it. It was in the early 1960s that the Pakistani-born World Bank economist Muhammad Shoaib, Finance Minister, successfully managed the economy. This was the last time the Pakistani economy showed 6-7% annual growth. After he was gone, the decline started. Now Pakistan has declined to 3-4% growth for the last 50 years with huge war spending with India is 1965, 1971 and 1999. The agrarian economy suffers enormously because water, the main resource for agricultural growth, is rapidly declining (blame on global warming). With no industry alternative, there is only one way for the economy to go that is down.
Generals with smart-pressed uniforms are Pakistan's biggest failure. They have fought three wars with neighboring India, all instigated by them and they have lost them all. These generals divide their time between politicking, running Army sponsored businesses and grabbing monies from the Treasury. Everything else is secondary for them. On the other hand Indian Army generals have none of these issues to deal with. They are always busy understanding Pakistani moves and countering them on a full time basis. Hence, the Indian Army is far more sophisticated in its outlook and hardware.
Neither Pakistani army doing their job successfully nor they are running the economy well, yet they have created another internal intelligence organization known as the ISI, which is more powerful than the civilian government or even at times the Army itself. This is an organization controlled by the Army, but an independent decision-maker. Intelligence gathering is the least of their jobs, they flourish on political plots, overthrow governments and sponsor terrorism around the world. A Pakistani government with no money was involved in the overthrow of government in Afghanistan recently which made the Americans very mad. Now U.S. and Pakistani leaders are not on good terms. And that's all the work of the ISI. They are the master sponsor of terrorism all over the globe.
When I say decline of Pakistan, I mean it. Everything is supported by the army. They are out of control. Pakistani people need to send them back to the barracks and strip them of their authority.