Incompetence, Bankruptcy in Pakistan

What else could be incompetence of Pakistan leadership that despite passing years, it has failed to put an end to the system of borrowing huge loans from outside countries.
From the past several decades, there has been no change in the system despite the tall claims about bringing transparency within the governance and the system as well.
One fails to find any change when it comes to the mourning figures of huge loans brought from China and Saudi Arabia in the past several years.
One could easily gauge the bankruptcy as well as the incompetence of the incumbent leadership that despite claiming to have taken huge debit by the erstwhile regimes, the system of borrowing loans is going unabated.
Since Imran Khan led government took over in Pakistan, it has contracted a total of about USD 34.17 billion in the first three years, while as the total foreign loan disbursements stood relatively higher at USD 35.1 billion during the three years.
According to the ‘Annual Report on Foreign Economic Assistance 2020-21’ by its Ministry of Economic Affairs, Pakistan has contracted USD 15.32 billion in 2020-21, which is nearly 47 per cent higher than previous years.
The figures revealed that the country in the first three years of the present dispensation’s rule has continuously witnessed an increase in the loans acquired by Pakistan. In the fiscal year 2018-19, the country has contracted USD 8.41 billion. However, the amount recorded an upward trend in the fiscal year 2019-20 in which the country acquired USD 10.45 billion.
Such is the incompetence that the county for the first time in the history has crossed the 50.5 trillion Pakistani rupees (PKR) as the debt and liabilities following which the incumbent Prime Minister called the increasing debt issue as ‘national security issue’.
There is an almost 70 per cent increase of PKR 20.7 trillion in debt in the past nearly 40 months during the incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tenure.
The country has been continuously borrowing loans from twin countries including Saudi Arabia and China. The years of borrowing the loans has landed the country in a tizzy situation as the leaderships incompetence is such that the country is repaying the loans to another one of the country by getting debit from the second one.
According to the reports, Pakistan has paid China PKR 26 billion in interest for a $4.5 billion loan facility originally intended to promote trade, but diverted to repay the Saudis, among others.
To pay China, Pakistan turns to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail it out of loans that are three times more than what is borrowed.
However, the situation has now turned ugly as the country’s Federal Minister of Finance Shaukat Tarin has conceded that many decisions made by the government were the result of pressure applied by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The country has been witnessing an ever-lasting economic crisis. As the result of incompetence of leadership, the rupee has plunged further to 179 against the dollar.
Not only this, but the feudal mentality has been a biggest hurdle in the way of the country’s progress and prosperity as according to the reports, the feudal lords have not been allowing their subjects to be educated to ensure that their power is not shared.
Feudalism in Pakistan has a stranglehold on the economy and politics of the nation. The feudal landlords have created states within a State where they rule their fiefs with impunity. The landlord’s influence spans over the police, bureaucracy and judiciary.
Since its birth, Pakistan has been run by politicians who are mostly feudal. From Liaquat Ali Khan to the present rule, feudal occupied parliament and this is why Pakistan is still an underdeveloped country.
It is not easy to define feudalism in the country. Nonetheless, it has been observed that the poor section of the society under this system has been living a miserable life.
The incumbent regime has been full of corruption as there has been no transparency at all. However, the government there has been giving a presumption that the erstwhile regimes have been involved in looting the exchequer by placing them either arrest or filing cases against them.
The corruption has brought the country in a tight spot as only eye-washes would not help in running the country, but it needs blood and sweat to do so. There are a number of events that have come to the fore during the present regime’s tenure, which puts the question mark over the tall claims of the incumbent government about transparency and other related things.
In a nutshell, the country lacks leadership. The situation that is worsening with each passing year in Pakistan is a glaring example that there is lack of leadership. There were many people who were jubilant to see the incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan taking oath as the head of the country, but with the passage of time, the people understood that there has been no leadership quality within him and thus has taken the country in tizzy situation due to the worsening economic crisis.
(The writer is executive editor Lake City Times and can be reached at [email protected])