Waqas ur Rehman
The Western powers have been targeting Pakistan through various strategies of hybrid warfare. They have subjected Pakistan to innovative tactics of blackmailing, indirect pressure, economic sanctions, discriminatory duties, travel restrictions, adverse rankings and hostile propaganda which try to ensure that Pakistan’s economy does not take off. They implement their agenda by installing their loyals on the important positions in the policymaking institutions of Pakistan. Such hit men have inflicted far greater damages upon the country than the terrorists. Resultantly, the country has been facing several crisis ranging from terrorism to economic crisis, despite its rich natural resource base, demographic advantage, gee-strategic location and supreme civil military institutions.
Pakistan has been victimized through the global financial institutions ever since it allowed the World Bank (WB) Advisory Group to establish itself here in 1954, after joining the Western-sponsored alliances such as CENTO (Central Treaty Organization) and SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization). The country’s membership in both the security pacts miserably failed to provide it with national security or economic takeoff. Moreover, India also utilized the weakness of Pakistan’s political and economic institutions to launch a hybrid war through so-called cultural exchanges. Pakistan had to pay a high price in the form of 1971 crisis. The tragedy of 1971 taught Pakistan a lesson that national security is ultimately its own responsibility. Pakistan was left all alone to face the consequences of its own dismemberment. The decision of India to go nuclear in 1974 further aggravated the situation for Pakistan. The Indian scientists continued to work on their nuclear capabilities with technological assistance of the Western powers, which ultimately led to its second series of nuclear detonations in 1998, followed by unprecedented threats to Pakistan. To India’s surprise, Pakistan responded by detonating its nuclear devices. The Western powers hastily imposed discriminatory sanctions on Pakistan in an effort to cripple its economy. India, on the other side was let off the hook by the West in their blatant exercise of double standards.
Pakistan’s nuclear tests restored the strategic power balance and national pride.
However, Pakistan’s economy continued to be the hostage of the global financial institutions. Pakistan’s economy was doing better than the regional countries before it
was offered the IMF stabilization program in 1989. The objective of the IMF was not to boost Pakistan’s economy, rather it had created trade deficit, current account crisis and debt payments’ crisis through their henchmen. They ensured Pakistan’s return to the IMF again and again. It was unfortunate that a nuclear power became a puppet in hands of the Western powers. Pakistan has everything to become a prosperous state, however it must have to change its old ways of thinking with respect to its economy. China is a best example as it flourished through sustained nation-building efforts. China has been cooperating with Pakistan to stabilize its economy and power profile. Apart from that, Pakistan has been an integral ally of the West for a longer period, both during and after the Cold War, but unfortunately Pakistan got double play, discrimination, denial and deception in return. Pakistan always sought relations based on sovereign equality, mutual respect and non-interference with the Western world, yet they always tried to subordinate it.
It is important to note that China got independence after Pakistan, yet it has achieved high standards of life. China achieved this growth by undergoing domestic structural reforms under a collective leadership, not because of waging wars to grab other nations’ natural resources. China’s visionary statesman Deng Xiaoping had taken risks and hard decisions to test new ideas and reforms. He directed the Communist Party to move away from perpetual revolution, and instead embrace perpetual reforms. The reformist leadership in China promoted their traditional soft power values of learning, tolerance, respect, collective wisdom, determination, courage, pragmatism, moderation and patience. The ‘open-door policy’ paved the ways for China’s economic growth. The economic reforms restored individual freedom, ended the security paranoia and established merit and efficiency. The Chinese harnessed their own social capital, resource endowments and assimilated proven global practices by investing heavily in human capital and deputing students for higher education abroad. The overseas Chinese were mobilized and their trust was restored. China also utilized the favorable global environment of peace and stability to fully harness the opportunities provided by the dynamics of globalization.
China has successfully defeated the attempts made by its adversaries to inflict hybrid war and deny it an economic take off. China has lifted a billion people out of poverty and achieved a great level of economic and technological strengths. China is now building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which comprises six arteries that will connect and integrate sixty-five countries in the Euro-Asian region. The BRI worth $4 trillion will be completed by 2030. The six arteries include the $62 billion flagship project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The CPEC project is the first installment of the proposed BRI investment. Unfortunately, Pakistan has lost precious time in internal political debates regarding the share and route of the CPEC, without undertaking comprehensive policy reforms.
The challenges facing Pakistan for emulating China are the leadership crisis, self-indulgent feudal elite, unequal society, lack of rural industrialization, presence of foreign hitmen, security-centric state paradigm (not welfare state) and lack of political consensus to undertake comprehensive policy reforms. An important lesson to learn from the Chinese history is that it undertook economic reforms which transformed the country’s fate. The CPEC can be a ‘game-changer’ only if Pakistan undertake domestic structural reforms with new policy initiatives. China’s experience demonstrates that economic reforms are the key to progress. A central institutional mechanism is needed for effective coordination among all the stakeholders for timely completion of the CPEC project. Pakistan has indeed the capability to join the ranks of the top ten world economies in the future by utilizing its human capital. The CPEC will surprise the global players, just as the Pakistan’s nuclear achievements did. The Pakistanis are known to be a very determined and resilient nation. They have the capability to enlighten their future.
