When a country is rated amongst the top 10 failed states of the world, its citizens naturally tend to retaliate in defence, just as Qamar Zaman Kaira Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, did.
In a letter addressed to Pauline Baker, president of Fund for Peace (FfP) which presents the Failed State Index (FSI), Kaira questioned the validity of the index, making one wonder whether Pakistan really is a failed state or not.
Pakistans outright branding as being failed is perhaps an overstatement, especially when one notices the other countries included in the top ten include the likes of Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Chad.
Fortunately, Pakistan is in not as sad a state as Somalia shrouded in an extreme humanitarian crisis under control of Islamist militants, or conflict-ridden Chad and Sudan. So far, Pakistan has managed to battle off the several security and economic crises that have loomed ahead to a reasonable degree, if not very satisfactorily.
Owing to a sufficient availability of resources, South-Asian countries in general, and Pakistan in particular, have been able to better manage crises. African countries on the other hand have fewer buffers of resources to deflect the various conflicts and crises that they are afflicted by.
The scoring allotted to Pakistan on a few of the indicators of the FSI is questionable, such as the indicators of refugees and human flight. Having successfully rehabilitated 2.5 million refugees, Pakistan deserves a pat on the back rather than an abysmal score.
Similarly, while Pakistani expatriates have been contributing significantly to the economy, one doesn see why Pakistan has been given a poor score on the indicator of human flight.
In addition, with a population of an overwhelming majority of youth, one wonders how Pakistan falls under challenging demographic pressures.
However, the ranking on the FSI does ring alarm bells for Pakistan, as the country is not as picture perfect as it would like to be.
Pakistans public services leave a lot to be desired, while Pakistan is also wrought with factionalized elites, and unnecessary external intervention.
According to Prof Dr Atta ur Rahman, a renowned scientist and scholar of the country, the FSI may be partly biased and exaggerated, but is generally correct. "Unless we transition to a knowledge-based economy, invest in research, education, science and technology, we may be sadly close to becoming a failed state," Dr Rahman told BR Research.
He rightfully adds that Pakistan has been faring dismally as far as social and educational indicators are concerned - his point being substantiated by the fact that Pakistan ranks 141 among 182 states included in the Human Development Index while the Human Poverty Index ranks Pakistan 101 of 135.
This is reason enough for a high scoring on the uneven development indicator of the FSI.
Unless a sustainable strategy for growth and development is undertaken, Pakistan may soon find itself in a fix, unable to tackle the challenges it will be facing in the future.
Even though Pakistan has been able to somehow manage crises in the past, they have had a negative impact on its ability to deal with them in the future, and one wonders how long this will continue before Pakistan really becomes a failed state.
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FAILED YET?
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Literacy GDP GDP Energy Health
rate* growth ** ($) use spending
** (kg) ($)**
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Somalia N.A. 2.6% 600 N.A. N.A.
Chad 32.7% -0.2% 770 n.a. 32
Sudan 69.3% 8.3% 1353 363 40
Zimbabwe 91.4% 3.7% 200 759 79
D.R. Congo 68.6% 6.2% 182 289 9.16
Afghanistan 28.0% 2.3% 366 N.A. 42
Iraq 77.6% 7.0% 3100 1105 62
Central African Republic 54.6% 2.2% 458 N.A. 16
Guinea N.A. 4.7% 386 N.A. 26
Pakistan 53.7% 2.0% 991 512 23
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*Adult Total, Ages 15 and above
** per capita
N.A. Not Available
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Source: World Bank, reported media
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