Freedom!

The preparations that began earlier this month have reached its logical end by now. Children in neighbourhoods across Pakistan have wound up their stalls that sold national flags, patriotic lapel pins, flaglets, t-shirts, mugs and other memorabilia marking the celebration of the country's Independence Day on August 14.

There were military march pasts, special shows on television and radio, concerts, discounts at malls, restaurants and cinemas, buildings lit up with decorative lighting designs- a great glittering facade of coming together to celebrate the "freedom" that Muslims of Indian sub-continent snatched from the jaws of British Raj in the year 1947.

But hardly a few, if any, took stock of the current state of economic freedom in Pakistan. The fact that the country's regional economic cooperation is a hostage to its military masters who overtly and covertly control the elected government's desires to trade with its eastern neighbour was largely left out of yesterday's discussion agenda. Or how the multi-billion "Military Incorporated"- to paraphrase Ayesha Siddiqa's study of military's dominance in non-military economic sectors - has left unequal economic opportunities for the private and public sector.

Nobody also talked about how the freedom of this country's labour force- that comprises of about a third of the country's population- has been clipped for many decades. Not many people follow this but thanks to a host of exclusions and exceptions in various labour laws, only 10 percent of the country's labour force is allowed to form or take part in a union and association. In reality only 1 percent of the labour force is a part of any union or association due to restrictions by corporations and business interests, according to research by PILER.

Likewise, the discussion on how the political, industrial and feudal elite have pushed the population at the fringes of economic existence was a topic that was largely missed from the national discourse. Or how the elite have captured the state and its institutions for their own self interest leaving the millions without access to justice and little or unequal access to economic opportunities.

Similarly, the freedom of holding and implementing home grown economic thought has been clipped by self-serving bureaucrats who are more than happy to accommodate the donor community, the multi and bi-laterals than encouraging the development of home grown economic thought industry.

Looking at things from a Haq-Senian lens, the state of economic un-freedom can also be gauged from the state of multi-dimensional poverty that this country faces. Dr Faisal Bari, the renowned economist who has lately been focusing on education, made a rather frightening statement to this effect last week. Based on his latest research for UNDP Pakistan Dr Bari said that "if you have reached matriculation in Pakistan you have almost become an elite, and if you have reached university you are an elite."

Reducing the Independence Days to mere remembrance of the founding fathers, televising a host of tele-dramas portraying their sacrifices and struggled, and swaying to nationalistic anthems is not doing justice to the idea of the freedom. Pakistan got freedom from the British India in 1947, but for a huge majority of Pakistanis freedom to live a decent life and livelihood is still a long way to go, and sadly there isn't much discourse about it.