Pak security hinges on economic stability: Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal said on Thursday that nuclear bombs and defence capabilities alone could not save the Soviet Union from disintegration, so Pakistan would have to learn lessons by replacing the policy of geo-politics with geo-economics.

“Pakistan’s security cannot be ensured without economic stability. The nuclear bombs and arsenals could not defend the USSR from disintegration. Pakistan will have to overcome its internal conflicts among different institutions by overcoming political instability,” Ahsan Iqbal said while inaugurating the Pakistan Development Summit and Expo organised by the Ministry of Planning here at the Pak-China Centre on Thursday.

The minister said the long stretches of political stability and continuity of policies were pre-requisites for achieving long and sustainable growth. “Bangladesh and India have already surpassed us and Afghanistan could lag behind if two or three prolonged stretches of stability persisted as six years of the Karazi-led government and now six years led by Ashraf Ghani was leading the country,” he said.

The minister said that all prime ministers including innocent ones like Muhammad Khan Junejo and Zafarullah Khan Jamali could not complete their tenures here, so there was a need to mend our ways and history would not give more chances to us if we looked the other way.

“We are again at the stage of take-off and air force officers, who are present here, know that the plane requires strength of all engines at take-off stage  so internal conflicts will lead us nowhere,” said the minister.

He reminded that many countries including Bangladesh had surpassed Pakistan in exports as their exports stood at over $30 billion while Pakistan’s exports were hovering around $20 billion. He said that no country could make progress without political stability and consistency in policies. He said that he was minister in-charge when PM South Korea had visited Pakistan who at every occasion extended his thanks to Pakistan for extending cooperation during the decade of 60s when they were passing through wars. “If Korea could make progress by implementing our plans then what went wrong with Pakistan. We lost opportunities at critical junctures in the past,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal said that South Korea’s exports had touched $570 billion and reminded that their exports were $100 million in 60s when Pakistan’s exports were standing at $200 million. Now through $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said, it has been proved that Pakistan was not written off at global level and now every other country is keen to become part of CPEC. Quoting Charles Dickens where he narrated, “it was best of time, it was worst of time” he said that Pakistan stood at crossroads where half glass empty could be turned into glass full. 

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz also spoke on the occasion and said that Pakistan would have to learn lessons from its mistakes committed in last 70 years as the country could have developed more if policies were implemented in a harmonised manner. The development paradigm, he said, remained lopsided so real potential of the country could not be materialised. He said that Pakistan had achieved GDP growth rate of 5 percent on average during the decades from 50s to 90s but headwinds impacted the growth trajectory. Pakistan’s economic size, he said, would have been much larger if opportunities were grabbed properly.

He said that Pakistan was facing challenges including inconsistent policies, external economic vulnerabilities and rapidly degrading climate change. The benefits of higher growth trajectory, he concluded, should be inclusive for giving benefits for all segments of the society.