Good expat vs bad expat

Thousands of qualified and talented professionals and skilled workers in Pakistan who fail to get jobs on merit, which are doled out on recommendations, are forced to seek immigration in USA, Canada, Europe etc to earn their livelihood or go to Gulf etc. They send part of their savings to support their families back home. These are good expatriates whose remittances contribute over 95 percent of what is sent back to Pakistan. The other expatriates are either scions of corrupt civil or uniformed public office holders and z few rotten politicians who made their fortunes and benefited most from opportunities offered by this country, and having damaged this country economically through corrupt practices, have sent their families abroad and bought assets there. However these corrupt opportunists continue to work here, where they can get away with illegalities and irregularities, because they fear getting caught in their newly adopted foreign homes if they commit similar financial crimes there.

What is shocking is that while these bad expatriates are proud that their children no longer live here, and instead live in countries where there is rule of law, they desire that the status-quo continues in Pakistan so that they can break laws and get away with it. Almost 75 percent of total remittances sent to Pakistan by good expatriates are transferred back to foreign safe havens for eventual transfer to countries where their families live. Most of the bad expatriates are beneficiaries of state-subsidized allotments and tax rebates or concessions and tax evasion yet they continue to hold public offices and get best jobs in state and public-sector organizations while Pakistanis who hold no other nationality remain unemployed.

Gull Zaman

Peshawar