Barriers to progress

This refers to the letter ‘Towards economic strength’ (Oct 15) by Raja Shafaatullah. The writer is rightly concerned about the weak economy that gives rise to political instability, security challenges and international isolation. No amount of effort, brilliant ideas or discourse between politicians can bring about radical improvement unless certain critical impediments restricting the nation’s political, economic, social and intellectual evolution are removed.

Just five steps need to be taken to get rid of the barriers that are holding back the nation’s advancement: 1) abolish feudalism and carry out land reforms; 2) create more provinces; 3) devolve power to the lowest level; 4) discontinue quota system in the public sector; and 5) give top priority to education, particularly in science & technology, research & innovation. The implementation of these measures can unleash immense synergy to catch up with other countries which gained freedom after us but have made impressive progress in all fields. But no improvement is foreseen unless there emerges an agent of change, someone like Jinnah Sahib. But this may be a daydream.

Arif Majeed

Karachi