Most Important Problems

1. Terrorism/Sovereignty Violation
2. Religious Intolerance
3. Water Shortage
4. Inflation
5. Rampant Corruption
6. Provincial Disharmony
7. Devalued Currency
8. Unemployment
9. Low Education
10.Weak Foreign Policy

Other Problems

1.Imbalance between the "Three Tiers of

State"
2.Lack of education
3.Lack of science and technology
4.Corrupt inefficient police
5.No consensus on building dams
6.Lack of sanitation (no toilets)
7.Food Crisis
8.Low Jobs
9.Brian Drain
10. highest murder rates in the world
11. Ethnic hatred
12. Sectarian hatred
13. Lack of investment
14. Lack of unity
15. Liberation movement in Baluchistan
16. Kashmir Issue
17. Declining FDI's
18. Water Disputes with India
19. Energy Crisis
20. Feudalism
21. Rising divorce rate
22. Lack of health care
23. Drug Abuse in teengers
24. Land grabbing Mafia
25. Illegal wepons
26. Low forex reserves
27. Traffic chaos
28. Water Air and Noise Pollution
29. Population explosion
30. Media Ethic
31. high rate of infant mortality
32. Suicide bombings
33. Low tax collection by government
34. Tax evasion - 90%+ of the people
don't pay any taxes
35. Very high tax rate for those who do
pay taxes
36. Availability of heavy weaponry to
criminals
37. Lack of clean drinking water for the
majority of the population
38. Armed and violent gangs in Karachi,
including Lyari and Sohrab Goth
39. Large areas of the country where the
writ of the state does not apply
40. Fake Pirs
41. The tendency for people to vote for
corrupt, failed, treacherous politicians
42. Abuse of women in the society
43. Awful built quality of roads, bridges
and other infrastructure
44. Spread of Indian culture via film and
television
45. Spread of Western culture via film
and television
46. Lack of hospitals, clinics, doctors etc,
especially in rural areas
47. Mixing of junk into food products by
unscrupulous people
48. Capital flight - everyone who can
sending their money abroad

Social Problems

1. Chronic illiteracy
2. rampant corruption
3. increasing population
4. domestic violence
5. women victimization
6. child labour
7. problems of the youth
8. generation gap
9. fast urbanization
10. feudalistic mindset
11. conservative thinking
12. age-long caste system
13. sinking moral values due to foreign culture and media invasion

Political Problems

1. Unstable democracy
2. incompetent political leaders
3. frequent military interventions
4. onslaught on judiciary
5. absence of accountability
6. lack of political education
7. curb on media
8. religious warlords
9. strong feudal lords
10. profit oriented industrialist
11. distrust between the centre and the provinces
12. ethnicity (Balochistan crises)
13. quagmire of ‘Front line State
14. personalization of politics
15. patchworks in the constitution
16. jeopardized sovereignty of the state
17. crisis of good governance
18. distrust among the politicians

Economic deprivation

1. Huge Defense budget

2. budget deficit
3. low industrial
4. Declining value of Local Currency
5. agricultural production
6. high cost of production
7. energy crisis
8. foreign debts
9. discontinuity of reforms
10. inflation
11. unemployment
12. poverty
13. trade deficit
14. low HDI
15. brain drain
16. misappropriation of funds
17. economic disparity
18. consumer market instead of productive market
19. negative effects of global business
20. Chinese factor
 21. low FDI
22. tax evasion,
23. absence of micro financing
24. corruption in the state institutions and misappropriation of foreign aid

Pragmatic Solution to Overcome these

Problems

Social cures

Awareness by media
Financial security
Social justice
Fulfillment of basic needs
Providing food, cloth, shelter and education
Reforming schools as well as madrassahs education
Role of NGOs
Positive role of scholars and educationists and women
Development programs

Economic cures

Business friendly tax culture

Consistency of economic policies
Maximum incentives to local and foreign investors
Construction of dams
Exploring natural resources
Equal distribution of income
Strict accountability on fund utilization
Technical and research based education (more budget for education)
Search for new markets
Seeking peace to lower down defense budget

Aggravating Causes behind the

devastating situation

Social Causes

 Outdated education system

 Uneducated elders versus modernized youth
 Absence of true religious knowledge
 Lawlessness
 No rule of law
 Avoidance of true Islamic teachings
 Enchanting western culture
 Dying of simplicity
  Victimization of women

Political Causes

 Colonial mind set of ruling

 Leadership crisis
 Army in politics
 Weak judiciary
 Repressed provinces
 Foreign influence
 Vested interest of political leaders
 Religious intolerance
 Lack of accountability
 Media censorship
 Economic imperialism
 Poor participation of women in state affairs
 US influence, role of intelligence agencies and illiterate masses

Economic Causes

 Inconsistent economic policies

 Lack of political will
 Corruption
 Unfriendly environment for local and foreign investors
 Energy crisis
 Illiterate entrepreneurs
 Low tax collection
 Irregular appointments
 No utilization of resources
 Terrorist activities
 Poor industrial and agricultural production

Impact of these Fatal Crisis

1. Tarnished national image

2. Political and religious violence
3. Weak state institutions
4. Frustration among the masses
5. Absence of true values
6. Sense of insecurity
7. Uncertainty about future
8. Depressed women
9. Suicidal tendencies
10. Stagnant national development
11. Peoples’ disinterest in politics
12. Easy access for foreign conspirator
13. Wide gap between rural and urban life
14. Alienation between the classes
15. Diminishing positive impression of state institutions – army,
bureaucracy and judiciary
Pakistan’s major problems and their
solutions.
 Keeping democratic institutions strong

Pakistan has faced major challenges in its socioeconomic situation

over past seventy years. However, not all problems have been
overcome. The key problems of today include: water scarcity; the
lack of sustainable development projects; an increasingly
unemployed youth population; the lack of focus on human
development projects; a continuous reduction in the foreign
exchange reserves; the increase in non-developmental
expenditures; the increase in public debt; the unequal distribution
of wealth; the rising deprivation in Baluchistan, interior Sindh, and
Southern Punjab; unpleasant relations in the region, especially with
the eastern and western neighbours; the poor condition of small
and medium enterprises (SMEs); and the failure to effectively
implement the local bodies system, which is considered the basis
for democracy.

One of the major issues the country is facing is a shortage of water.

According to research by the American University, Pakistan is
among the top ten countries in the world which are suffering from
a water crisis. Handling this water crisis will not be easy. It is
necessary that work on the Kalabagh and Diamer-Basha Dams be
completed at the earliest possible opportunity. According to a
recent report, 40 million acre-feet (MAF) of water is draining into
the sea due to lack of dams. The Kalabagh Dam has a capacity to
store 6.4 MAF of water, the Diamer-Basha Dam can store 5.8 MAF,
and the Dasu Dam can store 6 MAF of water. If these three dams
are completed, then lot of water will be saved from being wasted
which may aid in reducing the water shortage.

If these dams are not constructed, Pakistan will face a drinking

water crisis and its agriculture sector will be destroyed. In Pakistan,
agriculture has a deep connection with other industries, such as the
textile and pesticide industries. Due to a lack of water, both
agriculture and agriculture-related industries are on the brink of
total collapse. The agricultural sector is affected by both the lack of
water as well as the government’s neglect: such as not providing
reasonable support prices or subsidies on fertilisers and seeds.
Public debt is increasing because of which we must pay attention to the
value of the rupee. Ishaq Dar has controlled the dollar due to which
inflation remained under control but foreign exchange reserves continued
to be depleted

Air pollution is another major issue. The country’s climate is getting

worse day by day, for which trees must be planted. The increasing
severity of floods and silting of dams is leading to decrease in their
storage capacity as a result of deforestation.

In the future, the water crisis will more serious than the load
shedding crisis. While the load shedding crisis has been somewhat
overcome, our transmission lines are worn out which causes the
entire power system to keep on tripping. Timely action is needed
to address this issue so that the requirements of the growing
population can be fulfilled. Today there continues to be load
shading despite having no shortfall. Thus, even if we were able to
generate more electricity, load shedding would still not be reduced
because of the lack of capacity in the transmission system.
There is a lack of sustainable development projects in Pakistan.
The number of youth in our country is constantly increasing, which
means that unemployment is growing rapidly as well. That is why
technical education needs to be provided. B-Tech education and
other technical education should be made available to everyone.
The maximum number of youth possible should be equipped with
the skills they need to earn money abroad so that they can
contribute to the gross national product (GNP).

The country’s current population is more than 210 million. The

growing population has a negative impact on the country reserves
and depletes resources. Unchecked population growth can be
extremely detrimental to Pakistan’s development. For this, a
family planning emergency must be triggered and must be
enforced.

The country faces an unequal distribution of wealth. In Musharraf’s

era, this phenomenon increased rapidly because most of the
economic experts at the time belonged to the banking sector. This
meant that the agricultural sector was ignored and the small and
medium business sector was also affected. The rich became richer
and the poor became poorer. Afterwards, the Pakistan Peoples’
Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz came into power
which allowed this difference to be narrowed down. This suggests
that democracy is a good option to achieve equal distribution of
wealth. The local bodies system from Article 140 of the
constitution states that power should be transferred to the lower
levels of government. When this transition finally occurs, it will
improve the condition of the public as well.
The country’s tax net needs to expand as only a small segment of
the population pays tax. Landlords, civil and military bureaucracy,
large companies, bank owners, and housing society owners are
included in the elite of Pakistan and are given special privileges in
the form of tax cuts to avoid certain taxes.

Our commercial banks should invest in the SME sector. Projects

like the Benazir Income Support Fund will not end poverty, but
may rather create a huge population of poor people that are
dependent on social welfare. Dr Younus’s microfinance model can
be implemented to revive the country’s economy.

Non-developmental funds should be reduced. Attention needs to

be paid to issues like food security, education, and health. In our
country, 3.5pc of the GDP is spent on health and 2.8pc goes to
education (as per budget 2016-17). Both of these sectors need
significant increase in budget.

If the democratic government plays more proactive as well as

assertive role in foreign policy, it is likely that relations with
Afghanistan and India would improve. Spending on defense could
be reduced and this money could be applied to development
projects, health, and education.

Public debt is increasing because of which we must pay attention

to the value of the rupee. Ishaq Dar has controlled the dollar due to
which inflation remained under control but foreign exchange
reserves continued to be depleted. Over the last five years, exports
have declined by $4 billion while imports have increased by $8
billion. In 2012-13, our exports were $24.5 billion and have now
fallen to $19.20 billion, while imports were $45.1 billion and have
grown to $49.40 billion. The fiscal deficit now exceeds $30 billion.
Serious measures are needed in this area to rectify the problem.

The most important thing that should be focused on is

strengthening the democracy. In the past, most of the worst
decisions took place under dictators. For example, if democracy
had continued after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the country would not have
taken part in the Afghan war and in the Musharraf era, the load
shedding problem would have not arisen. The country’s future
possibilities for development and prosperity depend on the
continuation of democracy in the country.

The six biggest challenges facing

Pakistan’s urban future
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Pakistan is among the most urbanized countries
of South Asia. As challenges mount, urban
planning is gradually finding space in the policy
discourse. This is the first of three blog posts on
Pakistan’s rapid urbanization. It discusses the
pace of urbanization and the major problems
associated with it. This will be followed by posts
on how the government is responding to the
challenges and how and whether the research
community is engaged in seeking solutions.
With an urban population growing three percent per year, Pakistanis
are flocking to cities faster than any other country in South Asia. By
2030, more than half of Pakistan’s projected 250 million citizens are
expected to live in cities.
Karachi

The main drivers of Pakistan’s urban growth are high birth rates and
migration from rural areas. Migrants are attracted to cities for better
jobs and improved access to basic services.

However, urbanization has inflated Pakistan’s biggest cities so

rapidly that they struggle to deliver public services and create
productive jobs. Urban poverty is on the rise, with one in eight urban
dwellers living below the poverty line.
As a result, Pakistan’s cities contribute much less to the economy
compared to other developing countries. Pakistani cities – inhabited
by 38 percent of the population – make up around 55 percent of total
GDP. India’s urban population is 30 percent, with 58 percent of its
GDP coming from cities. In Indonesia, urban population and urban
share of GDP are 44 percent and 60 percent[1], respectively.
According to the World Bank, Pakistan’s urbanization is also ‘messy
and hidden’: Messy from low-density sprawl and hidden as cities
grow beyond administrative boundaries to include ‘ruralopilises’,
which are densely populated rural areas and outskirts not officially
designated as cities. Ruralopilises today are estimated to make up to
60 percent of urban Pakistan[2]. Such urbanization without an
accompanying shift in economic patterns does not bode well.
Without better urban planning to accommodate rapid growth, cities
have the potential to become hotbeds of discontent and unrest rather
than engines of growth and innovation.

Following are the biggest challenges facing urban policymakers.

1. Poor housing quality and affordability

The State Bank of Pakistan has estimated that across all major cities,
urban housing was approximately 4.4 million units short of demand in
2015. If current trends continue, Pakistan’s five largest cities will
account for 78 percent of the total housing shortage by 2035. Even if
urban population remains stagnant, the growing trend of nuclear
families who seek housing separate from larger families will increase
pressure on housing supply[3].
When provided, housing is often low quality. Pakistan ranks eighth
among the ten countries that collectively hold 60 percent of
substandard housing across the world[4]. Karachi, one of the world’s
fastest growing megacities with an estimated 17 million people, ranks
second lowest in South Asia and sixth lowest in the world on the
Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 livability index.
2. Water and Sanitation

In most Pakistani cities, water is supplied only four to 16 hours per

day and to only 50 percent of the population. According to the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), 90 percent of water supply schemes are
unsafe for drinking. Shared latrines among households are common
in cities and access to solid waste management services remains
low. In the most population-dense areas of Karachi, one toilet is
shared between twenty people. The World Bank estimates that poor
sanitation costs Pakistan around 3.9 percent of GDP; diarrhea-
related death and disease among children under five being the
largest contributors.
3. Transportation
Karachi is the only megacity in the world without a mass public
transport system. Meanwhile, the cost of private transportation
is estimated to have increased by over 100 percent since 2000. Those
who cannot afford the commute are forced to live in unplanned,
inner-city neighborhoods.
Increased private transport on urban roads has caused severe
congestion. The government has responded by upgrading many
urban roads. However, infrastructure for the most common modes of
travel in Pakistan – such as pavements for walking or special lanes
for bicycles – either does not exist or has been encroached upon.
This is despite the fact that 40 percent of all trips in Lahore are made
on foot.
Mobility in urban Pakistan is also harder for women. An ADB study
found that almost 85 percent of working-women surveyed in Karachi
were harassed in 2015.

4. Health
While overall health and nutrition are better for urban than for rural
populations[5], child mortality and malnutrition indicators show that
Pakistan’s urban poor have health outcomes only marginally better
than the rural poor.
Better health outcomes in urban areas are explained by improved
access to private health care in cities. But with the exception of
immunization, utilization of basic public health services is very low in
urban areas.
Poor health outcomes are also a direct impact of the pollution caused
by rapid urbanization. According to the World Health Organization,
Karachi is the most polluted city in Pakistan with air twice as polluted
as that of Beijing. The level of pollution in Punjab’s major cities is also
three to four times higher than that determined safe by the UN.

A lack of clean drinking water remains a major contributor to the high

mortality rate of children under five years old. According to Save the
Children’s 2015 Annual Report, poor urban children in Pakistan are
more likely to die young than rural children.

The challenge of global warming has also intensified in cities. A rise

in concrete structures across the urban landscape is increasing
temperatures within cities.[6] In 2015, an unanticipated heat wave in
Karachi led to almost 1,500 deaths.
5. Education
Although urban areas have higher student enrollment and better
learning outcomes, close to 10 percent of all children in Lahore,
Karachi and Peshawar remain out of school.
Like healthcare, better education in cities is explained by the private
sector. From 2001 to 2014, the share of primary enrollment in urban
private schools rose from 25 percent to 40 percent.
Moreover, there seems to be an inverse relationship between public
schooling and city size. In small cities, approximately 35 percent of all
children aged five to nine are enrolled in government schools. In
capital cities, that figure drops to 22 percent.
Continued preference for private schools reflects the low quality of
government schools in urban centers. While all private schools have
basic facilities (drinkable water and toilets), they are missing in
around 12 percent of government schools in Lahore.

The absence of educational and health facilities in smaller cities

pushes people towards big cities, where service delivery becomes
increasingly strained as the urban population grows.

6. Land Management
Outdated land use regulation and building codes, the absence of a
unified land record system and patchy data on land use result in poor
urban land management. One consequence is extreme inequality in
land use. In Karachi, 36 percent of the population lives in formally
planned settlements that consume 77 percent of the city’s residential
land, where urban density can be as low as 84 people per hectare.
On the other hand, Karachi’s many informal settlements have densities
of more than 4,500 per hectare. These hugely varying densities have
resulted in unequal access to vital urban services.
Unplanned urban sprawl continues unchecked. Housing schemes
built beyond city limits have used up an estimated 60,000 acres of
prime agricultural land. Both Karachi and Lahore have seen the
development of large real estate schemes by private and military
developers particularly along the highways. These ventures are
redefining urban limits, further straining service delivery.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT LINK

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/destinatio
n/pakistan