1. The outbreak of Covid-19 and Impact on Pakistan’s Economy ?

The Covid-19 outbreak affected almost 106M people worldwide, as of recent updates. It was such a
severe disease that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared it a pandemic. In order to
control the spread of this disease many affected countries went into lockdown and took strict measures,
including Pakistan. The measures taken for social distancing were closing restaurants, prohibiting travel,
closing flight operations, restrictions of social gatherings, closing educational institutions, closing
marquees etc. All these measures had a huge impact on Pakistan’s economy. It led to a huge impact on
poverty, according to experts Pakistan will face an expected increase in poverty which will be 50% of its
population, which means that almost 120 million people are expected to face poverty by the end of 2020.
This poverty is caused by unemployment, which itself is affected greatly by Covid-19. According to the
World Bank, there are a total of 75 million workforce in Pakistan. According to Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics, it is estimated that 19-20 million workers will lose their jobs. All this
unemployment is caused because of lockdown and slow-down in the economic activities. Daily wagers
which make up to 47% of Pakistan’s workforce, which work in the service sectors are estimated to be
most worstly affected by lockdown due to this pandemic. To help people who lose their jobs, the federal
and Punjab government announced economic packages which included monthly payments of PKR 3K for
businesses and PKR 4K for workers. Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) also faced a decrease. The Pakistani
Stock Market also suffered greatly from this pandemic. The Currency Market of Pakistan also faced a
huge impact, the rate of dollar increased to 168 against Pak Rupee by the end of March. Gold prices also
saw a sudden increase reaching to around PKR 95K per tola. The agriculture sector of Pakistan was also
widely affected including farmers and production, due to lockdown because of Covid-19 the farmers
faced difficulty in access to seeds, planting material, fertilizers, harvesting machines etc. This disturbed
the economy greatly as it will result in lower yield and that will lead to very less supply of crops for the
animals to feed, which in return will affect the overall supply of meat, vegetables and milk to the people.
Steel Industry of Pakistan was also impacted, Pakistan was dependent on China and Japan to get raw
materials for it, but the Covid-19 largely affected the supply and now Pakistan will have to go with
expensive substitution which will increase cost of production and affect manufacturing and construction
activities across the country. Automobile industries were also largely affected, due to lockdown
companies such as Toyota, Honda, Suzuki were completely shut down and faced a lot of loss. The Textile
industry was also largely affected and some of them decided to shut down temporarily in order to prevent
build-up of stock. Real Estate sector was also affected, due to lockdown and ban in travel, it was difficult
between buyers and sellers to deal properly. The Tourism sector was severely affected, due to ban on
travel, closed flight operations and safety measures. It was unsafe and almost impossible for people to
visit places. The Education sector was also affected, to prevent the spread of disease all educational
institutions were closed and a new way of learning which is online learning at home was introduced to
students and teachers. Covid-19 also negatively affected development projects such as CPEC, as a result
the construction work on various projects was delayed. 

2. Fault lines of National Integrity in Pakistan ?

Integration literally means the fitting together of parts to make one whole. Parts, of course, cannot be
fitted together unless they are compatible. This is the first prerequisite of integration. A country, if it is to
survive, must have national unity, cohesion and integration. National integration is a process of achieving
national cohesion, stability, prosperity, strength and feelings of being united as a nation.1 Pakistan has
faced varying degrees of religious, ethnic, linguistic, economic and political problems that are often in
conflict with our national interests. To guard against all challenges to the solidarity and security of
Pakistan, a well knitted and integrated nation is a must. Having inherited a complex nature of multi-ethnic
and multi-linguistic population in its national entity, with different socio-cultural backgrounds, the danger
of regional fragmentation is always there. In these ways, the achievement of national integration in
Pakistan presents its own set of dilemma. So national integration in Pakistan can only mean establishing a
common citizenry, common political and social structures, a common state, and a common sense of
identity. It means building a common national community on top of the existing diversity. National
integration cannot be artificially created but it evolves as a result of a process of social and economic
justice along with democratic political pluralism. But, religion alone cannot be a binding force to integrate
dissimilar people of a country as a nation. There are other essential requirements to unite people as a
nation like economic progress, human and social development, justice system, rule of law, political
pluralism, non-discriminatory policy of state by providing equal opportunities regardless of religion,
caste, race, language, gender and place of origin. national harmony and integration requires ownership of
the land, resources, good and bad things of a country. Except few exceptions, the history of Pakistan is
full of episodes which reflect lack of ownership. Nations are not created by mere slogans but through
sheer hard work, integrity, brilliance, planning and statesmanship of the leadership. Unfortunately the
menace of corruption, nepotism and bad governance tends to reflect the lack of ownership of the country
as majority of the people, including those representing various state institutions are interested in
protecting their personal, community, clan or group interests than the interests of the country as a whole.
The tendency to find faults with the country and not doing anything to remove things which cause social,
economic, political and governance crises means the lack of ownership. Furthermore, the propensity to
seek and explore migration as an option so as to achieve a better life abroad means lack of responsibility
and commitment to put things in order. Pakistani diaspora, which reflects brain drain from the country is
more than 10 million as their migration means to a large extent the failure of state to fulfil essential needs
of citizens like clean and safe drinking water, better education, equal employment opportunities, housing,
public transport, health and basic security. Even after the induction of the new government in 2018, the
migration of people abroad has not stopped and the brain drain continues. Lack of ownership with the
resources and public institutions means there is absence of commitment for the country. In case of
Pakistan, the situation is perplexed and rather challenging because it was created as a state like Israel on
religious grounds. While Jews from all over the world reached their new homeland along with different
cultures and became a majority in a land which was earlier called as Palestine, in case of Pakistan, those
who had migrated from India with a common language Urdu were a minority as local people living in a
new state already had their established languages and cultures. Therefore, for national integration,
whether in case of the United States or India, language was not a major issue as English and Hindi, which
were the languages of dominant groups in the two countries were adopted. In case of Pakistan, Urdu was
declared as a national language despite the fact that it was not the mother tongue of the majority and was
considered only as a lingua franca. As a result, conflict over national language emerged in the formative
phase of Pakistan when Urdu was rather imposed on the then East Pakistan. Although, in 1956, Bengali
was given the status of a national language along with Urdu, the damage was done and Bengali
nationalism became a major force culminating into the disintegration of Pakistan in December 1971. The
post-1971 Pakistan failed to learn lessons from the trauma of separation as language riots in Sindh broke
out when Sindhi was declared as a language of the province by the Sindh Assembly in July 1972. Urdu is
a mode of communication and is the language of the provinces of Balochistan, KPK and Punjab yet, it is
not the mother tongue of 90 per cent of the people of Pakistan.
It is not only language which matters as far as national integration is concerned but tolerance and
acceptance of each other regardless of variation in culture, class and religion also matters. Biases on
ethnic, cultural, lingual, religious or sectarian grounds can never lead to political or economic stability.
Pakistan’s predicament is prejudices and intolerance on the basis of language, place of origin and sect still
persists. When people start identifying themselves with their language, culture, religion and sect and not
with the country, one cannot expect national integration to take place. When lingual and ethnic
consideration undermines merit in appointments and promotions, that country can never emerge as a
unified nation. Those wielding power and other stakeholders in Pakistan who are living in their comfort
zones, it is their responsibility to examine and analyse how in other countries having diverse cultures,
languages and religions, the process of national integration was unleashed and reached to its logical
conclusion. Unless there is political will, determination along with honest, clear and a visionary
leadership, one cannot expect a country to remain united and integrated as a nation. Many countries face
the challenge of national integration but in some cases their leadership is able to integrate diverse people
by ensuring social justice, tolerance, rule of law, good governance and democratic pluralism. Pakistan’s
quest for national integration would remain elusive unless the bottom-top approach is adopted where a
sense of belonging to the country evolves at the grassroots’ level. Care for the resources of the country
and pursuing a tolerant approach vis-à-vis those who are different in race, language, class, religion and
sect will go a long way in promoting what is called as “Pakistaniat.” Promoting the culture of merit
instead of favouritism and nepotism is also the essence to achieve the goal of national integration.