Ali Mehdi Malik retweeted
Every major economic opportunity in Pakistan was turned into a rent-seeking scheme for the elite.
1. Pakistan borrows billions. Instead of building exports, industry, and skilled human capital, the money disappears into mega-projects loaded with commissions.
Result: Every few years, Pakistan returns to the IMF with a begging bowl — while the elite parks wealth offshore.
2. Pakistan’s industry needed cheap electricity to compete globally. Instead, the system rewarded IPPs and guaranteed capacity payments for a connected few.
Result: IPP owners got richer. Industry got crushed under expensive power. Exports stagnated.
3. Farmers needed affordable fertiliser. Gas subsidies were supposed to support agriculture. Instead, subsidies became a pipeline for elite profits.
Result: Fertiliser cartels thrived. Agricultural productivity and exports barely moved.
4. Pakistan could have become a regional trade corridor linking Afghanistan and Central Asia. Instead, transit trade became a smuggling and money-laundering racket.
Result: Dollar flight, black markets, trade deficits, and a stagnant economy.
5. Pakistan needed world-class education and employable skills. Instead, degree factories multiplied while public universities decayed.
Result: Over 75,000 IT graduates every year — fewer than 5,000 employable.
The tragedy of Pakistan is not lack of opportunity.
It is that every opportunity became a business model for extraction instead of national growth.
We now have another opportunity with Pakistan's new found place at the center of world diplomacy and importance -- let's not squander this!
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