What impedes development of Pakistan?

Pakistan has been facing myriad hurdles in the way of its development since its inception. These
hurdles have weakened the very foundation at its embryonic stage. These hurdles are lingering in
nature and have contributed to the decline in the progress of Pakistan. Some of them are:
Colonial mindset: Pakistan inherited with the colonial legacy since its independence. The British
masters imbued with their vested interests, never heeded to the integration of the country. They
created cleavages to further their interests and nefarious designs. In doing so, they demarcated and
divided the society into two distinct groups i.e. the rulers and the ruled. The former continued to
nurture and flourish at the cost of the later. They have no conscience for their compatriots. This
termite of class difference (highlighted by Marx) is still weakening our society.
Education. It is the most influential and crucial tool for building a modern, civilised, learned and
serene society. The constitution of Pakistan ensures providing equal chances of education to all
citizens. Contrary to that, education in Pakistan tends to produce classes within the society. The
children in public schools do not have an access to quality education, and are deprived of such
mental development abilities and skills that they are inculcated and taught in elite private schools.
Resultantly, the system renders opportunities only to a few who rise and continue to rule this
country. The education is meant to break social class differences in a society. But the differences
in public and private educational institutes in Pakistan have become the evidences of social class
differences themselves. The sense of deprivation gets rooted in the minds of the children of the
poor. As these children grow up, their sense of deprivation transforms into antipathy for the rich
and those who continue to exploit them. This unfair system of education hinders in the
development of a country.
Corruption: The biggest problem in our country is corruption. It is the root cause of all evils. It
has shaken the very foundations of our country. Ruling elite has abused the public offices to
multiply their affluence. Resultantly, our country is going through a severe socio-economic ordeal.
The widespread corruption erodes public trust in governance and discourages foreign investments,
further stunting economic growth. Moreover, it perpetuates inequality, as corrupt practices often
benefit a small elite at the expense of the larger population, worsening poverty and social unrest.
Tackling corruption is therefore crucial for Pakistan's development, requiring comprehensive
reforms, transparency, and a culture of accountability at all levels of society.
Unemployment: This particular factor is the root cause of most of the negative factors prevailing
in our society. Different governments have claimed to provide jobs to the unemployed, but
remained unable in fulfilling their promise. The sincere efforts are needed made to curb or control
this menace of unemployment. Otherwise, it would keep on eroding the very foundations of our
society. The unemployed youth, due to their frustration and a deep sense of disillusionment, would
remain a convenient tool of manipulation in the hands of our adversaries.
Language complex: English has become a status symbol in our society. People who can speak
English are considered educated and well-knowledged. The most beautiful thing in countries like
China and Germany is that they are proud of national language. Even though they know English
but they prefer to speak in their national language. The government should realize that the children
of the poor studying in the Urdu medium schools will never able to compete with the children who
get education in English medium schools. The same applies to civil services exams where
thousands of competent students fail just because of weak English background. Even India who
also remained under British Raj, allows candidates to appear in civil service exams in Hindi
because they want to check the knowledge of the aspirants not the English supremacy.
Lack of Visionary leadership: The leadership is the ability to translate vision into reality like
Quaid-e-Azam. He had in him a rare combination of prescience, idealism, intellectual vigor, faith
and resolution that resulted in the modification of the world map. After his demise, Pakistan
remained deprived of such visionary and honest leadership. The leaders with charismatic authority
like Quaid, Bismarck, Washington, Mandela, Churchill, Lenin, Cavour, Ataturk, Luther King,
Lincoln, etc, are required to lead this country. For this we have to ensure meritocracy in political
sphere.
Exploitation of religion: The poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and some other socio-economic
factors allow people to be used by certain elements in the name of religion. Due to lack of requisite
knowledge, people fail to understand Islam in true sense and blindly follow the preaching of the
extremists.
Ineffective management of resources, feudalism, caste system, poor law-enforcement and gender
discrimination are some other issues prevailing in the Pakistani society. To encapsulate, correcting
the above-mentioned problems that Pakistan is grappling with requires sincerity, integrity, and
collective will of the whole nation. Since our country is surrounded by both the internal and
external foes, we should leave aside our parochial interests aside and work diligently and devotedly
for the development of our country. Unity is a great strength and under given circumstances, an
indispensable need of the hour for our country. A Roman historian, Sallust remarked, “By union
the smallest states thrive and by discord the greatest are destroyed.” But it cannot be possible
without the positive and effective role of policy and law-makers.