Views & Opinions Archives - The Financial Daily

The K-Shaped Economy

Webmaster — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:29:03 +0000

A K-shaped economy is a recovery in which parts of society move in opposite directions. One cohort sees rising wealth; the other stagnates or declines in real terms. Plotted over time, the paths form a K: a common origin, then one arm rising and the other falling.

FIGURE 01

A Stylized K-shaped economy: Divergence after a shock

The upper arm owns assets: equities, property, and business interests. The lower arm depends on wages and pays rent. Whenever asset prices rise faster than wages, the arms diverge, and ownership is highly concentrated. Federal Reserve data show the top 1% of US households holding roughly half of all corporate equities, while the bottom 50%, more than 160 million people, holds about 1%.

FIGURE 02

Ownership of US corporate equities, per $100, by household group

2. The post-pandemic divergence, 2020 to 2026

Governments deployed roughly $17 trillion in pandemic fiscal support, and the Federal Reserve more than doubled its balance sheet to $8.9 trillion. This very likely averted a depression, but it was not neutral. New liquidity flowed first into asset markets: upper-arm assets roughly doubled in price, consumer prices rose sharply, and typical real wages were flat.

The gap then compounded: the top decile’s share of US consumer spending reached a record 49.2% in 2025, while subprime auto delinquencies hit a 32-year high. The pattern is global: in the pandemic’s first year, billionaire wealth rose by about $5 trillion while an estimated 100 million people fell into extreme poverty.

FIGURE 03

Cumulative change, February 2020 to mid-2026

3. Policy responses: two failures and three successes

Policymakers typically reach for wealth taxes or monetized transfers. Both are popular. Both are counterproductive.

Wealth is mobile. France’s wealth tax saw an estimated 42,000 millionaires emigrate and, by economist Eric Pichet’s calculation, drove roughly 200 billion euros abroad, costing the state twice what it collected. Norway raised its wealth tax in 2022, lost a record number of wealthy citizens to Switzerland, and collected less, not more. When an entrepreneur leaves, the state forfeits an entire tax footprint: income tax, the taxes and jobs of their firms, and every firm they would have founded at home. In open economies, wealth taxation is a subsidy to competing jurisdictions.

Monetized transfers fail for the opposite reason. New money reaches asset markets first and consumer prices second, so inflation is their principal consequence, and inflation is regressive: the lower arm holds cash and earns fixed wages, while the upper arm holds equities, property, and foreign currency that rise with it. When Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38% in 2023, asset and dollar holders were insulated while wage earners absorbed the loss. Monetary financing is a transfer running the wrong way.

The three most successful postwar reductions of the divergence used neither remedy. They made workers owners by default, or freed housing supply.

FIGURE 04

Ownership and supply reforms: outcomes before and after

Singapore, from 1968: mandatory payroll contributions flow into individually owned accounts that can buy public housing. Home ownership rose from 29% in 1970 to about 90% today, including 87% of the lowest income quintile, inside one of the world’s most open economies.

Australia, from 1992: compulsory superannuation directs part of every wage into the employee’s own investment account. Coverage exceeds 90% of workers, balances approach A$4 trillion, and Australia has the world’s second-highest median wealth per adult.

Auckland, from 2016: the city rezoned most residential land for construction. Approvals roughly doubled, rents sit about a fifth below trend, and the fiscal cost was zero. The binding constraint on housing is regulation, not land or materials.

Rent rises with inflation and builds no asset; a fixed mortgage payment stays constant, then ends, leaving a home. Cash lost about 25% of its purchasing power since 2020; equities have returned 6 to 7% a year in real terms for a century. Broad ownership does not dilute capitalism; it gives it its widest base of support.

FIGURE 05

Monthly housing cost over 25 years: renter versus owner

4. Application: Pakistan and the National Ownership Account

Pakistan is an acute case: 44.7% of the population lives below the World Bank poverty line, elite privileges cost an estimated $17.4 billion a year, and roughly 0.2% of Pakistanis hold listed equities, against 6% in India. One arm holds under-taxed real estate and foreign currency; the other holds depreciating rupees.

The proposed response is the National Ownership Account (NOA): one investment account per citizen, linked to the CNIC, heritable, and legally insulated from state seizure. Formal workers contribute 12% of wages (7% employer, 5% employee), phased in over five years. Informal workers, roughly 70% of the labor force, may deposit from Rs100 via mobile, matched one-for-one by the state up to a ceiling, funded by land monetization and privatization, not taxes. Remittances into a relative’s account earn a 5% supplement.

Allocation is 40% domestic equities, 15% international equities, 20% government bonds under a statutory ceiling so the fund never becomes a captive lender to the state, 15% new housing construction (existing plots excluded, so the fund cannot inflate the prices its members pay), and 10% revenue-generating infrastructure. As state assets are privatized, the fund is their standing buyer.

FIGURE 06

National Ownership Account: Target allocation

Balances may fund a first-home down payment and mortgage service; contributions then continue into a retirement sub-account, so the citizen retires with both a home and a portfolio. With mortgage credit below 1% of GDP, against 11% in India, the housing pillar also needs long-term bank finance, credit scores built on Raast and mobile-wallet histories, and enforceable collateral.

The supply-side condition is non-negotiable: the NOA launches only with construction deregulation and property titling, and provincial match rates are tied to housing approvals. Purchasing power injected into a supply-constrained market becomes higher prices, so permitting and rezoning reform are half of the design. Governance rests on an independent board, competing private asset managers, a transparent mobile app, and the debt ceiling entrenched in statute.

Finally, the Patron’s Choice lets wealthy taxpayers pay the tax, direct an equivalent sum into their own employees’ NOA accounts, or endow a named educational institution, as LUMS and Aga Khan University show is viable on Pakistani soil.

Every element is also a growth policy: titled property expands collateral, deeper capital markets cut funding costs, and infrastructure raises productivity, the only durable source of real wage growth. Redistribution tries to pull the upper arm down, and it fails. This agenda raises the lower arm instead.

The post The K-Shaped Economy appeared first on The Financial Daily.

New administrative units to bring govt closer to the people

Webmaster — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:40:36 +0000

A government is meaningful only when it is able to reach the people, understand their problems and provide essential services at their doorstep. The real test of governance is not the number of speeches delivered in assemblies, nor the number of development schemes announced on paper. The real test is whether an ordinary citizen has access to clean drinking water, quality education, basic healthcare, safe roads, an effective sewerage system and a responsive local administration.

Unfortunately, in many parts of Pakistan, there is a growing perception that government has become too distant from the people. This distance is not merely geographical; it is administrative, political and financial. The demand emerging from different parts of the country for new provinces or new administrative units should therefore not automatically be viewed as a threat to national unity. It should be understood as a demand for better governance, equitable development and greater access to the state.

The principle should be simple: government of the people must be close to the people.

Pakistan is a large and geographically diverse country. Its population has increased enormously since independence, while administrative structures have not evolved at the same pace. Large provinces are required to manage vast territories, huge populations and highly diverse socio-economic conditions. When decision-making remains concentrated in provincial capitals, the problems of distant districts and smaller communities can easily remain invisible or receive inadequate attention.

The issue of Karachi is perhaps one of the most visible examples.

Karachi is Pakistan’s economic and commercial hub, yet millions of its residents continue to face serious problems relating to water supply, sewerage, roads, transport, waste management, healthcare and education. It is particularly disturbing that in a major metropolitan city, citizens in many areas still depend on water tankers because an adequate and reliable piped water supply does not reach their homes.

This raises a fundamental question: if water resources are available but people cannot receive water through a dependable public distribution system, where exactly is the failure?

The same question can be asked about healthcare. A poor family cannot afford expensive private hospitals and clinics every time a member falls ill. Public hospitals and basic health centres are therefore not a luxury; they are a necessity. Similarly, when a person is bitten by a stray dog, anti-rabies vaccination should be readily available through the public health system. The absence or shortage of such basic facilities can turn an otherwise manageable incident into a tragedy.

Education presents another serious challenge. The children of affluent families can attend private schools, but what about the children of low-income households? For millions of Pakistani families, government schools are the only realistic option. If these schools lack proper buildings, teachers, furniture, laboratories, sanitation and basic educational facilities, the country is effectively denying equal opportunity to its poorest citizens.

Sewerage systems, roads and municipal services tell the same story. In many urban areas, overflowing drains, broken roads, blocked sewerage lines and delayed development projects have become part of everyday life. Projects are sometimes announced with great fanfare but take years to complete, while cost overruns and administrative delays add to public frustration.

The question, therefore, is not simply who is responsible. The larger question is whether the present administrative structure is capable of delivering services effectively.

Pakistan’s National Finance Commission mechanism provides substantial financial resources to the provinces. However, the real issue is how effectively these resources are translated into services at the grassroots level. Financial decentralisation should not stop at the provincial level. Resources and decision-making authority must move further down to districts, municipalities, tehsils and union councils, accompanied by accountability and transparent systems.

If a provincial capital receives resources but the ordinary citizen at the union-council level cannot see meaningful improvement in his or her daily life, then the purpose of decentralisation remains incomplete.

This is why the debate over new provinces and administrative units deserves a serious national discussion.

From Sindh to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab, voices are emerging in favour of smaller administrative units. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the demand for a separate Hazara province has existed for years. In southern Punjab, the demand for a Saraiki province reflects the aspirations of communities that believe their region deserves greater administrative attention and development.

Punjab itself provides a strong argument for examining the question objectively. Lahore is a major metropolitan centre and has benefited from significant development, but several distant regions continue to face serious developmental challenges. Areas such as Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah and Dera Ghazi Khan have different geographical, economic and social needs. Similarly, parts of southern Punjab, including Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan, have their own developmental challenges and aspirations.

The answer is not to blame one city or one province. The answer is to design a system in which every region receives adequate administrative attention.

The same principle applies to Sindh.

Any discussion about creating new administrative units in Sindh should not necessarily be presented as the “division” of Sindh or as an attack on Sindhi identity. Administrative boundaries and cultural identities are not necessarily the same thing. A new administrative unit can be created for better governance without destroying the historical, cultural and emotional identity of the people of Sindh.

The names can be decided through constitutional, political and public consultation. They could be based on geography, history or administrative considerations. What matters is not the name; what matters is whether the new structure improves governance.

If smaller administrative units can bring decision-making closer to citizens, improve accountability, accelerate development projects and ensure that public money reaches the people for whom it is intended, then such a reform deserves serious consideration.

However, creating new provinces alone will not solve every problem. It must be accompanied by genuine local government, fiscal decentralisation, professional administration, transparent procurement, effective auditing and strong accountability mechanisms. Otherwise, a new province could simply reproduce the same problems under a different administrative name.

The ultimate objective must be devolution of power, resources and responsibility.

Pakistan should therefore consider a comprehensive national debate on administrative restructuring. Parliament, provincial assemblies, political parties, constitutional experts, economists, civil society, academics and, most importantly, ordinary citizens should participate in this debate.

The Constitution already provides mechanisms for the creation of new provinces. The process should be constitutional, peaceful and based on consensus rather than political confrontation.

Pakistan does not need administrative arrangements designed for the population of the past. It needs a governance structure capable of serving the population of today and tomorrow.

A citizen should not have to travel hundreds of kilometres to get a government office to listen to his problem. A development project should not take years because the decision-making authority is sitting far away. A mother should not worry about the availability of basic medicine. A child should not be denied quality education simply because his parents are poor. And a family living in a major city should not have to depend on expensive water tankers for a basic necessity of life.

The purpose of government is service.

The purpose of administration is accessibility.

The purpose of public money is public welfare.

And the purpose of democracy is to give ordinary citizens a meaningful voice in the system that governs them.

Pakistan’s future does not depend merely on having bigger administrative units. It depends on having better administrative units-units that are financially empowered, professionally managed, locally accountable and genuinely connected with the people.

If new provinces or administrative units can bring government closer to the citizen, accelerate development and correct regional inequalities, then the idea should not be rejected merely because it challenges traditional administrative boundaries.

After all, the real unity of Pakistan will become stronger when every Pakistani feels that the state belongs to him or her, that government is accessible, and that development is not a privilege of a particular city or region.

The ultimate principle should therefore remain clear:

Government of the people must be government close to the people.

The post New administrative units to bring govt closer to the people appeared first on The Financial Daily.

Belt and Road Initiative: Connecting the World

Webmaster — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:37:12 +0000

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013, has developed into one of the world’s largest international connectivity and infrastructure cooperation frameworks. Its central idea is to improve connectivity through roads, railways, ports, energy networks, digital infrastructure and industrial cooperation, while facilitating trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges.

Over the past decade, the initiative has expanded across Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with China, while more than 3,000 cooperation projects have been undertaken with partner countries.

Connectivity as the Core of BRI

The most visible contribution of the BRI is its emphasis on connectivity. Roads and railways connect previously distant markets; ports facilitate maritime trade; energy projects strengthen electricity supply; and digital networks increasingly connect economies through information infrastructure.

The World Bank has found that improved BRI transport connectivity has the potential to reduce travel times along major corridors by up to 12 percent and significantly reduce trade costs. Its modelling also suggests that BRI-related transport improvements could increase trade in corridor economies and generate wider economic benefits, although outcomes depend on the quality of individual projects, complementary reforms and countries’ ability to manage financial and environmental risks.

This is why the BRI should not be viewed merely as a collection of roads and bridges. It represents a broader effort to connect markets, production centres, ports, energy systems, technology and people.

CPEC: Pakistan’s Major BRI Corridor

For Pakistan, the most important expression of the BRI is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Since its launch, CPEC has focused on transport infrastructure, energy, Gwadar, digital connectivity and economic cooperation.

According to Pakistan’s CPEC Secretariat, approximately US$25 billion in Chinese investment was made during CPEC Phase I, while nearly 8,000 MW of electricity-generation capacity was added. CPEC also contributed to the development of the Thar coal project and established a cross-border fibre-optic network.

The transport dimension is particularly significant. Completed CPEC infrastructure includes the 120-km Havelian-Thakot section of the Karakoram Highway, 392-km Multan-Sukkur Motorway, 297-km Hakla-D.I. Khan Motorway and 106-km Khuzdar-Basima Road, along with the 820-km Khunjerab-Rawalpindi cross-border optical-fibre cable.

These projects have improved road connectivity between different parts of Pakistan and strengthened Pakistan’s potential role as a bridge between China, Central Asia, South Asia and the Arabian Sea.

Gwadar: From Port to Regional Connectivity Hub

Gwadar occupies a strategic position in the CPEC vision. Under CPEC, the Gwadar Port and Free Zone, Gwadar Eastbay Expressway, New Gwadar International Airport, Pak-China Friendship Hospital and technical and vocational institute have been completed, while additional water and port-related projects remain under development.

The Gwadar Eastbay Expressway is particularly important because it provides dedicated connectivity between the port and Pakistan’s national highway network, facilitating the movement of import, export and transit cargo. The project was completed and inaugurated in June 2022.

The long-term objective is increasingly to develop Gwadar not simply as a port but as a regional connectivity and logistics hub. In their May 2026 joint statement, Pakistan and China agreed to further develop Gwadar’s potential as a regional connectivity hub and to strengthen land connectivity through the Khunjerab Pass.

From CPEC 1.0 to CPEC 2.0

The next phase represents an important shift in emphasis. Whereas the first phase concentrated heavily on infrastructure and energy, CPEC 2.0 is designed to place greater emphasis on industrialization, agriculture, minerals, technology, human-resource development and business-to-business cooperation.

CPEC’s impact is not limited to physical transport. Pakistan’s official CPEC portfolio lists major completed energy projects including the Sahiwal, Port Qasim and Hub coal power plants, Thar energy projects, Karot Hydropower Project and Suki Kinari Hydropower Project, as well as wind and solar projects.

The development of the Khunjerab-Rawalpindi optical-fibre link also demonstrates how connectivity is moving beyond roads and ports toward the digital economy.

Therefore, the long-term success of the BRI will depend not only on how much infrastructure is constructed, but also on how effectively partner countries use that infrastructure to increase trade, exports, industrial production, employment and regional economic integration.

Pakistan’s Strategic Opportunity

For Pakistan, the BRI provides an opportunity to transform its geographical position into an economic advantage. Pakistan sits at the intersection of South Asia, Central Asia, Western China and the Arabian Sea. With improved highways, railways, ports, energy networks and digital infrastructure, this geography can support greater regional trade and connectivity.

The May 2026 Pakistan-China Joint Statement specifically identified the Karakoram Highway Thakot-Raikot realignment, Gwadar, Khunjerab connectivity, industrial parks, minerals, agriculture, digital economy and technology as areas for further cooperation.

The future challenge, therefore, is to move from “connectivity infrastructure” to “connectivity-driven economic growth.” Pakistan’s ability to increase exports, attract investment, develop industrial zones and connect local producers with regional markets will determine how fully it can convert CPEC infrastructure into sustainable economic benefits.

The post Belt and Road Initiative: Connecting the World appeared first on The Financial Daily.

From the classroom to the economy: What happens when Sindh educates its women?

Webmaster — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 23:26:00 +0000

A girl walking into a classroom may look like an ordinary event. It is not. It may be the first step towards changing the economic future of an entire family and over time an entire society.

When a girl learns to read she acquires knowledge. When she completes secondary school she gains choices. When she develops professional, technical or digital skills she gains opportunities. And when she enters the workforce and starts a business or contributes to a family enterprise the benefits of her education extend far beyond her own life.This is why girls’ education in Sindh cannot be treated simply as an education issue. It is an economic issue.

Sindh possesses huge human potential. Yet a significant part of that potential remains outside classrooms and later outside the formal economy. According to UNICEF, an estimated 7.4 million children aged 5 to 16 are out of school in Sindh. Girls face particularly serious barriers to education. Behind every statistic, however is a human story. There is the daughter who cannot become a doctor because the nearest secondary school is too far away. The girl who leaves school because her family cannot afford transport. The teenager who wants to continue her education but stays home to care for younger siblings. These are not simply lost educational opportunities. They are lost economic opportunities.

The Economic Case for Educating Girls:Around the world research increasingly points to the economic returns of educating girls. The World Bank has linked girls’ education with higher earnings, better health outcomes, lower fertility and greater participation in the labour market.But the value of education cannot be measured only in wages.Economist Amartya Sen in Development as Freedom, argues that development is ultimately about expanding people’s capabilities and freedoms. For women, education is one of the most powerful ways to expand those capabilities.

Education gives a woman greater control over decisions affecting her life. It can improve her access to employment, strengthen her voice within her family and community and influence the educational and economic prospects of her children. In that sense, educating a girl is not simply expenditure on one individual. It is an investment in human capital.

Sindh’s Missing Opportunity: Sindh has some of Pakistan’s largest cities and most important economic sectors. Its economy stretches across agriculture, manufacturing, services, ports, trade and technology. It also has a large and youthful population.Yet an economy cannot fully benefit from its human capital when a substantial proportion of women remain excluded from productive employment.And the problem does not end when a girl graduates.For many women, graduation is where another set of questions begins; Can she travel safely to work? Can she find employment close enough to her home? Can she access digital technology? Can she obtain finance to start

a business? Will she receive equal pay? Can she combine employment with family responsibilities?These are not merely social questions. They are economic questions and they require economic policies.

From Girls Who Learn to Women Who Earn: The transition from education to employment deserves far greater attention.Pakistan’s labour market continues to show a substantial gender gap, particularly in formal and paid employment. The International Labour Organization’s 2025 analysis of Pakistan’s gender pay gap found that women in wage employment earn approximately 25 to 30 per cent less than men depending on the wage measure. The ILO identified occupational segregation informal employment and discriminatory practices among the factors contributing to this disparity.This points to a crucial policy lesson, education is the first bridge to opportunity. The labour market must be the second.

It is not enough to tell girls that education will create a better future if too few pathways exist for them to use that education.The objective should therefore be broader than increasing enrolment. Girls should learn. Women should work. They should be paid fairly and should be able to build businesses. Lastly women should have a meaningful place in economic decision-making.

The Rural Question: The challenge is particularly acute in rural Sindh.For many girls, the distance between home and school is not merely a geographical distance. It can be a social, cultural and economic barrier.A school may exist, but there may be no safe transport. A girl may complete primary school, but there may be no middle school nearby. A family may support her education, but household responsibilities may prevent regular attendance.

UNICEF has highlighted the shortage of girls’ middle schools in Sindh and the barriers this creates when girls attempt to move from primary to middle education.This is why education policy cannot be designed from a single template. In one community, the priority may be building a school. In another, it may be safe transport. Elsewhere, the critical intervention may be scholarships, school meals, sanitation, digital learning or flexible education programmes.

Good public policy begins by identifying the real barrier, not by assuming that every community faces the same problem.

Water, Health and Education Are Connected: Development policy sometimes separates problems that are deeply connected in everyday life.UNICEF has documented cases in Sindh where girls have missed school because they were required to help collect water for their families. A water connection can therefore become more than a public-health intervention. It can also become an education intervention. This reveals a larger truth that an education policy cannot operate in isolation.

Health matters. Water matters. Transport matters. Social protection matters. Local government matters. Economic policy matters.If Sindh wants more girls in classrooms and more women in the workforce, these policies must work together.

The Middle-School Gap: One of the most critical points in a girl’s educational journey is the transition from primary to secondary school. It is often where the system loses girls.The reasons are familiar, distance, safety, poverty, household responsibilities, social expectations, early marriage and inadequate facilities.The consequences, however, can last a lifetime. A girl who leaves school at 11 or 12 may never return.For adolescents who have already dropped out, alternative learning pathways can provide an important second chance. UNICEF’s programmes in Sindh have demonstrated the value of creating routes back into education for children who have been excluded from the formal system.Such programmes should not replace a strong public education system. They should complement it.

The goal should be simple , No girl should be permanently lost because the education system could not accommodate the circumstances of her life.

Preparing Women for the Economy of Tomorrow: The economy of tomorrow will not look like the economy of yesterday.Digital technology is transforming the workplace. Artificial intelligence is changing occupations. Remote work is creating new possibilities. Entrepreneurship is opening alternative pathways to income. Green industries and climate adaptation are likely to create new areas of employment.

That means schools and colleges must provide more than certificates. They must build literacy, number skills, critical thinking, communication, digital skills and problem-solving abilities. Technical and vocational education also deserves greater attention. A young woman who cannot or does not want to enter a traditional university should still have a pathway towards a skilled, productive and dignified career. Education should prepare women not merely to pass examinations, but to participate in the economy.

The Invisible Economy of Women: There is another issue that deserves greater recognition many women already work.They work in agriculture, contribute to family businesses, produce goods at home, provide unpaid care and they support household enterprises.Yet much of this work remains informal, unpaid or poorly measured.

Recognising women’s economic contribution does not mean romanticising unpaid or vulnerable labour. It means asking a more important question: How can women move from invisible and insecure work towards safe, productive and fairly rewarded economic activity?Financial inclusion is part of that transition. Digital financial services can help women manage and grow income. Access to markets can expand their customer base. Business training can strengthen their enterprises. Property and inheritance rights can improve their economic security. Affordable childcare can make employment possible.And reliable public transport can determine whether a job is accessible at all.Sometimes the difference between a woman having a job and not having one is not her education. It is whether she can safely reach the workplace.

What Should Sindh Do Differently?: There is no single solution to this challenge. What is needed is a series of practical reforms that reinforce one another.

” Sindh should focus on keeping girls in school beyond primary education.

” Education spending should pay greater attention to learning outcomes, not enrolment figures alone.

” Girls’ schools should be accessible, safe and equipped with adequate sanitation and basic facilities.

” Secondary education should be connected more closely with digital, technical and vocational skills.

” Women entering the workforce should have access to safe transport and safe working conditions.

” Women entrepreneurs should have better access to finance, markets and technology.

” Government departments should systematically measure women’s participation and outcomes.

“Communities should be treated as partners in development rather than passive recipients of government programmes.

The Cost of Doing Nothing: Development debates often begin with a familiar question:How much will it cost to educate more girls?Perhaps we should ask a different question:How much does it cost when girls are not educated?

We lose potential doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, scientists and skilled workers. We lose household income and productivity. We lose potential tax revenue. And we lose the opportunity to give the next generation a stronger beginning.The cost is difficult to calculate because much of it remains invisible.But invisible does not mean insignificant.The cost is real.

A Lesson Beyond Sindh: Across the developing world, governments are searching for ways to create jobs, increase productivity, strengthen resilience and build economies capable of meeting the demands of a changing century.Again and again, one lesson emerges: human capital is the foundation of sustainable economic growth.The question, therefore, is not whether girls should be educated first and the economy developed later. The two are connected.

Education expands economic participation. Economic participation strengthens families. Stronger families are better positioned to support children’s education. Educated children become the human capital of the next generation.That is how development becomes sustainable.

A Promise Worth Keeping: As a society, Sindh should make a simple promise to every girl,

Your birthplace should not determine the limits of your future.Your family’s income should not decide whether you can learn.Your gender should not determine whether your work is valued.And becoming educated should not be the end of your journey.It should be the beginning.

Sindh does not lack talent. It does not lack ambition. What it needs is a stronger bridge between education and opportunity.If that bridge is built, the benefits will extend far beyond women. They will reach families, businesses, communities and the wider economy.The debate about girls’ education, therefore, is not simply a debate about what women can contribute to Sindh. It is a question of whether Sindh is prepared to use the full potential of its people.And ultimately, that is an economic question.

We should not ask whether Sindh can afford to educate its girls.We should ask whether Sindh can afford not to.

The post From the classroom to the economy: What happens when Sindh educates its women? appeared first on The Financial Daily.

When the state becomes an obstacle

Webmaster — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 23:21:50 +0000

The Federal Investigation Agency recently busted what it describes as an alleged network involved in fake apostille stickers and official stamps, booking 22 suspects, including six officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The investigation will establish what happened and who was responsible. But there is a larger question that should concern all of us: why does obtaining a perfectly legitimate government service become so difficult that an ecosystem of agents and middlemen can flourish around it?

Anatol Lieven offered an uncomfortable explanation more than a decade ago in Pakistan: A Hard Country. Writing about Pakistan’s bureaucracy, he observed that “The bureaucracy acts as an agency of distributing patronage rather than good government”. He was making a broader point than simply accusing officials of corruption: formal institutions themselves can be shaped by patronage, personal relationships and competing interests.

The result is a paradox. The machinery of the state can be weak and dysfunctional, yet the networks around it can make the system remarkably resilient. Those same networks, however, can make the state harder for ordinary citizens to navigate. Lieven’s observation remains relevant because the problem citizens encounter today is not simply corruption. It is the growing difficulty of dealing with the state itself.

Getting a document attested from the foreign affairs ministry can mean hours in queues, repeated visits, uncertainty about requirements and the possibility of another objection from another official. When a legitimate administrative process becomes sufficiently difficult, the middleman finds an opportunity. And when the middleman becomes almost indispensable, corruption has fertile ground in which to grow.

The answer to every administrative failure cannot be another layer of control.

I know something about this from personal experience. Last year, I wrote to the foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, about the immense difficulties young Pakistanis were facing in getting documents attested. I asked for a system that would allow citizens to obtain a legitimate government service with dignity, without spending hours standing in the heat or cold. The response was brief: the authorities were aware of the problem and had already taken steps to improve the situation.

Unfortunately, my experience since then suggests that the problem has not disappeared.

My own family has encountered similar problems elsewhere in the system. Two adult daughters were once stopped at Lahore airport and questioned for almost two hours before an international trip, including being asked why they were travelling without a male relative.

On another occasion, the Foreign Office refused to attest an affidavit prepared for a university abroad because, I was told, both parents had to consent even though the applicant was an adult. The embassy of the country concerned eventually accepted the affidavit without the Foreign Office attestation.

More recently, a newborn’s passport became another bureaucratic journey. The father, living abroad, had to fly back to Pakistan because his presence was considered necessary before the passport could be issued. Even after the passport was processed, the parents were asked to have their identity documents attested by a Grade-17 officer before collection. These are not extraordinary demands in a country facing war or famine. They concern passports, affidavits and identity documents.

And that is the point. A state does not become stronger by making every legitimate interaction with it more difficult. Nor does every additional verification, signature, attestation or layer of authority necessarily make a system more secure. Sometimes it simply creates another point at which a citizen becomes dependent on an official’s discretion.

We often discuss corruption as though it begins with the person offering money at a counter. But the deeper problem can begin much earlier, when the legitimate route becomes so cumbersome that people start looking for another route.

Lieven’s insight was that the problem is not simply individual dishonesty. It is the way the system itself can operate through patronage, personal rel-ationships and discretion. As he put it, people with even limited power can use it to “turn to their advantage the workings of the law and the bureaucracy”.

That is why the answer to every administrative failure cannot be another layer of control. A new verification may be introduced to prevent fraud. Another signature may be demanded in the name of security. Another attestation may be added to ensure authenticity. Each may appear reasonable in isolation. Together, they can create a maze in which the honest citizen becomes increasingly dependent on the very system that is supposed to serve them.

Pakistan is a poor country. Its citizens understand that. They do not expect government offices to provide five-star service. But they can reasonably expect something much more basic: when the law gives them a legitimate right, the state should make it reasonably easy to exercise that right. This is the argument I had made in my letter to the foreign minister a year back.

A birth certificate should not become an odyssey. A passport should not require unnecessary suspicion. A document attestation should not require an agent. A citizen should not have to prove, at every counter, that he or she is innocent of some imagined wrongdoing.

The government does not need another committee to discover this. It needs to look at the citizen’s journey through the system and ask a simple question: how many of these steps are actually necessary?

Because corruption is not created only at the counter. Sometimes the conditions for it are created much earlier, by a system that makes a simple, legitimate service unnecessarily difficult. -Courtesy: Dawn

The post When the state becomes an obstacle appeared first on The Financial Daily.

MOM- A NAME

Webmaster — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:58:55 +0000

A name, a bond, a relationship,

Irrevocable, irreplaceable, irrefutable

Coextends beyond ,Time and Space,

Unbreakable fron now to Eternity.

My fate was sordidly poor,

Not to have found thy lap,

Where I could bury with no fear,

All agony, despair, worries, anxieties.

Poetic indeed is life of those,

Living in the shadow of Mother,

Whose incessant, unending, unyielding,

Invocations, protect with a canopy of love.

A gazelle in your eyes, Mom,

Though a beetle I am,

I am the pinnacle of your life

And thyself is the beauty of mine…

Mom, a learning academy, a fortress

Of knowledge beyond books, a teacher

Of lifetime , for here and Beyond,

Besides God, omniscience is thy presence.

A book of life, of living

Were thee, had just begun ,

To read, understand and appreciate

But Mother Nature had her plans…

Whilst still on the preface,

Nature put you aside, forever,

Deprived, I am, till eternity

With a painful, longing heart.

Fathers are Mothers too,

Just as much a Mother

Is a dependable Father,

When one of the two fades away…..

Fatherhood may be a fiction,

And Motherhood a certainty,

Mother ,thou lived in my Father’s

Existence , and hence ,within us.

An ideal Mother,

An idol for homage, worship.

An ideal to follow,

A idol to preserve.

Mother, an ocean of Love,

A pinnacle of God’s Creation,

A pillar of strength,

In joy, In sorrow ,in happiness.

Mother, thy tomb is my shrine,

Buried with you are aspiration

Ambitions, passions , of mine,

As innocent as the morning dew.

Destiny plays no chess

A time to come, a time to go

Transitory is the span of life.

The Author of Destiny. Knows it all.

Mother, I shall meet you tonight,

Invade into me by being in dream,

Thou art the holiest thing,

‘ I owe to my angel Mother ‘…

Sirajuddin Aziz

Karachi

The post MOM- A NAME appeared first on The Financial Daily.

A country divided, a nation that never broke apart

Webmaster — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:48:07 +0000

October 3: Celebrating the reunification of a nation and saluting a people who know the pain of separation

Sometimes history does not change in a single moment. But when it does, that moment can remain in the memory of generations.

A wall is not always made of bricks and concrete. Sometimes it is built with separation, fear, broken families, silent tears and unanswered questions. And there are moments in history when even the strongest walls begin to crumble under the weight of people’s hopes.

There was such a wall in Berlin.

It divided a city into two parts, but in reality it drew a line through the heart of an entire nation. On one side was one Germany, and on the other was another Germany. Between them stood concrete, guards, restrictions and a long wait.

Then came that extraordinary night in 1989.

People gathered around the Berlin Wall. Border crossings began to open. People moved forward. Some climbed the wall, some chipped away at the concrete, while others simply stood there, touching a barrier that had kept them apart for decades.

The wall that had come to represent division and political power suddenly began to lose its meaning in the face of ordinary people’s determination.

But the fall of the Berlin Wall was not the end of the story.

In many ways, it was only the beginning.

The real political journey towards reunification followed.

On October 3, 1990, Germany became one again.

It was more than the formal unification of two German states. It was a moment when a divided nation was given the opportunity to stand together once more, after decades of separation.

That is why October 3 is much more than a public holiday on the German calendar.

It is a day of remembrance.

A reminder that wounds can heal.

A reminder that dreams can become reality.

And a reminder that even the highest political walls cannot stand forever against the human desire for freedom, dignity and the right to live together.

For us in Pakistan, the story of German reunification carries another layer of meaning.

We too know what it means for a nation to experience the pain of separation.

Our own history carries the difficult memory of 1971.

The circumstances surrounding the division of Germany and the events of 1971 in Pakistan were very different. Their causes, political situations and historical backgrounds cannot be equated. But the human pain of separation does not belong to one nation alone.

That is why, when Germany celebrates October 3 as the day of its reunification, a message from Pakistan can mean more than a routine diplomatic greeting.

It can be the greeting of a nation that understands, from its own history, what separation means and therefore understands perhaps a little more deeply the joy of being reunited.

There is something profoundly human in Germany’s story.

A nation was divided. Families were separated. A wall stood between people for decades. Yet history eventually moved in another direction.

And perhaps this is where Germany’s history and Pakistan’s own memories quietly meet not because the two histories are the same, but because both remind us that behind every political division are ordinary people, families, memories and emotions.

October 3 therefore deserves to be remembered not simply as the day Germany became one again, but as a day that carries a larger human message.

Walls may divide countries.

Politics may divide societies.

History may force people apart.

But the desire to belong, to reconnect and to live together can survive even the longest separation.

For Germany, October 3 is a celebration of that hope fulfilled.

For Pakistan, it is also an occasion to understand that celebration through the eyes of a nation that has known the pain of being divided.

A country may be divided by history.

But a nation does not always have to remain divided in the hearts of its people.

The post A country divided, a nation that never broke apart appeared first on The Financial Daily.

When bloodshed reaches the UN

Webmaster — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:36:22 +0000

Pakistan is one of the world’s clearest victims of terrorism, and one of the countries fighting it hardest. Over the past ten days, militants have struck a mosque inside a police compound, bombed a highway checkpoint and abducted laborers at a construction site. In the same days, security forces have carried out major operations, and the prime minister has taken the country’s case to the United Nations.

The most recent attacks show how wide the threat is. On September 18, militants attacked Kohat’s Old Police Lines during Friday prayers, killing 23 people, including 17 police officers. Investigators identified one of the two suicide bombers as an Afghan national. A week later, a suicide bomber struck a joint Customs, police and Excise checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan, killing 13 people, including two women and a young girl. The violence then targeted the people who came to help, as armed men fired on a Rescue 1122 ambulance carrying the injured, killing two rescuers. The TTP claimed responsibility.

Balochistan faces a different but equally cruel form of violence. On September 26, dozens of gunmen attacked a road construction site in Duki, killing a security guard and abducting workers from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after checking their identity cards. Outlets reported between 12 and 18 abductees. Insurgents have also turned highways into hunting grounds, setting up an illegal checkpoint near Kalat to kidnap for ransom, extort money and snatch vehicles.

Independent data confirms that this is not a passing spike. The Institute for Economics and Peace ranked Pakistan first on its 2026 Global Terrorism Index, with 1,139 terrorism deaths in 2025, the highest level since 2013. The world moved the other way that year, with global terrorism deaths dropping by 28 per cent. The report also recorded a sharp rise in hostage-taking, from 101 victims in 2024 to 655 in 2025, largely because of the Jaffar Express attack. It noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan together accounted for over 74 per cent of attacks.

Against this backdrop, the state has not stood still. In Balochistan, the military says security forces killed more than 71 terrorists in 96 hours in Operation Shaban and other intelligence-based operations, clearing hideouts in Ziarat and surrounding areas. Officials say the effort continues under the Azm-e-Istehkam vision approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan. The operation near Kalat shows what this means for ordinary people: troops killed five militants and recovered 23 abductees, along with six trucks, three buses and two cars. The provincial government has closed the door on talks with insurgents, as Balochistan’s chief minister ruled out negotiations and said operations would continue until militancy is eliminated.

Islamabad has also made clear that it will not let sanctuaries beyond its border go unchallenged. After Kohat, its Information Ministry urged the Afghan Taliban to dismantle militant sanctuaries and recruitment and training networks, saying Pakistan had the will and capability to eliminate threats wherever they are. It also reminded Kabul that it cannot evade its counterterrorism obligations under the 2020 Doha Agreement. Pakistan then carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, which it says killed 28 militants, while Kabul reports three civilians killed. Islamabad has also stressed that condemnation alone is not enough. When Afghanistan’s foreign ministry condemned the Kohat attack, Pakistan replied that condemnation must be matched by concrete action.

It was this record that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to the UN General Assembly on September 25. He told delegates that Pakistan had lost nearly 100,000 civilians and members of its armed forces and suffered economic losses exceeding $150 billion in the fight against militancy, and argued that the world is safer because of those sacrifices. He warned that Afghan territory continues to be used by the TTP and the Balochistan Liberation Army to destabilize Pakistan, and demanded that the abuse stop. He asked the Taliban authorities to take verifiable and decisive action so that Afghan soil is not used against Pakistan or any other country.

The same speech showed Pakistan positioning itself as a force for stability. Sharif said his government had helped bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table in Islamabad, leading to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. The message was that a country that has suffered so much from violence is working to prevent it elsewhere.

Not everyone accepted Pakistan’s account. India used its right of reply to warn that cross-border terrorism by Pakistan would have consequences and rejected Islamabad’s remarks on Kashmir. Pakistan holds that India backs militant groups in Balochistan, a charge India denies, and Kabul denies sheltering the TTP. These disputes will continue, but the human cost is not in question. Police officers were killed at prayer, a child died at a checkpoint, and rescuers were shot while carrying the wounded. Pakistan’s answer is to keep fighting, keep pressing for action against cross-border networks, and keep making its case to the world.

The post When bloodshed reaches the UN appeared first on The Financial Daily.

Beyond the Steel Walls: Rethinking Security and Civic Life in Islamabad

Webmaster — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:00:16 +0000

Every few weeks the peaceful beauty of Margalla Hills is marred by a familiar and heavy sight: hundreds of rusty coloured shipping containers laid across our major routes. Huge Steel walls go up at night, in Faizabad, eventually at D-Chowk and on the Islamabad Highway, close to the heart of the city. There’s one thing that remains unchanged whether the capital sets to a rapid halt in politics or through security measures.

It is a standard practice of Pakistani urban society and a core strength—at least an everyday strength—and those often unpredictable disruptions that a family faces helps grease these wheels of informal “collective care”. In recent years, this neighborly effort has been complemented with the use of new communication technology such as the live traffic app, community WhatsApp groups and real-time updates of social media containing open motorways and bus stops. These are helpful tools indeed.

It’s important to acknowledge our law enforcement officers’ challenging duties. The work of the security service and law enforcement officers is strenuous and uptight work heavy on the hot asphalt for many hours and working under a lot of stress. They are the guards of state buildings and ensuring peace, essential activities for any national capital.

But if we analyse how the blockades are manifest, it will be clear that the real burden of security is borne internally, in silenced human costs that can’t be counted.

Now suppose a women at the end of her street early Tuesday morning… Her father is ill and has been coughing since midnight, she has a paper prescription for him. Four blocks away there’s the local pharmacy, but the street is blocked with steel and concrete heavy freight containers. There is no time to argue, and so she turns around and starts walking along a section of side streets that she doesn’t know. The additional miles, , lost hours and undirected terror is a lot to carry on her own.

Imagine a paramedic rushing through busy residential neighborhoods and having to squander precious minutes en route to the hospital while battling traffic, all while a patient is in critical condition. Consider the family who relies on the income of a daily wage worker or small business whose earnings will be lost when they are unable to get to work, or working parents who have to scramble around the middle of the morning to pick up their children when school is suddenly closed.

The nuance to be observed is this. The presence of policies of total road blocking in regular security operations causes communities to adapt in seconds.

This is not a matter of security officers against citizens. It’s the tale of two good habits building on one another subconsciously. Police officers work hard and obey orders to maintain the safety of the state’s infrastructure. Meanwhile, the everyday harshness is contoured with a certain grace by citizens, who do not make demands but bear the extra burden. The outcomes are the same and the needs for accessible civic infrastructure remain uncovered over and over again by individual resilience.

The term “public safety” itself has changed over the years. Municipalities’ security was envisaged to protect the state, and secure the citizens’ daily existence and movement. However, as time goes on it’s been common to have two different security planning and civic accessibility silos. One room is planned for security measures and another room was planned to offer public healthcare access, school commuting and commerce.

The concepts of safety and public movement need not contradictory. In what ways can we make our security plans better so that protecting our security helps protect the people who keep our society running—that is, the little guy every day?

First, we can incorporate a human impact perspective into Administrative Planning in practical ways that are human and serve the best interests of humanity:

To begin with, how can access be restricted to specific care areas during a deployment? For example we have monitored corridors where people can access certain sections through set up road blocks just as we have clear emergency lanes near the major hospitals such as the PIMS and the Polyclinic, and similarly we can set up monitored corridors for pedestrian access in suitable sections by setting up the necessary road blocks. They care about the safety of the caregivers, students, and medical staff, and will do so in a courteous and respectful manner, with the benefit of a brief security check at a designated gate on site. The only change was to walk the perimeter, converting a four-mile trip into a four-minute walk that didn’t affect perimeter security.

Second, how to communicate clear and real time information in advance? A situation in which a freight container closes down a road without warning must not happen. Current information can be sent out through instant text alerts, radio channels and straightforward digital mapping and communication systems, letting authorities know a day before open pedestrian areas, clinic operations, and safe routes. Preventing a day that would otherwise be difficult becomes impossible for any family with a house to work with without advance warning.Withoutwarning there is neither lifeboat whatsoever in any family with a house that makes a day difficult to possible, nor can there be.

Last but not least, how will human impact checks be incorporated into the security planning? Before releasing a container onto a primary roadway, rational inquiries can be made, such as, “How will residents in the area around a roadway receive medication? What is the nearest hospital with medical beds available? How will working parents be able to pick up their children?

The two objectives of protection of the state and protection of the citizen can be the same.Our security forces and citizens deserve a more honorable route than total blockades – one that is the care corridor, labeled ahead of time, and designed humanly.If a City elects to defend its infrastructure, and the quiet work of its population, it’s no longer a bastion of steel containers; it’s a listening capital that cares, and one that even truly endures.

The post Beyond the Steel Walls: Rethinking Security and Civic Life in Islamabad appeared first on The Financial Daily.

75th Years Of Pakistan-China Friendship | Message: Syed Muhammad Nehal Hashmi Governor Sindh

Webmaster — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:39:19 +0000

On the auspicious occasion of the 77th Founding Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, I extend, on behalf of the people of Sindh, my warmest felicitations to the Chinese leadership and the brotherly people of China.
The year 2026 is of historic significance as Pakistan and China celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations. During these seven and a half decades, our friendship has grown into an exemplary All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership, firmly rooted in mutual trust, respect and a shared vision for peace and prosperity.
Sindh has a special role in strengthening Pakistan-China relations. As Pakistan’s economic and commercial hub, the province offers immense opportunities for greater Chinese cooperation and investment in trade, industry, infrastructure, the blue economy, agriculture, education, technology and youth development.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has added a new dimension to our economic partnership and created opportunities for connectivity, investment and sustainable development. Sindh remains committed to facilitating Chinese investors and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation.
As we commemorate this historic milestone, we must particularly encourage our youth, educational institutions and business communities to build stronger partnerships and carry this time-tested friendship forward.
I am confident that Pakistan-China friendship will continue to flourish and contribute to peace, development and shared prosperity.
Long live Pakistan-China friendship!

The post 75th Years Of Pakistan-China Friendship | Message: Syed Muhammad Nehal Hashmi Governor Sindh appeared first on The Financial Daily.