The Pakistani story begins with its children; we begin to fail our children from the very moment they are born.
We lose many of them at birth, with the 2nd highest neonatal mortality rate in the world. We then fail to
provide adequate nutrition to them in the first 1,000 days of their existence, resulting in over ⅓rd of
Pakistani children being stunted, and not having fully formed mental and physical capabilities. We then exclude
a large number from any education at all, with the highest out-of-school children populations in the world.
Those that do end up in school, we provide the vast majority of them an education that is substandard at best,
if not entirely useless.
The few that do manage to get an acceptable education by working outside the system or through privilege that a
select few have, we do not offer them sufficient higher education opportunities.
The very tiny percentage that manage to get a quality higher education, after beating all the odds, enter the
workforce in an economy with very limited opportunities to utilize their skills productively. The even fewer
that do manage to find jobs/opportunities, quickly realize that living a respectful life with even the basic
necessities is difficult, sustaining the same lifestyle each year becomes harder and harder and the best they
can do is try to protect their children from the same fate. We therefore end up losing a large portion of this
already highly constrained talent supply to the rest of the world.
The few that remain, and have the desire to change things, do not have political institutions they can
participate in, and are unable to affect change.
We don’t stop there, we also then continue to make reckless economic decisions that rig the system even more
against the middle class and future generations, by indebting them further. Fully ensuring, the Pakistani elite,
cheat most Pakistanis out of a future at every stage of their lives and cheat each generation a little more than
the previous one.
We do this while having one of the world’s fastest growing populations. One of the world’s youngest.
Millions of young, poor and most tragically, hopeless people!!
This must change. We can no longer have a system that guarantees failure and then also excludes you from being
able to change it. Pakistan can do better, it must. Over the past 3 decades, countries with far less than
Pakistan have done far, far better. They’ve lifted millions out of poverty, they’ve created true social mobility
and they’ve given their young and women control over their destiny.
We can do this too. We will wrest Pakistan back from the elites, and change the Pakistani story. We will create
a Khushaal Pakistan. We must. And we will do so through the Awaam of Pakistan.
A prosperous (Khushaal) Pakistan is where every generation is better off than the previous one.
A Pakistan where if you work hard, you’ll have enough. A Pakistan where everyone has a fair shot (equal
opportunity), where a Fatima has the same opportunity as an Ahmed does, where a laborer’s daughter can get the
same education as a billionaire’s son.
A Pakistan where your family’s lack of resources is not your destiny. A Pakistan where each individual can
control his/her destiny. A Pakistan where young people have hope.
A healthy, educated, and productive Pakistan. A Pakistan where everyone not only has “enough” but also is able
to lead a life of dignity. A Pakistan where all lives are equal. A Pakistan where competence is rewarded.
A Pakistan that is truly democratic. A Pakistan where politics is participatory. A Pakistan where leaders
actually serve, not rule over, the people.
A Pakistan where the constitution is followed both in letter and spirit. A Pakistan where courts don’t
discriminate between rich and poor, strong and weak. A Pakistan where there is rule of law, not of men. Where
all institutions remain within their constitutional limits.
A Pakistan that is economically independent. A Pakistan that is an export powerhouse. A Pakistan that has
mutually respectful relations with its neighbors. A Pakistan that is globally respected.
A Pakistan where a young boy or girl, anywhere in the country can dream about, and realistically achieve,“khushaali”. A Pakistan that works for everyone.