BY Sattar Choudahry
Sometimes, roads, bridges, electricity or money do not become obstacles in the path of development of a country, but rather those things that we have been accepting as normal for years become obstacles. This is probably happening in Pakistan too. We talk about setting up new factories, make plans to establish new industries, dream of foreign investment, advise the youth to do business, raise slogans to create new employment opportunities, but perhaps we have never asked the question that how many factories are already running in a country that wants to develop, which are stopping development…? These factories are not made of bricks, iron and machines. They do not have any chimneys, smoke does not go to the sky, there is no signboard outside, but they run day and night… And the strange thing is that these factories do not make products, they create obstacles. Here obstacles are created in the path of business, envy is created against successful people, paper walls are created in the path of development projects, permits are Delays are made in the name of, new doors of bribery are opened and sometimes an environment is created in which a hardworking person finally starts thinking that perhaps the recommendation of some powerful person is more important than hard work in this country. We often ask why Pakistan is not developing…? Perhaps the question should not be this. The real question is who is stopping Pakistan from developing…? Because if a person wants to start a business, he has to knock on the doors of so many departments that his courage is lost even before the business, if a person succeeds by working hard, his success becomes envy for others instead of happiness… And if a person wants to build a hospital, industry, educational institution or any big development project in the country, instead of development, he has to go through a forest of permissions, objections, files, mafias and demands where some wall is standing at every step, then we should not be surprised why the pace of development in Pakistan is so slow. We have to close three old factories before setting up new factories…. One factory is anti- Business, the second is anti-success and the third is anti-development… These three factories are running silently. And perhaps Pakistan’s biggest misfortune is that we have become accustomed to their noise… Let’s talk about the “anti-business factory”. Doing business in Pakistan is not just doing business, it is passing a long test. A man opens a shop with his own money, sets up a factory, starts an industry, employs people, pays taxes to the government, pays electricity bills, gas bills, rent, and wages to workers, but despite this, he feels as if he is committing a crime and the state is investigating this crime. Instead of facilitating the businessman, we have made him a football between departments. One department asks for permission, another for a file, a third for an inspection, a fourth for confirmation, a fifth for an objection…and somewhere or other, there is a door where the speed of the file suddenly increases when the hands get hot…This is the environment that has created a dangerous idea in the mind of our youth that a job is safe, but business is a problem. Therefore, our youth prefers government or private jobs instead of taking the risk of business. He knows that in a job, at least there is no fear that five departments will stand at his door and the sixth department will be asking him how he dared to do business…? The real question here is with the state. Governments around the world consider business as the engine of their country’s economy, we often consider it a source of income. The government there thinks that if business grows, employment will increase, production will increase, exports will increase, taxes will increase and the country will move forward. We think that how much tax can a businessperson pay first. The difference is only that small, but this difference has taken many countries far ahead of us. If a businessman is made to realize at every step that the state is not standing with him but in his pocket, then one day he will take his capital and take it somewhere else, then we sit and wait for foreign investment, why would a foreign investor come…? Why would he take capital out of his country and bring it to a country where he first has to face no profit, departments…? We often say that Pakistanis are taking their capital abroad, but sometimes we even ask why they should keep it here…? Capital is like a human being. It stays where it sees respect, security and future. …And where it sees danger on all sides, it quietly leaves. The anti-business factory does not just close down businesses, it closes down employment, stops capital, diminishes the dreams of the youth and slows down the pace of the country’s development. But the problem does not end here. Suppose a person overcomes all obstacles and becomes successful. He worked hard, took risks, invested capital, provided employment to people and finally succeeded. Now he feels that perhaps his hard work has been rewarded. But another factory in Pakistan is already ready to welcome him. …Anti-Success Factory… Success is a strange thing in our society. As soon as a person becomes successful, some people, instead of being happy with their success, start wondering how they got so far… Then envy arises, a conspiracy is born out of envy, and after the conspiracy, many doors open against the successful person. Sometimes a government department comes, sometimes a political group, sometimes an extortionist, sometimes a media house tries to put pressure on him… The result is that a successful person starts considering his success as a burden instead of a blessing…. And then comes the third factory, the anti-development factory. If you want to build a hospital, set up an industry, start a big project, first of all, there is no development, there is a queue of permissions. The file goes from one table to another, objections are raised, a new file is asked for, a new department comes to the fore. Sometimes bribes are demanded and sometimes different mafias surround the project for their own interests. Eventually, many people get tired, save their capital, and abandon the project… And then we wonder why big projects are not being built in Pakistan? The country does not develop only with the budget, it develops with the environment. If the businessman is afraid, the successful is insecure, and the one who makes the development plan is humiliated, then no matter how loud the slogans of development are, the country will not move forward. Therefore, Pakistan probably needs to close these three factories first, not to set up new factories. When business gets respect, success gets protection, and development gets a way, then perhaps factories will also be set up in Pakistan, employment will also increase, and the capital that is currently crossing the border in search of a better future will also return… Development does not come from speeches, it comes from removing obstacles from the path of development.