Politics

Imran Khan must remember India is global power, Pakistan a sinking ship

Abhishek MishraJune 15, 2020 | 19:51 IST

Pakistan PM’s advisor on finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, released the country’s Economic Survey recently, painting a grim and dire picture.

The facts were startling but expected for a country that is a sinking ship. The survey says Pakistan’s debt will rise to 88 per cent of the GDP and economy will shrink by 0.4 per cent.

Global statistics of the economic state of Pakistan predicted mayhem, 60 million people would be struggling to survive and remain below the poverty line in Pakistan. This has been brought about by a system in Pakistan where the Army Generals, civilian government and ISI are only interested in corruption, false propaganda and globally trying to raise Kashmir to score domestic points and please their master, China.

What has made Pakistan a failed state is that its politicians keep forgetting India is a global power and it is useless for Pakistan’s leaders to criticise India, as Pakistan has no credibility in the eyes of the global community and is a nation whose time for doom has arrived.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan made a fool of himself when he recently tweeted that his government has successfully transferred Rs 120 billion in nine weeks to over 10 million families to deal with economic difficulty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He also wrote that he is ready to offer help and share the cash transfer programme with India, but Imran Khan forgot that the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is as large as Pakistan’s entire GDP.

It is a tragedy for Pakistani citizens that their government spends almost 18.5 per cent of its budget on defence expenditure. In contrast, India spends 8.5 per cent of its budget on defense and allocates its resources for healthcare, education, etc. According to a famous quote, “Pakistan is an army which has a country”, so policy planners in Islamabad focus only on filling army coffers and neglect all other sectors. This has turned Pakistan into a failed state.

Imran Khan is pushing people of Pakistan towards more poverty. Despite the country struggling due to almost 13 per cent inflation, Khan remains insanely focused on Kashmir, causing poor Pakistanis to bear the maximum brunt of taxation through indirect taxes and has ensured that Pakistan’s per capita GDP stays low, at US $1,565.

India is a global power today, having greatly enhanced its economic, diplomatic and military might and is a leader of the developing countries, poised to be a superpower in the future. India’s GDP of US $3 trillion is 10 times more than Pakistan’s GDP of US $284 billion. All global agencies are of the unanimous view that India is the only country apart from China whose growth rate will not be negative despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Imran Khan must focus on Pakistan to save it from ruin. (Photo: Reuters)

Imran Khan must worry about the job losses which may render up to 18 million people jobless in his country due to Covid-19, instead of playing futile games with China in an attempt to counter India diplomatically, a ploy in which Pakistan has always failed.

World Bank has already stated in its report in April that Pakistan is likely to fall into major recession and that the GDP of Pakistan may contract by almost 2.2 per cent. The only thing that has kept Pakistan still surviving as nation with its economy on ventilator is the borrowing that it does.

Imran Khan’s government borrowed Rs 7.5 lakh crore in just one year during its first year in office causing Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar to comment that Pakistan’s basic debts have reached alarmingly high levels and that the country is near bankruptcy.

Instead of trying to fight India, Khan must remember India is a global power and Pakistan, a sinking ship.

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Last updated: June 15, 2020 | 19:52
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