It all boils down to feudalism and colonialism that never left Pakistani society unlike India. The net result is that it lives in the political, bureaucracy and military organs of the state like a terminal cancer and now has Pakistan like a crippled being riddled with both aids and cancer.
I have lost track of the number of deaths I hear from distant friends and family on social media but the population is too busy with weddings or ethnic alliances. This is falsely interpreted as “happiness “ index instead of a moronic index which it is. Moronistan.
The Indian elite may be globetrotting right now, but they've carved their "true homes" in India.
So, if all goes down the dirt, they'll return to India.
Yes, they'll live in enclaves (albeit city-scale seeing how some areas are now really advanced), but it's in the elite's interest to see India rise as a whole. Sure, they won't necessarily care about their poorest and other low rungs of society, but the country needs to be strong in its economy and military.
On the other hand, Pakistani elites are content with living the rest of their days as condo landlords in the UK or Canada. Folks like Nawaz Sharif will roar like lions in Pakistan, but will line up for nihari at some middle-tier Pakistani restaurant in Mississauga like the rest of us.
The 'colonial mindset' comes in 2 forms. There's the form of 'if you can't beat them, be like them,' which you see among Indians, and there's, 'if you can't beat them, work for them,' which you see among our leaders.
Obviously, you wouldn't want to have the colonial mindset at all. Rather, you want the mindset of instituting a new way of life and thought in the world. However, if we can't muster the ambition and resolve for "being like them," where are we going to get it for "beating them?"
Optimistically speaking, I think the problem with Pakistan is that the current gatekeepers are keeping the wrong people in and keeping the right people out. In other words, if the gatekeepers change their minds, then outsiders such as yourself and myself can come in and institute the necessary changes. In other words, there's no other problem -- e.g., we have resources, the population, and even (in actual numbers) enough competent people around the world to tap into.
Unfortunately, the gatekeeper issue may in fact be a severe case of calcification, so cracking it so that it facilitates change may be a huge challenge. You'd have to convince the ones benefitting from it today that the future can give them a lot more if only they sit back and let others manage it.
However, we Pakistanis aren't ambitious, nor do we chase risk. The ones with the power don't want to rock the boat for "what might be" ... they apply this to their defence programs and to who gets the run the country and how.