batmannow
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Strong economy can't be established with out strong defence ?Iqbal had declared nearly a century ago “hai Jurm-e zaifee ki saza marg-e mafajat”. However in reality it is a ‘Catch22’. You do need strong defence to deter aggression and also need strong economy to have strong defence..
Problem is by strong economy most people understand having ‘Loads of money’. Loads of money such as oil revenue only gives you wealth; it does not give you strong economy. Real strength of economy is thru the value added to the raw materials by the country’s work force which cannot be taken away and even after complete destruction, Japan & Germany emerged as strong nations. On the other hand easy wealth such as gold & diamond etc. (Zambia) or oil (OPEC countries) or strong agrarian economy such as the subcontinent of the old; actually invites aggression. This being the easy wealth for whosoever is strong enough to take it. Recent example being that of Saddam Hussein’ invading Kuwait to grab her oil.
Europeans manged to overthrow 500 years of Ottoman rule that had been the dominant power throughout the 19th & 20th countries, because they acquired advanced technology. China caught up with the West in the 21st century and India is also on the way.
Hon. Mastan Khan correctly surmised that Iraq had very high literacy rate but it was of little help against the US. This is because Iraq, despite high literacy, did not have strong economy.
It is a combination of education and inherent talent that produces the brilliant minds who invent penicillin, artificial limbs, motor cars, steamships & trains. My firm belief is that road map of the strong economy is thru technically skilled manpower that can only be achieved by means of education. It is only the educated work force that would design & build fighter planes, submarines, tanks, rapid fire guns, radar & cruise missiles. My fellow countrymen must understand that having made atomic bomb; it does not follow that we can also make submarines, advanced fighter planes, aero engines or tanks.
Let us be honest and acknowledge that design for the atomic centrifuges was stolen by the Dr Qadeer Khan from Holland. Al Khalid Tank is of Chinese design and has Ukrainian manufactured power plant. JF-17 was designed & tested in China and is installed with Russian engine & Chinese avionics. We only assembled the Augusta submarine. None of the above projects would have been possible if we didn’t have foreign input.
To understand Pakistani mindset, we should listen to the ex Baluchistan Chief Minister (Raisani) who declared that Degree is a Degree whether real of fake! Can someone with a fake degree perform heart surgery? Nevertheless our political leaders lack integrity and think little of spending money on education. Only reason we have been unable to exploit Thar coal, Reko diq Copper mines and the shale gas deposits is because we lack indigenous capability to exploit the same without foreign investment and expertise. Thar coal had to wait for the Chinese before any serious work on its development could begin.
Undoubtedly Pakistan must have strong defence to safeguard her territorial integrity but it cannot be at the expense of strong economy. We would never be able to indigenously build our defence equipment and or have funds to purchase what cannot produce, without strong economy. Therefore there has to be compromise between what we spend on defence and what we spend on education, health & economic development
IMO Pakistan desperately needs at least 4 or 5 universities that are rated among the top 100 universities of world so that Pakistan can produce human resource knowledgeable enough to compete with rest of the world on equal footing. For this expenditure on education & scientific, industrial & technical research needs to be quadrupled at the very least.
We still feel proud that Muslims were once ahead of the world. Indeed they were until the 13th Century. If we want to regain our inheritance we have to work hard for it. Moorish Spain had the best universities of the time. This would never happen if we continue producing thousands of madrassah graduates who are taught to kill the defenceless women polio workers and blow up girl’s schools.
Hope we can go on & on that , guess can create a thread on that ?
But strong defence never means to kill innocents , its about to defend them .
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