Pakistan is racing towards demographic and economic collapse. The population is ballooning, yet it behaves more like an untrained, unproductive mass of zombies — disconnected from the demands of a modern world and utterly detached from the realities of a 21st-century economy. What this country desperately needs is an IT-driven, knowledge-based economic model anchored in innovation, digital skills, and cutting-edge enterprise. The world has moved on. We remain stuck in a crumbling, obsolete economic system, clinging to the rusting relics of the past.
For decades, Pakistan’s state-run institutions have been bleeding this nation dry. From WAPDA to Pakistan Steel Mills, from Pakistan Railways to PIA — these entities are no longer national assets; they are bottomless black holes. Every year, these state-owned behemoths rack up losses worth hundreds of billions of rupees, kept afloat by a bankrupt state purely to protect political patronage networks and vested interests.
No serious nation in the modern world runs its power utilities, airlines, or railways through bloated, inefficient, corruption-infested, loss-making dinosaurs. Yet here, we continue to pour public money into these dying beasts while our debt soars and the nation’s competitive edge vanishes.
At the same time, the global economy has moved into a new age. Artificial intelligence, robotics, fintech, biotech, e-commerce, clean energy, and cloud computing — these are the sectors defining economic power in the 21st century. The irony is glaring: while the world invests in AI labs, smart cities, and renewable energy infrastructure, we are still stuck manufacturing outdated textiles, begging the IMF for bailouts, and clinging to ministries and public corporations that should have been dismantled decades ago.
Our education system, meanwhile, is a national tragedy. It churns out unemployable, disillusioned graduates with no marketable skills. There is no focus on coding, data science, app development, cyber security, or AI engineering. The result is a population completely disconnected from the digital economy — trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance, and economic irrelevance.
The military must now step in — not to rule, but to rebuild. It is the only disciplined, organized, and decisive institution left in Pakistan. In times of national crises — whether wars, earthquakes, or floods — it has delivered while the so-called civilian leadership has vanished or hidden behind bureaucracy.
It is now time for the military to play a pivotal role in economic restructuring. This can be achieved by:
Overseeing the rapid privatization of loss-making state enterprises while ensuring strategic assets remain protected.
Establishing and supervising Special Economic Zones (SEZs) geared towards IT, software exports, fintech, biotech, and clean energy manufacturing — with streamlined regulation, tax holidays, and one-window operations.
Leading nationwide digital literacy and vocational training campaigns for youth in coding, AI, and modern business skills, bypassing the corrupt education ministries.
Fixing law and order and providing security to foreign investors, multinational corporations, and tech startups that currently avoid Pakistan due to risk and instability.
Reforming land record systems, power theft control, and tax recovery mechanisms through military-backed, technology-enabled enforcement units.
This is not about martial law. This is about national survival through decisive intervention and management.
Moreover, no serious economic revival is possible without confronting the blunder of the 18th Amendment. While hailed as a democratic milestone, it has severely fragmented national governance and economic policy. Pakistan is a weak, resource-starved federation — yet critical sectors like health, education, local taxation, and energy policy have been handed over to provinces with zero capacity, zero accountability, and zero national vision.
The result has been economic anarchy. Provinces misuse resources, refuse to contribute to national taxation, and work at cross-purposes with federal policies. Massive duplication of government departments, unchecked corruption in provincial governments, and the inability to implement cohesive national economic plans have crippled the country’s competitiveness.
The 18th Amendment must be reversed or fundamentally restructured. No modern state — especially one battling economic crisis and security challenges — can function with fractured governance and economic policy. National interest demands a strong, centralized system that can drive reforms, attract investment, and modernize infrastructure without provincial blackmail.
History does not forgive nations that refuse to evolve. Pakistan is now staring into that abyss. We can either embrace modernity, digitization, and innovation — or collapse under the weight of our own decaying institutions, outdated mindsets, and political compromises.
Now is the time to act