Pakistan: A Developmental Dilemma?

Pakistan, as a post-colonial state, needs to free itself from the constraints of the colonialist mindset.

Editor
Editor 6 Min Read

Pakistan, a nation of over 220 million people, is headed for an unavoidable collapse given the state of its soft socioeconomic fabric because it has failed to see the genuine advantages of developing and putting inclusive and sustainable developmental policies into practice.

The Western powers’ external influence is largely to blame for the South Asian nuclear state’s effective creation and propagation of the Eurocentric concept. By identifying the structural flaws at the base of our major argument, we can start to dissect it. Pakistan has failed to recognise the true implications of progress for its state and its people.

In essence, one can understand development in various ways, but they are all unquestionably consistent in saying that it is the transition process from one stage to another, with each stage functioning as an improvement over the one done before it. When the requirements of society are fully disregarded and are instead completely supplanted by a new imposition, this definition falls short. Establishing a uniform standard for achieving developmental outcomes and goals makes things more difficult for developing nations since these studies frequently need to pay more attention to intangible aspects like variations in society and political institutions.

Developing nations, still lagging in the race for progress and wealth, are forced to accept and adjust to US hegemony and Western dominance.

The West dominates a large portion of developmental academics and research; even starting from scratch has ramifications for Pakistan. The West has access to all intellectual and financial resources to spend on academics and research across all fields of life because they have a significant advantage in micro and macroeconomic structures inside their state domains. This circumstance leaves a large gap for new immigrants from the Developing World, where studies unconnected to their physical and social lives are recognised as the panacea for all their issues and even selected as the only way ahead towards redemption. These results confirm the Western dominance in developmental research and academia, which further limits Pakistan’s access to useful resources for its developmental need-analysis programs.

As a result, the conversation on development is presently travelling down a road that the West has built itself. The precursor argument places us in a position where the fundamental idea of progress is offered to the globe as a Western idea. Because intellectual strength, economic resources, and political stability are not distributed equally across all governments, including Pakistan, this argument is mostly inappropriate for emerging nations.

Due to this Western superiority attitude, the developing nations, including Pakistan, still lagging in the race for progress and wealth, are forced to accept and adjust to US hegemony and Western dominance. Particularly in the case of Pakistan as a post-colonial state, we still need to free ourselves from the constraints of the colonialist mindset and advance in our quest to establish a nation-state that is independent and sovereign. In addition, despite gaining independence from the British Empire in 1947, Pakistanis have yet to fully break free from colonialism in the more than 70 years that their nation has existed.

The Islamic Republic’s people have been brainwashed into believing that their needs and strengths are virtually insignificant compared to Western superpowers, especially the Western hegemonic superpowers. Although the possession of the territories may have ceased, the actual occupation was the seizure of the state’s fundamental tenets. This argument accurately identifies the barriers and processes that prevent us from escaping the colonial mindset, making all decolonization attempts pointless and ineffective in Pakistan.

Alongside development, humans also build societies. People’s ancestry serves as inspiration. Humans have a natural connection between their ancestry and themselves, and self-authenticity correlates with self-knowledge and potential. Those isolated for a particular cause could be drawn to the outside world, given what it offers. The main point is that it is everyone’s inherent right to engage in social interaction with others. The state and the government cannot keep them out of that realm. However, businesses must provide enough incentives to keep individuals in that different environment. The community or state must also be involved in how things are done.

If the needs are understood, people may work toward their goals while also helping the situation. Everyone can help the state progress, provided we are clear about which issues need to be addressed and the government implements effective strategies for reaching the desired outcomes.

Our state’s residents are presently more focused on achieving their goals than the state since it doesn’t provide a clear route. Our residents frequently focus on what they want, which can harm the state since they need to appreciate the importance of their contributions. If the state considers the people’s demands while developing plans for its own needs, it may profit from pursuing the real. On the other hand, if the state is not well prepared, searching for the true self can be considered selfish behaviour (as in the case of Pakistan).

To sum up, Pakistan may be locked on the waiting list for a long time before it can see the results of its labours unless emphasis is placed on cultural integration with policies in the development framework.

By Editor
Editorial team of Aware Pakistan, responsible for editing and posting content online
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