MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Pakistan
Index
Pakistan attained nationhood under difficult
circumstances
(see Problems at Independence
, ch. 1). At the partition of
British India in 1947 resulting in the creation of the
independent nations of India and Pakistan, Pakistan was an
agrarian economy in which a small number of powerful
landowners
with large holdings dominated the countryside. The
majority of
the population consisted of tenant farmers who cultivated
small
plots for a meager existence. Scant rainfall in West
Pakistan
(present-day Pakistan) forced farmers to rely on the
extensive
irrigation system developed by the British. The headwaters
of the
Indus River and its main tributaries, however, were under
Indian
control. Disputes arose between the two nations and were
not
settled until the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 was signed
(see Irrigation
, this ch.).
Pakistan had almost no industry in 1947. Under British
rule,
the area that became Pakistan supplied agricultural
products for
processing to the territory that became the independent
India.
Energy sources were rudimentary, with wood and animal dung
furnishing the bulk of the energy consumed. Ports,
transportation, and other services, such as banking and
government, were underdeveloped. More than 1,600
kilometers of
Indian territory separated the East Wing and West Wing of
Pakistan until the former became independent Bangladesh in
1971
(see Yahya Khan, 1969-71
, ch. 1). In 1949 a dispute over
exchange
rates halted the flow of goods between Pakistan and India,
disrupting the complementary nature of their economies
that had
developed under British colonial rule.
Despite formidable problems, Pakistan achieved rapid
economic
expansion. From FY 1951 to FY 1986, the GDP growth rate
measured
at a constant FY 1960 factor averaged 5.2 percent. Rates
of
growth averaged 3.1 percent in the 1950s--when agriculture
stagnated--but rose to 6.8 percent in the 1960s. They fell
to 3.8
percent between FY 1971 and FY 1977 but rebounded to 6.8
percent
between FY 1978 and FY 1986. From FY 1987 to FY 1991,
growth
averaged 5.8 percent, and a rate of 7.8 percent was
achieved in
FY 1992. Provisional data indicate that GDP grew only 2.6
percent
in FY 1993. This decline is mainly a result of the floods
in
September 1992, which reduced agricultural output.
Rapid growth substantially altered the structure of the
economy. Agriculture's share (including forestry and
fishing)
declined from 53 percent of GDP in FY 1950 to 25 percent
in FY
1993 (see
table 3, Appendix). A substantial industrial
base was
added as industry (including mining, manufacturing, and
utilities) became the fastest growing sector of the
economy.
Industry's share of GDP rose from 8 percent in FY 1950 to
21.7
percent in FY 1993. Various services (including
construction,
trade, transportation and communications, and other
services)
accounted for the rest of GDP.
Pakistan has an important "parallel," or "alternative,"
economic sector, but it is not well documented in official
reports or most academic studies. This sector includes a
thriving
black market, a large illicit drug industry, and illegal
payments
to politicians and government officials to ensure state
contracts. Corruption rose in the 1980s, partly as a
result of
the massive infusion of United States aid, some of which
went to
the Pakistani government to pay the cost of supporting
Afghan
refugees fleeing after the 1979 Soviet invasion and to
enhance
Pakistani military capability, and some of which was
funneled
directly to Afghan resistance movements based in Pakistan.
Much
of this money reportedly was diverted illegally and
invested in
arms and drug enterprises.
General allegations of corruption are routinely made in
the
Pakistani press, and politicians often accuse their
opponents of
corrupt practices. Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, was accused of corruption after
the fall
of Benazir's first government in 1990, and former
President
Ghulam Ishaq Khan accused the government of former Prime
Minister
Mian Nawaz Sharif and especially its privatization program
of
corruption when dismissing his government in April 1993.
In 1994
allegations of corruption were routinely traded between
Benazir's
government and the opposition headed by Nawaz Sharif.
Political
maneuvering aside, corruption has an altogether real and
pervasive effect on Pakistani society. Industrialists
consider
bribery and other handouts a routine cost of production,
and
contractors and businessmen interviewed on television
openly
state that a significant percentage of their revenue is
paid to
government officers who allocate their contracts.
Corruption is
alleged to be prevalent in almost all official
institutions,
including the police, the judiciary, the revenue
department, the
passport office, customs and excise offices,
telecommunication
organizations, and electricity and gas boards. In each of
these
departments, the personnel involved range from low-level
employees to top management. Some scholars believe that
the low
salaries of civil servants, compared with earnings from
jobs of
similar status in business and industry, explain the
magnitude of
corruption. In the mid-1980s, Mahbubul Haq, a former
minister of
finance, estimated that illegal payments to government
officials
were equivalent to about 60 percent of the total taxes
collected
by the government.
Data as of April 1994
|
|