AIDATING TERRORISM AND RELIGIOUS FANATICISM IS WHAT CAUSES PAKISTAN’S ECONOMIC MISERY

Islamabad: Pakistan’s economic situation is at its worst, and terrorism is becoming a bigger threat. According to the Pak Military Monitor, Pakistan is currently going through its most challenging period in history due to a combination of generalized failure on the political front, economic front, and increased terrorist threats.

Pakistan had been unable to escape the cycle of poverty because of misplaced priorities and an economic growth model that was based on debt. It continues to be a low-income, low-saving, low-capital formation, low-growth economy that has historically reinforced itself in a circle.

In Pakistan, almost 40% of the population lives in poverty. As seen throughout the nation, poverty is the most conducive environment for the growth of terrorism. According to the Pak Military Monitor, rather than being devoted to religion, many of the false suicide bombers who gave their services to jihadi organizations did so out of frustration, hopelessness, and fatalism brought on by their deprivation and dehumanized existence.

Terrorist incidents in 2022 had a significant negative influence on Pakistan. According to a research by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, militants were responsible for 376 attacks that left 533 people dead, with the attacks in 2022 being the deadliest. The recent Global Terrorism Index – 2023 report from the Institute for Economics & Peace in Sydney further supported this. According to the Pak Military Monitor, the number of terrorist threats to Pakistan rose by 120% in 2022 compared to the previous year.

Pakistan, which enabled terrorism to flourish unchecked in order to further its interests in Afghanistan and its attrition conflict with India over Kashmir, is now a victim of the same. Pakistan is a perfect example of how even those who employ terror as a tool of the state and foreign policy are not exempt from its effects.

Resources for its fight against terrorism are being lost, which is putting considerable pressure on its economy. Terrorism has a terrible human cost, but it also has a considerably greater economic cost than most policymakers are aware of.

The direct and indirect cost of terrorism occurrences in Pakistan was estimated by Pakistan’s Economic Survey (2017-2018) to be USD 126.79 billion. According to some media sources, 60,000 people—including security officers, civilians, and terrorists—were killed between 2000 and 2019, according to the Pak Military Monitor.

Terrorism has a significant secondary or indirect economic impact in addition to its direct effects. Long-term effects on the local economy and financial markets are likewise negative. The Pak economy has been impacted by a number of factors, including a lack of a favorable economic environment, peace, bad law and order, and governance.

Pakistani leaders have underinvested in human capital for many years. Among the 58.6 million young people between the ages of 15 and 29, 21.8 million do not participate in formal education, training, or employment. The Pak Military Monitor noted, quoting Gallup Pakistan, “The military, which wields great authority in Pakistan, has skewed economic policy by prioritizing rivalry with India taking away substantial portions of the country’s restricted resource base.”

Due to terrorist actions, Pakistan is losing academics and other human resources. Authorities in Pakistan predict that 832,229 citizens of Pakistan emigrated in 2022 as a result of the nation’s continuous economic crises, political unrest, and lax law and order. According to the Pak Military Monitor, 50% of Pakistan’s youth would prefer not to return to their country of origin and would want to work and study abroad.

This is concerning because smart and educated labor that could have contributed much to the economy is being lost.

According to a survey performed by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and reported by the Pak Military Monitor, 62% of young Pakistani men between the ages of 15 and 24 want to leave the nation (PIDE).

Observers point out that Pakistan is not backward because of a lack of natural resources or labor, but rather because of a small number of self-centered and dishonest leaders and military and civilian officers. These people are cruel and greedy, and their only goal is to amass as much money as they can and transfer it outside. Several of them have amassed wealth abroad and sent their wards there for training and employment. On the other hand, the Pak Military Monitor claimed that millions of people are living in appalling conditions in slums and poorly ventilated dwellings without access to food, water, primary healthcare, or education.

Pakistan’s economy has been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a slowdown in GDP growth, job losses, and a rise in poverty. Moreover, inflation and an extraordinary foreign resource constraint are currently threatening the economic recovery. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the uncertainty brought on by the collapse of major Western banks have made the situation even worse.

Instead of concentrating on the growth of the economy even while the country is on the verge of default, Islamabad is pursuing backward-looking ideological objectives. Now that the terrorist operations have caught up, they pose a threat to both the nation and its citizens’ basic existence.

Inconsistent handling of terrorists is a factor in Pakistan’s political and economic problems. Pakistan has long tolerated some terrorist organizations while cracking down on others.

Observers note that the country has chosen to remain a safe haven for jihadis, and that this, along with sympathy for jihadis among the public and within law enforcement and intelligence, as well as inaction by members of the political class, are the factors that have allowed domestic militant groups to operate with impunity and fearlessness.

It has become more challenging for Pakistan to draw in investment as a result of these terrorist actions. For foreign investors and businessmen, Pakistan is off limits, and many of them do not even like to travel there.

Islamic organizations seeking recruits in Pakistan quoted hadiths that predicted a major conflict. Authorities in Pakistan believed that religious radicalism could assist resolve the Kashmir conflict and strengthen Pakistan’s friends in Afghanistan. Instead, the tactic made Pakistan a theater of conflicting interpretations of radical Islamist ideologies. The distinction between terrorists who are good and bad has blurred, permeating both society and people’s thoughts. This now presents a fresh and significant issue for the entire nation.

The failure to control terror and the blending of terror with official strategy have damaged Pakistan’s reputation abroad. Terrorist assaults have increased across Pakistan as a result of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021, which was supported by Pakistan.

Rather of discovering strategic depth in Afghanistan, Pakistan, according to North Waziristan politician Mohsin Dawar, “has given over a strategic depth in Pakistan to the Taliban,” according to the Pak Military Monitor.

Islamabad is currently reaping a terrible crop as a result of the rise of domestic terrorism in Pakistan. It had no idea that helping Afghanistan would eventually backfire and jeopardize its own security.

Numerous observers, including the World Bank, cautioned that the next days will bring societal unrest and instability if the Pakistani government and elite do not choose to change their thinking. A poisonous concoction of economic hardship, social exclusion, draconian security, ethnic nationalism, and tribalism is projected to increase domestic extremist threats.

According to Afrasiab Khattak, a former head of Pakistan’s human rights commission, a civil war could break out as Pakistan grows more militarized against its own citizens while disregarding regional and international developments. Terrorist assaults are increasing nationwide, and Pashtun and Baloch nationalists are enraged by enforced disappearances and extrajudicial deaths.

Using the excuse that Pakistan is too big to fail and receives a lot of funding from the US and the Middle East as well as costly debt-ridden projects from China, the Pakistani administration evaded change.

In addition, the illegal drug trade and other forms of money laundering are flourishing in the economy. In addition, there is the zakat contribution, a type of religious donation that accounts for around 7% of GDP. But, all of these funds are mismanaged and even given to non-state actors who engage in terrorist acts planned by the ISI.