WITH the world and, indeed, the region moving on, it is painful that Pakistanis are finding it hard even to breathe amid suffocating economic conditions. The results of the blunders that the country`s elite is habitual of making are bound to make the path ahead even bumpier. The deep slumber that we have been in for a long time will only cause a rude awakening.

The blatant neglect and short-sightedness on the part of our ruling and opposition parties as well as other decision-makers is too obvious to be talked about any further. Everyone knows it. What we don`t know and struggle to understand is why are Pakistanis doing this to Pakistan. It is beyond mortal comprehension.

Let us start with the most fundamental right of the human beings: food and water. Pakistan, being unable to consider, calculate and protect its water needs, is fast slipping into the list of water-scarce countries. With no storage infrastructure to hold the rainwater, the country is marred by devastating floods for half of the year, while droughts hamper growth for the rest of the year.

Floods wash away the top fertile layer of the soil. This leads to increasing food insecurity. Every year we are producing lesser crop volumes to cater to the needs of the local people. This year cotton has shown one of the lowest yields in the last four decades.

Food scarcity results in almost half of our children having stunted growth, which means due to lack of food and malnutrition, the children are unable to fully develop their cognitive and physical abilities. Hence, they will not be able to play any productive role in the future of the country. In fact, they will become a liability as far as nationalresourcesareconcerned.

Even those who manage to get sufficient food do not necessarily get education. Pakistan has millions of children out of schools and on the streets.

Those who are lucky enough to get education have to make do with an outdated system which only ensures that our children will struggle while competing with their global peers. Low quality of education and high population rate together represent a clear signal for an impending disaster. Making things worse is the gender gap.

After a long history of misusing religion for political purposes, we stand today with widespread religious fanaticism. The national narrative stands distorted. The national action plan stands hampered. It is no wonder that the path ahead is marked by confusion and uncertainty.

In a country where individuals matter more than their capacity to resolve issues, things are bound to go wrong more often than not. That is the reason behind the prevailing political anarchy and lawlessness in Pakistan, with state institutions more interested in expanding their respective power than focussing on their duties.

With things being what they are, do we have the right to expect any investor to commit to the current market? Imagine yourself to be an investor and you will have the right answer without having to think long and hard. When the country`s human resources are willing to take the next flight out of the country, it is blatantly illogical to expect people bringing in their financial resources to invest in today`s Pakistan.

With so much wrong with the leadership, both past and current, should we say that the country has a leadership problem? Maybe, but there is another side to it. The nation at large is part of the deep slumber, dreaming about being the leaders of the entire world, or at least of the Muslim world, and having super-natural forces on its side. In our dreams, we see friendly countries always willing to come to our rescue regardless of what we do ourselves The whole nation is responsible for the prevailing state of affairs. Pakistanis are doing some very unfortunate things to Pakistan. But, again, why? Muhammad Ali Falak Texas, USA