SPEECH ON PAKISTAN S PROBLEMS

Pakistan has reached the point where many of the countries of the West have
started labeling it as a “Failed State”. The reason behind this uproar is the
severity of the problems the country faces. The global crisis has not hit any
country as badly as it has hit Pakistan.

There are various problems the country faces including terrorism, power
shortages, gas shortages, shooting inflation rates, unavailability of basic needs for
people such as food, housing, clothes, rising rates of unemployment, worsening of
the balance of payment position and the list goes on and on. It is time that
someone comes up with solutions to these problems or the nation for which our
ancestors fought would be lost somewhere in the midst.

Terrorism has been of growing concern over the past few years. After the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Centre, Pakistan agreed to join U.S in the war on
terror. But who knew that this action would lead to Pakistan becoming a victim of
terrorist attacks. This move faced severe retaliation from various facets,
increasing the incidence of terrorism in the country. Problems of sectarian
violence already existed and now all Muslims of the country faced threats from
terrorist groups such as Taliban. Terrorism did not only pose physical threat in
terms of the lives of people but it had a far reaching impact. Terrorism shunned
any opportunities of foreign investment in the country resulting in a loss for the
country’s economy. There was a fall in exports as people oversees did not want to
trade with a terrorist State thus worsening the balance of payment position.

The global crisis of 2008 hit Pakistan pretty badly resulting in several layoffs
throughout the country. The country already marred by terrorism could not bear
such a heavy loss. Many of the educated men and women are unemployed and
they don’t even have the chance of starting their own businesses because in such
a crisis situation any investments made could result in huge losses for the them.

Apart from the problems of terrorism and unemployment a serious issue has
grown over the past few years and that is of load shedding. Pakistan power supply
companies do not have enough power production to meet the needs of the people
of the country. Urban areas face load shedding for 12 hours per day while in the
rural areas the situation is worse as there is no electricity for up to 16 hours. Fuel
prices have shot up with petrol and diesel becoming more expensive than it had
ever been. People cannot afford travelling in the bus because the bus fares have
gone up as a result of the increase in diesel prices.

Most recently an alarming situation has developed for Pakistan in terms of the
shortage of natural gas. No one expected that natural gas which was in
abundance in the country would no longer be available. There is Gas load
shedding in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As most of the people shifted to
CNG as fuel for their cars they are in serious trouble now. CNG is only available
for 3-4 days a week and its prices have reached as high as petrol and diesel prices
have.

With the ever increasing problems for the general public of the country, it is time
for something to be done on part of the government and the people. Everyone
needs to contribute to take Pakistan out of this crisis situation.