The eternal wait for Godot             Author: Sakib Sherani

Pakistan at 78 stands at a crossroads, weighed down by its own contradictions. The country was born with lofty promises, yet those promises have slowly slipped through our fingers like sand in a clenched fist. From grand projects like SEATO, CENTO, and CPEC to the much-hyped SIFC, every so-called game-changer turned out to be a paper tiger, serving elites rather than the common man. Instead of building a society where opportunity knocks for all, Pakistan has been rigged into a playground for the privileged few. Laws, budgets, and institutions have been bent out of shape, not to foster growth but to line the pockets of those at the top, while the ordinary citizen keeps sinking deeper into poverty, joblessness, and state repression.

The article highlights institutionalised extraction: electricity companies raking in Rs8.3 trillion through sweetheart deals, sugar barons crushing cotton and exports to pocket billions, and elites siphoning off $10 billion annually into offshore havens. While the ruling class eats high on the hog with tax breaks, land grants, and concessions worth $17 billion, ordinary Pakistanis are left standing in endless queues, crushed by inflation and broken promises. This isn’t bad luck or coincidence, it is by design. Unless Pakistan tears down this system of plunder and resets its compass toward inclusive development, no hidden copper, no buried gold, and no miracle policy will save it from sinking further into the quicksand of underdevelopment.

Overview:

The article is a stinging analysis of Pakistan’s political economy. It highlights how the state has been set up not for growth but for elite capture. It shows with facts and figures how billions have been drained through IPPs, sugar cartels, land allocations, and capital flight. The writer argues that Pakistan’s constitution, governance, and institutions are hollow shells—existing in form but failing in function. At its core, the article exposes the deliberate design of a system that widens inequality and blocks national development.

NOTES:

The article suggests how Pakistan, even at 78 years remains trapped in a cycle of elite capture and institutionalized exploitation. It shows that instead of being engines of progress, projects like SEATO, CENTO, CPEC and now SIFC turned into hollow promises serving ruling groups rather than the public. The state has been designed to benefit a narrow class through sweetheart deals, tax breaks, and land grants, while the masses are left to grapple with poverty, inflation, and joblessness. Power producers pocketed trillions, sugar barons destroyed cotton and exports to secure their own profits, and billions are drained annually through capital flight. The ordinary citizen stands in queues, paying the cost of this plunder. The article’s core message is clear: Pakistan’s underdevelopment is not accidental but by design, and unless this exploitative order is dismantled, no amount of hidden minerals, foreign aid, or short-term policies will rescue the country.

Relevant CSS syllabus or subjects:

• Pakistan Affairs: Connects directly with themes of governance failures, elite capture, and post-independence economic challenges.
• Current Affairs: Provides real-time critique of Pakistan’s economic management, corruption, and inequality.
• Governance and Public Policy: Illustrates extractive vs inclusive institutional models, useful for answering policy-oriented questions.
• Political Science: Links with theories of state failure, rentier systems, and elite-driven governance.
• Essay Writing: Supplies ready examples for essays on corruption, inequality, governance crisis, or Pakistan’s development dilemma.

Notes for Beginners:

The article explains that Pakistan’s problems are not accidental but built into the system. For instance, power companies (IPPs) earned Rs8.3 trillion in ten years while electricity remained costly. Sugar mill owners, about 90 in number, made hundreds of billions in profits by distorting policy, which destroyed the cotton economy that once powered exports. Every year, elites enjoy $17 billion in privileges like tax exemptions and free land, while $10 billion leaves the country through capital flight, as seen in Panama and Pandora Papers. Meanwhile, common people face high prices, unemployment, and endless struggles. The state, instead of being a ladder for development has become a tool of exploitation.

Facts and Figures:

• Rs 8.3 trillion earned by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in 10 years.
• 90 sugar mill owners reaped hundreds of billions while crushing cotton and exports.
• $17 billion annually given as privileges (tax breaks, subsidies, land concessions) to elites.
• $10 billion annually lost to capital flight, as exposed in Panama and Pandora Papers.
• 78 years since independence, yet the state remains extractive rather than inclusive.

To wrap up, this article is a mirror held up to Pakistan, showing a state that looks like a republic but functions like a spoils system. It drives home that no natural resource or foreign project can rescue a country where elites rule for themselves and institutions exist only in name. For students and aspirants, it is not just an article but a warning and a case study: unless Pakistan rebuilds itself on justice, inclusiveness, and accountability, it will keep going in circles, forever waiting for its Godot of development.