Islands of affluence

‘Democracy is the best revenge’ having run its full course, other ‘avatars’ are about to descend over the hills of Islamabad. The populace awaits less than eagerly the rerun of an old show. But no need to despair – interesting stuff is always happening in a capital famous for never having a dull moment.

While the machinery used for doling out public money will be working in low gear for several weeks, Islamabad is witnessing another phenomenon: private wealth on public display in the form of a shimmering shopping mall, embedded in a vast complex of three towers. A sight to behold that burnishes Islamabad’s credentials as a beautiful city.

A shopping mall is not a novelty for the residents of Karachi and Lahore who view Islamabad as an austere and unpretentious city. But there is a point to note; on their next foray for lobbying and licenses, the visitors will have a place to spend time and money. They can even bring along families for an overnight stay and won’t be bored stiff. All that may be good for the economy and domestic tourism. It reinforces the view that the services sector can compensate for the job losses in industry.

The downside is that the addition of more shopping malls and luxury residential towers is resulting in the creation of more islands of affluence, maybe opulence, in a country with a per capita income of a thousand dollars.

Renowned designer names and fast food brands may be soothing to the eyes of the well heeled, as they are served by staff obliged to work at a minimum wage. Even that is not guaranteed to last. A local businessman says that with the rents in the new mall touching insane levels, it will be a major achievement to run businesses on profit and some may be forced to wind up after a few months!

The country’s premier property developer is trying hard to launch a new and gigantic real estate project with the help of foreign partners. If he succeeds and his efforts lead to luring back some of the Pakistani billions siphoned off to Dubai, or at least discourage further flight of capital, he should be applauded. The offshore city sounds ingenious because it would enable the fat wallets to be home but at a safe distance from a city scarred by daily toll of random and target killings, kidnappings, extortion, sectarian tensions and terrorism.

What happens to the rest who did not have the means to finance a foreign passport or acquire a property in Dubai or Malaysia? Nor possess the means to have the luxury of an abode in the island development. The dream city dwellers will be no more at peace than the seven million strong Pakistanis who live and work in foreign lands and yet agonise over all the shocking news they get from the motherland on an hourly basis by cable TV.

Nonetheless, planning an offshore haven is very much in line with our tradition of creating islands of affluence. It is another matter if the islands of affluence cannot be at ease in an ocean of poverty, lawlessness or criminal neglect.

One can think of all the old elite housing developments and the now in vogue gated communities as ways of insulating the rich from the ordinary. Or the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway baptised as the M-2. It is undoubtedly a marvel of engineering and arguably the best road system in South Asia.

But the M-2 is another island where order and serenity reign as the motorists take a leisurely detour of the salt range, with traffic density of the order of one vehicle per kilometre. The battered Grand Trunk or G.T Road, now renamed as the National Highway or N-5, still takes the brunt of the traffic between Lahore and Islamabad, passing the cities of Jhelum, Gujrat, Gujranwala and through several important towns.

The M-2 does not touch any major city between the federal and the provincial capital. But a rude shock awaits those on the motorway on their exit, when some of them who behaved in a civilised manner suddenly turn into racing drivers as there is no more control.

The capital, Islamabad too has been like an island, aloof from the painful existence that is the sort of most of Pakistan’s citizens. The building of a new capital was the biggest ever construction project undertaken in Pakistan. But to many, Islamabad became a symbol of how West Pakistan, particularly the Punjab and the army, wished to run the country and spend its scarce resources.

This may not mean a great deal to the young because they have known only one capital of Pakistan – Islamabad. Yet, it is a fact that so many of those who grew up in the capital, were denied superior opportunities of education and employment that exist in the major centres like Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. A large number saw immigration to foreign lands as the best way to secure a better future.

Our weakness for building monuments has been proved again in the much talked about port at Gwadar. What bigger proof than the fact that like the M-2, Gwadar is still waiting for its potential users. If the Chinese had built this port and have now been handed its operation after an unsuccessful detour to the Singapore Port Authority, what does that say about the utility of this project for Pakistan’s economy?

Gwadar will remain a mirage till it has efficient links with Pakistan’s road network and that of the Central Asian states. Or will it be linked by an oil pipeline to China’s western region, which again raises a question about Gwadar’s benefits to Balochistan or the federation?

When will the ruling classes understand that though less spectacular, projects conceived for the majority will be far more beneficial to the nation than grandiose works resulting in islands of affluence and privilege in an ocean of neglect, social injustice and disorder?

The writer is a former ambassador to the European Union. Email: saeed.saeedk@ gmail.com