President Dr Arif Alvi on Saturday said Pakistan’s proactive approach to prepare itself for a technology-focused industrial revolution would strengthen its economy.
“A brilliant future lies ahead for Pakistan if it timely jumps on the ‘technological bandwagon’, which is expected to ensure an exponential progress by 30 times,” the president said in an interview with Islamabad Security Dialogue.
President Alvi said he strongly believed that there was no limit to Pakistan’s economic growth after it gets a stronghold in domains of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and computer sciences.
He said Pakistan was capable of meeting the challenges of cyber defence, adding that “with the right direction, even small countries become unicorns within less than a decade”.
He expressed optimism that Pakistan, in the next decade, would turn into a “geo-economic hub” and become one of the strongest countries in the world in terms of economic stability.
Dr Alvi pointed out that Pakistan’s earlier geostrategic policies had been “imposed” on it in view of India acting as a belligerent neighbour.
He regretted that the United Nations had still not conformed to its promised resolutions on Kashmir and the world ignored India’s “so-called peaceful” nuclear capability besides its recent episodes of illegal uranium sale.
He said the foreign media outlets did not pick up the real issues concerned with Pakistan but maintained a stereotype about the country in their reporting. Pakistan, he said, for long suffered the imposition of security paradigm in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan followed by the United States and the presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The president said the situation led to Pakistan’s hosting of over 3.5 million Afghan refugees, which was an “exemplary gesture of kindness contrary to the champions of human rights that let migrants drown in the Mediterranean Sea”.
“Pakistan has done wonders to its own psyche with this natural moral strength. The nations are built not from resources, but by their intellect, smartness, and strength of character,” he said.
President Alvi said the Pakistani nation had risen resilient after defeating terrorism and suffering 70,000 casualties and an economic loss of $130 billion.
“All ingredients for Pakistan’s beautiful future are in place and the stars of fortune aligned,” he said when asked about where he saw the country in the next 10 years.
The president emphasised ensuring online access to knowledge instead of the conventional setups as a fast mode to progress and development.
By switching to internet-based education, he said, Pakistan could catapult itself by raising qualified professionals of world-class standards.
He recalled that Pakistan in the 80s and 90s suffered a huge brain drain and stressed that the future strategy should be on diverting the energies of talent towards first serving the homeland.
On overcoming the Covid-19 situation, he said compassion for the poor was the primary focus that restrained the government from imposing a complete lockdown. Despite limited resources, he said, “smart thinking” based on empathy and involvement of Ulema and the media to spread the message of precautions helped the country achieve remarkable success against the virus.
The president said Pakistan was witnessing a real change in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan of eliminating corruption and implementing measures of austerity.
On Pakistan’s steps against climate change, he said plantation and conservation of natural resources, including water, was the need of the hour to revert the damaging impact of the human footprint on the environment.
He stressed the need for an effective strategy in order to ensure the conservation of natural habitat amid the growing influx of tourists.
The president said concerted efforts were required to address the challenges of population control, neonatal mortality, nutrition, and stunting.
