Sinking ship?

The pessimism that prevails is a key reason why so many choose to leave, legally and illegally, sometimes taking enormous risks to do so. DESIGN: JAMAL KHURSHID

It is clear that an increasingly large number of people in our country believe they would fare better if they left it for other shores. According to a report by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, 2.7 million Pakistanis have left the country over the past five years, including some 31,000 from Balochistan. Given the conditions prevailing in that province, notably in terms of law and order, but also human development, their choice does not seem specially surprising. Certainly, we know that talk of leaving the country is the subject of more and more conversations and discussions held everywhere.

The impact on our country of this brain drain has been terrifying. According to a previous report by the same ministry, 5.8 million people have left the country since 1981, including over 41,000 professionals and technicians. In a country with desperately low levels of literacy and even less educational attainment at higher levels, with a drop-out rate of 50 per cent within the first five years of education, their expertise is not something we can afford to lose. We desperately need more doctors, engineers and computer scientists. We must, therefore, endeavour to stem this brain drain. This can happen only if we are to create conditions more conducive to work, and life, at home. Many factors are involved in this, but perhaps, the most critical is introducing to people some sense of hope and persuading them that opportunities do exist for them in their homeland. The pessimism that prevails is a key reason why so many choose to leave, legally and illegally, sometimes taking enormous risks to do so. Their desperation is a sad testament to the situation that prevails, and of course, this is made worse when people with ability quit it. More and more people are quite obviously doing so. We must hold them back and find a way to utilise their abilities and persuade them to stay on in a country which needs their help if it is to stay afloat upon a stormy sea.