That stop Pakistan from becoming a big power

(MENAFN- Arab News) 1. political leadership: structured in deeply rooted feudal system is what failing the nation in providing any guidance; 5 percent of landholders possess 64 percent of total farmland.

2. corruption: a major impediment to progress. in 2013 it scored 127 out of 175 on the corruption perceptions index published by the transparency international.

3. defense spending: its security concerns are what driving islamabad to up the spending ante frantically. needs to reset priorities given the depressing socio-educational-economy graph.

4. religious radicalism: that created taleban too and is eating into the vitals of the nation. islamabad will do well by taking into confidence major organizations like jamaat-e-islami as also tapping the huge youth resources to the benefit the developmental works.

5. illiteracy: even poor countries like mozambique ghana niger and mali have an edge over pakistan where nearly 6.5m children do not go to school.

6. bad economy: untapped resources — both human and natural; power crisis; lack of development in agriculture and industrialization — enough ingredients to affect the economy.

7. 1971 war: that created bangladesh after partitioning pakistan. it was a major moral setback. yet islamabad could have learned lessons from post-wwii japan than getting engaged in low-level wars with india.

8. foreign policy: the feudal mindset is wanting in diplomacy nuances. as a result it lost kabul angered us and deepened animosity with delhi. needs to make its policy g-7 centric and make china ties more productive.

9. two-nation theory: it needed to change its pre-independence stance to one 'united nation" theory. instead pakistan degenerated into multi-nation theory.

10. cultural and moral degradation: it's commonplace and it's unfortunate because the concept of pakistan was germinated in the idea to revive islam.

10 things that make pakistan proud of

1. allama iqbal: the impact of his words and works reverberate all across the nation and outside even after 75 yrs of his death. a constant source of inspiration he was also behind the idea of a pakistan to revive islam. the national poet needs special govt policy on his vision.

2. individuals: haris manzur 9 broke the 800-yr-old record of uk's oxford university by becoming the youngest ever to pass o levels exams. just an example. many such individuals are bringing laurels to the nation. malala for instance.

3. diaspora: that sustains country's economy. in 2013 islamabad received record $14 bn remittances from overseas expats. the real but unsung heroes!

4. economy potential: it has world's second largest irrigation system; not to mention of huge mines of minerals the country possesses. what it needed was a visionary leadership a good policy and a will to move ahead.

5. nuclear deterrence: which catapulted pakistan to the select group of nations making its defense impregnable.

6. social movements: the works by edhi foundation ansar burney trust international and several others will put to shame the likes of mother teresa and ford foundation.

7. education: thanks to men like prof. ata-ur-rahman who by sheer dint of their efforts have transformed the educational sector

8. urdu: in the 'english"-ridden world pakistan thrives on urdu thanks to the colossal works by molvi abdul haq and niaz fatehpuri. even the gen-next is much enchanted by the language which has its own 'sweet" contribution to the islamic culture.

9. cricket: it spurs nation; a morale booster whenever the nation feels low. imran khan took it to the height of popularity. will khan do the same in politics?

10. art and music: it won india without creating tension on borders — making indians dance to the tune of its music: from ghazals pop music qawwali to divine songs it enchanted almost every indian.