BY MUHAMMAD SHOAIB
Political instability and institutional disparity can be counted as major challenges to economic prosperity of any country.
A cannot improve the lives of its citizens if it is facing long institutional rifts and unstable political system.
Pakistan is an established case where uncertainty in political system and power struggle between institutions has been the structural challenges to the economic prosperity of the country.
Out of 72 years of Pakistan’s political life, military dictators have ruled around 35 years whereas no democratic government fulfilled its complete term till 2008. In this scenario, no one can guarantee economic prosperity of the country.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as fate-changer project aims to ensure gradual economic prosperity of Pakistan through infrastructural modernization and mainly development in energy, agriculture and industrial sectors.
Though, economic prosperity was a prime objective but institutional disparity and political instability were two potential intrinsic challenges that could have been impediment to the churning out of CPEC.
First phase of CPEC is about to complete successfully. CPEC has created an environment where political analysts are witnessing the unprecedented coordination between civil-military institutions since its inauguration.
Critics were indicating civil-military rift as a major obstacle to the manifestation and implementation of this billion-dollar project. History is witness that Pakistani institutions have not idyllic relations and always tried to encroach upon other’s jurisdiction.
In order to guarantee the Chinese investment and Chinese workers in Pakistan, civil-military leadership jointly expended military power to secure Chinese as well as Pakistan’s interests.
This phenomenon significantly affects the institutional disparity and civilian supremacy over the military that was a major challenge to the process of democratic transition. CPEC brought civil-military institutions on a similar agenda.
Political stability is a pre-condition for the economic prosperity and progress of a country. From 1947 to 2018, no Prime Minister could hold the office for his full tenure in Pakistan. Political instability as well as immature political statements led to serious threats to the progress of governments in general, and CPEC in particular.
In case of CPEC, all the political parties were on board. Infect, this is an agreed agenda where every political force wants improvement in the political system.
As CPEC’s first phase is near to a successful completion, it is resulting in reduction in the institutional disparities and assuring the political stability to provide economic prosperity to the masses.
(Muhammad Shoaib, PhD Scholar of Shandong University, China. He can be reached at mshoaibnuml@gmail.com)
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