Asim Imdad Ali

Pakistan emerged in a state of disarray as a "moth-eaten" country. Our inherited colonial state apparatus was geared only for the implementation of two central policies: the maintenance of law and order, and the extraction of surplus resources from our agrarian economy. The colonial state structure that we inherited was thus ill-suited for the formidable task of fostering comprehensive national development. Following the "transfer of power,"

East Asia's remarkable economic development has often been hailed as a miracle. Pakistan also keeps dreaming of attaining comparable levels of growth and progress. A section of our elite argues that the Asian tigers achieved their economic miracles because of the "benevolent" dictators, who steered those countries during their take-off stage.