Muhammad Farooq Afzal is a dynamic and profound professional in the realm of Textiles, Information Technology, Business Consultancy, Tourism, and Event Management. He has been pursuing his entrepreneurial ambitions for the last 22 years, locally and internationally. He has been playing an instrumental role in promoting trade and business ties between Pakistan and other countries since 2004. Farooq had been continuously putting in his multifaceted efforts towards the cause of the promotion of bilateral and multilateral trade. Farooq has also been participating in TV talk shows regularly to speak about the economy, and promotion of bilateral and multilateral trade based on the business opportunities lying in respective countries.
Farooq Afzal holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Philippines and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Sindh, Pakistan. He is also a Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine. He is the Founder President of Pakistan Turkiye Business Forum, President/CEO of ITN Group of Companies which is involved in textiles, information technology, machinery, event management and general trading and Member Managing Committee of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
theazb.com caught up with Muhammad Farooq Afzal to seek his perspective on poverty in Pakistan. His standpoint is as follows:
I believe Pakistan has more than 40% population living below the poverty line. The income has been decreasing day-by-day and due to a very bad economic situation, millions of people have lost their status of middle class to lower middle class and so on and due to trickledown effect millions of people have now been compelled to live below the poverty line. Unfortunately, due to political reasons Government of Pakistan never shares the correct figures with international agencies.
In Pakistan, Balochistan has the highest poverty and Punjab is the lowest. Poverty in Pakistan rose around 20% just in a year and as per the government now it has touched 40% plus. Pakistan’s poor people have even gone down $2.25 per day from the international standard i.e. $3.65 per day. Unfortunately, Pakistan has the lowest per capita income in South Asia and the highest out of schoolchildren in the world.
Pakistan has more than 95 million people living in poverty and unfortunately, not all political and non-political governments ever paid any attention to eliminate or minimise poverty in Pakistan due to their respective personal stakes. They know that once the population is out of poverty then they cannot make people for the unfulfilled promises for the same.
In order to eliminate poverty, the following steps must be taken into consideration:
— To make and implement such policies where Pakistan’s economic growth is enhanced and this can only be done to provide a conducive and friendly environment that local and foreign investors are attracted to put up industries and service-oriented organisation. This would increase employment.
— To set up and implement social structure/programmes where government, must take care of the poor helping them through reasonable stipends and free education and health care services.
— To set up a number of vocational institutes, where the poor are trained for different skills free of cost with a monthly stipend so that they either can start to earn money at his or her own or to become part to the industries based on the learned skills.
— To give them small agricultural lands with financial help enabling them to grow agri-products to sell and to live for them.
None of the government has paid attention to this very important aspect. Whatever, vocational institutes were established in the past, they are all impotent and not working or contributing to the purpose those were established.
Human development can only be done through proper education and skill development. These would positively eliminate poverty. The skilled developed human resources will not only contribute within Pakistan but we can also export our developed human resources to the rest of the world.
It’s unfortunate that poverty is acknowledged as a curse due to its destructive potential in societies. If the poor are suffering with no job, no money, hunger, and no shelter and are compelled to live in unhygienic conditions, would lead them to dangerous diseases and criminal activities. They are ill-treated at almost every place in their respective societies. I believe that Islam is the only religion, which has the proper distribution of wealth and if it is followed as a system in the world, humanity will prevail and I am sure that this would help to eliminate poverty and will teach humans not to consider any poor and poverty as curse in the society.
