Flushing out talent from Pakistan

IRFAN BUKHARI
ISLAMABAD-Pakistan’s talent has always been its most valuable competitive asset, and the abundance and wealth of this talent could serve the country well as a formidable competitive advantage for a long time but the continued mayhem in the country is forcing youth to leave the country for a secure future.
The question of brain drain has been under discussion for the last few years in Pakistan as a large number of talented youth left the country to get rid of unemployment and exploitation.
“ How can I dream a golden future in a country where every dawn is saluted with a suicide attack”, said Fahad, a computer graduate, standing outside Gerry’s office in G-9 Markaz for the process of UK student visa.
The crowd of youngsters is swelling with every passing day around the offices of Fed Ex and Gerry’s which are the authorised centers for initial visa processes for America and England respectively.
Another boy, belonging to Multan, while sharing his plans with TheNation for the coming days, outside FedEx building in Jinnah Super Market argued, “ I am obliged to flee Pakistan. I did my masters in Physics from Bahauudin Zikriya University three years back but all my efforts to find a reasonable job ended in fiasco. Despite all this, my hopes did not die but today’s security upheaval in the country has succeeded to alter my mind”.
The business of overseas employment promoters and education consultants is continuously rising and it seems that the growing unrest in the country is yielding fruits only for them. Malaysia, Korea, UAE are the destinations of those disappointed youth who see no future in turbulent homeland.
“ It has been the practice to emigrate to alien shores in pursuit of prosperity in the past but today the growing unease in the country has triggered the trend. I am going to Malaysia by paying Rs 200, 000 to a private agent as I find no other way of smooth existence in my country”, said Hamid Khan, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan.
This is not a “brain drain,” where local talent from a country emigrates elsewhere, usually to a more prosperous economy in order to seek better opportunities. What is not as visible, but maybe more insidious, is “brain drainage”, the slow seepage of human-potential, energy and inspiration that occurs all around us, everyday, with talent still in place and not leaving; merely being wasted as the growing terrorism in Pakistan hinders foreign investment thus not creating employment opportunities.
The current wave of political turmoil is also sowing the seeds of permanent immigration thoughts in the minds of those opulent families who fall in the British or Canadian immigration criteria. “ Pakistan’s politics always caught in conflict but now this conflict of opinion has entered into violence that is heart breaking so we are pondering to get Canadian migration”, told a well-off resident of the capital.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2007/4/nationalnews1.php