The Forces Of Evil Are Winning

October 1, 2012: While Islamic terrorism and religious and ethnic strife produce most of the headlines about Pakistan, there's a lot more largely unreported misery that is rarely mentioned. Much of Pakistan is medieval in many ways and millions of Pakistanis live, literally, as serfs (a form of slavery that lasted into the 19th century in the West). While India has some of these social/economic problems, the Indians made a major effort to eliminate most of these feudal social and economic practices over half a century ago. Pakistan did not and that is one reason why per-capita economic performance in Pakistan is behind that of India. The feudalism also limits social mobility and economic activity. The wealthy feudal families dominate the economy, politics, and the military. The families thought they could use Islamic radicalism as a weapon against India. But in over three decades of that there has been nothing but more misery and defeat for Pakistan. The world considers Pakistan a corrupt and unreliable sanctuary for Islamic terrorism. The people in most danger are Pakistan reformers, who keep trying to defeat the corruption and intolerance at great risk to their lives. So far, the forces of evil are winning.
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