Twirp : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Republic Pakistan 3

[Naresh]

<b>Development : Debt we can’t pay back —Syed Mohammad Ali</b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Poverty in the rural areas, where a majority of the populace still resides, is directly linked with higher levels of landlessness. Yet there has been minimal land reform since independence. Our economic planners have also remained unable to adequately increase the income of its rural citizens through alternative measures

Many economists and social scientists are of the view that poverty in Pakistan is again on the rise. Estimates concerning the extent of this increase vary. <b>According to some, the <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>rate of poverty has reportedly gone up from about 24 percent to nearly 38 percent during the past three years. However, others argue that the actual rate of poverty in the country is higher, since they dispute the earlier official claim of poverty having been brought down to around 24 percent by the previous government.</span></b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Conversely, <b>Pakistan’s defence spending, clubbed with administrative expenditure, has reached the <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>alarming figure of 10 percent of GDP.</span></b> Perhaps it is because the IMF is largely controlled by the US that it continues to make no demands for cuts to Pakistan’s massive military budget, particularly at a time when such a move could have potentially negative implications on the ‘war against terror’.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->