Product Pakistan: Fixing Critical Defects
Significant issues in how the country is run continue to upend the innovation agenda.
Last week I talked about how Pakistan’s problem isn’t the narrative, but the fact that Product Pakistan is not a worthy thing to market to the rest of the world. As if on cue, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), wanting to make my point for me, moved to ban TikTok, the social media platform that has millions of users — most of them from non-elite backgrounds — across the country.
This is only the latest move by the regulatory to control “immoral and indecent” content. And the PTA is not alone, as PEMRA, the electronic media watchdog, is in a competition with the PTA to see who does a better job at moral policing.
These bans are only a symptom of the critical bug that needs to be resolved in Product Pakistan. In fact, one may call it a feature, not a bug in Product Pakistan, given how much value is given to controlling expression, content, and what people can and cannot say, in the country, both in offline and online domains.
Digital Pakistan dies by a thousand bans.
There was much fanfare about Digital Pakistan, and rightfully so. But what the boomers responsible for running the country forgot that Digital Pakistan cannot succeed in an environment where arbitrary bans are meted out through broad interpretation of the law.
These actions send a chilling message to innovators both at home and abroad. Additionally, it sends a signal to international investors, particularly those looking to take risks in emerging economies, that Pakistan is a dicey jurisdiction to do business in.
And so with the actions of the PTA over the last few weeks, Digital Pakistan is as good as dead. The only way for the tide to turn is for the Prime Minister to issue a statement in public and vociferously condemn the actions of the PTA and PEMRA and argue that for Pakistan to become an innovation economy, the state will tolerate free expression that pushes the envelope and helps unleash Pakistan’s creative potential.
Innovators are rule-breakers, by default.
What folks don’t get is that the winning economies in the 21st Century will be those whose societies value knowledge and innovation. This requires immense investments in education and human capital development, but more importantly, it requires society to allow people to express themselves.
Individuals who are rule breakers and have a disdain for societal norms are the agents of change in innovation economies. These economies allow breathing space to these agents of change, allowing them to express themselves in unimaginable ways. Universities and colleges are often the playing ground for them, but other outlets are also provided for people to express themselves, propelling culture, science, and the economy forward.
The country is handicapping its own future by not fostering creative thinking in citizens, both young and old. Future leaders must be able to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to Pakistan’s pressing problems. But you cannot expect individuals to think creatively about some things and not others. Which means that the freedom to express, especially if that expression makes the status quo uncomfortable, is something that must be celebrated, not banned.
Without that, Product Pakistan’s legacy features will always lead to failure, almost like the much derided blue screen of death that almost all of us have experienced while using Microsoft computers and laptops.
Very interesting read Uzair. Thanks and keep it up