The Pathfinder Group, Providentia Books Foundation, and Karachi Council on Foreign Relations supported by Roots Millennium Education Group organized a Discussion at Amaanibagh on 13th December 2024. The event aimed to create awareness for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting at Davos 2025.The discussion was focussed on improving social indicators in Pakistan including Education, Health, Financial Inclusion, Women Empowerment, Philanthropy, Social Development and Digitizing Lifespace.
Sehrish Mustafa Executive Officer, KCFR (Moderator)
Asalam-o-Alikum and Good Morning everyone. Today, we are here to talk about the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, and the only organization representing Pakistan at the WEF is the Pathfinder Group for the last 30 years. WEF is a premier International Organization for public/private corporations bringing together leaders from business, government, academia, and civil society to shape global, regional, and industrial agendas. At its core, the WEF emphasizes the importance of addressing pressing global challenges, including social indicators defining quality of life, equity, and sustainability. Today our discussion also centers on the social indicators for which we have distinguished speakers and our chief guest Ambassador Zamir Akram Sahib with us. Thank you so much sir for coming. We shall start by discussing the importance of education, climate, health, and women’s empowerment. For the opening remarks, I would like to call on stage our first speaker Dr Faisal Mushtaq. It’s a wonderful opportunity to invite a distinguished individual whose contribution to education, social welfare, and youth empowerment has left an indelible mark on Pakistan and beyond. Dr Faisal Mushtaq, the CEO of Roots Millennium Education Group, is conferred with Tamgha-i-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan. I would like to invite Dr Faisal Mushtaq on stage to share his vision on education.
Dr Faisal Mushtaq (TI) CEO, Roots Millennium Education Group
Bismillah-ir-Rehman nir Raheem. Asalam-o-Alikum ladies and gentlemen and a very good morning. I would like to thank Mr Ikram Sehgal for his vision, passion, and enduring sustained commitment towards Pakistan in championing its cause amongst the global community of nations. Ladies and gentlemen, Ikram Sahib has always been in the private sector and I think it would be fair enough to call him the real diplomat for fighting for Pakistan’s positioning, opportunity, and narrative. His vision is that Pakistan should be projected on a world stage, where the true reflections and the opportunity should be exhibited. To fulfil this vision, the Pathfinder group collaborates with the WEF each year and holds an annual meeting at Davos. It’s a real privilege and a privilege to meet here today, the honourable chief guest Ambassador Zamir Akram Sahib.
I have also had an opportunity to travel with the Pathfinder Group under the patronage and leadership of Mr Sehgal to Davos and I want to tell you, the interactions, experiences and learning at Davos was extraordinary. The group hosts a breakfast and Pakistan Pavilion which is otherwise the responsibility of the state, to represent any nation-state amongst the global community, but only someone who believes in the power of individuality and the power of me can do that. There is a very famous textbook in the education program called “Leader in Me” by Franklin Covey. It talks about the self-actualization of Iqbal’s “Khudi” and it also talks about the power of individualism. Mr Sehgal’s vision has always been the influence and the impact on how individuals, corporates and the private sector can harness by collaborating to represent the country. This year’s theme at Davos is about social indicators and I reflect and represent education. Education and literacy are also a major part of my journey, my life, and my professional quest.
Today I am seeing a lot of students here from TMUC, Roots Millennium Education Group, and many other universities. Boys and girls, I have always said and I say it again in preparation for the Davos meeting that when people are born in a country or a nation-state, they are born as subjects not as citizens but education, literacy, and human development transform these subjects into citizenry. The significance of these aspects is that if someone is born in a country and they are not literate or educated, how they will be able to contribute to the national economy or the GDP and themselves. They will eventually remain as aliens.In Pakistan, we have huge challenges like 25 million out-of-school children, learning poverty, learning losses, and a very large dilemma of the public education failure which has been filled in by the rise of the private sector. And then another challenge that arises is between public schools, madrassas, private schools, and the development sector. I always say that anyone who is contributing positively to the cause of literacy and human development, is a national hero or a champion. Here, I would like to make a special mention of a young, passionate, and trailblazing social champion Miss Amaani Sehgal who is the granddaughter of Mr Ikram Sehgal. This little girl, out of her compassion and empathy for the planet and people of the society, initiated a program called “Providentia Books Foundation.”And this program, I must say, is very unique, in which the foundation has partnered with Roots Millennium and placed donation boxes at each school. Students are encouraged to donate old books, including textbooks, story books, etc. Which will ultimately be giving benefit to someone more deserving and have a high quest for knowledge and learning. This is not a small initiative, as it is said: “A house, school, or institution without a book is like a human body without a soul.”
So, the reading and significance of books are beautifully explained through this distribution channel which has created a large connectivity among the students to give back, and it is also promoting empathy, compassion, and collaboration. I must recognize and appreciate this young girl Amaani Sehgal sitting in the United States but for a rich commitment and her passion for a better world, she has initiated this social and human development project. Schools always contribute towards a knowledge society and universities contribute towards a knowledge economy. No nation can move forward unless and until they show their commitment towards universalization of primary education. It’s not just universalization that serves the purpose but also the commitment to gender equity, commitment to professional development, commitment to social and human development.
Pakistan is a signatory to the United Nations sustainable development goals for 2030. There are 17 such goals and those goals, talk about climate, education, human development, literacy, gender equality, equal opportunity, and addressing inequality in education resources and funding, etc., Pakistan’s positioning towards the human development index is 142 or 152. The person who authored the framework of human development globally was Dr Mehboob-ul-Haq, who was a Pakistani and then the Koreans took his model and curated and incubated the global human development index. The founder of this index was a Pakistani but today in that index we stand at the lowest level. Each one of you who is sitting here is privileged, however, through education, we need to make sure that we share that entitlement and privilege with those who are not that privileged and there is a major transformation that comes through the public sector reforms. And remember, it’s not the federal government’s mandate anymore – their mandate in curriculum, policy, and the practices – it is the provincial mandate, and the most important people involved in it include the Secretary of education, the Minister of education, and the Chief Minister of the province. So, under Pakistan’s constitutional positioning, we have the NFC and the National Federal Kitty through which the money goes to the provinces. So always remember, never blame the central government.
Whenever you work, try to work through the communities and the social impact initiatives. I call upon this opportunity for all of you to read about the annual meeting at Davos and I’m very privileged that I get an invitation through the Co-chairman, Mr Ikram Sehgal, and I along with my colleagues shall be traveling to Davos in Switzerland. We will be looking forward to our interaction in the sectors of education, social and human development, health, financial engagement, and women empowerment. This is not the first time that Mr Sehgal is taking someone like me there. He has taken hundreds and thousands of people including all Prime Ministers, Military Chiefs, Governors of Central Banks, decision making Parliamentarians, progressive thinkers, intellectuals, and authors. I live in Pakistan and every 3 months I build a new school or open a new branch and I believe whoever opens the door of a school closes one of the prisons in society. I have all the opportunity to be entitled to live anywhere around the world but what we are today is because of this country and this country is because of us. Never ask what Pakistan has done for you, always ask yourself what you have done for Pakistan.
On this, I thank the Co-chairman Mr Ikram Sehgal, the honorable chief guest, and all the distinguished friends here for giving me this opportunity. I would encourage everyone to read about Davos and believe in it, because of the kind of dialogue and discussion, it creates conversations and those conversations build on that narrative. We always say that we don’t have a narrative on Kashmir, Palestine, or any other issues, but what we do is we sit in a coffee shop of Kohsar Market Islamabad and try to build a narrative there, and later we try to follow that narrative in our organizations. The countries make their narratives in the global meetings, so we must recognize, value, and appreciate how a private sector individual, a nationalist, and a patriot like Mr Sehgal is putting Pakistan on the world stage. I’m very privileged and humbled to be a partner in this great vision. Thank you very much.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you, Dr Faisal Mushtaq is the one person who has transformed the private sector education in Pakistan. As we move forward with this discussion, it is crucial to recognize the transformative power of social indicators in Pakistan and its role in shaping Pakistan’s future. Our focus of discussion in Pakistan is always economic development but it is very clear that without social development, economic development is not sustainable, and for development we need a healthy nation. In Pakistan, mental health is often neglected and climate change has a significant impact on health, so we must have to look forward to both physical and mental health. We have an environmental scholar here with us today who is leading the Strengthening Regional Climate Resilience Program at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), Mr Talha Tufail Bhatti. His expertise includes climate change, governance environmental policy, and regional climate analysis. He is a former University lecturer; has trained over 300 climate advocates and co-authored reports for multilateral donors. Talha is a regular contributor to print media and appears on national and international platforms discussing climate resilience, justice, and diplomacy. Let us hear from him about health and climate change.
Talha Tufail Bhatti, Environmental Scholar
Asalam-o-Alikum everyone, my name is Talha Bhatti and I am an environmentalist working for the Institute of Regional Studies. Today I wanted to show you some of the statistics that are remarkably alarming regarding climate change and specific to health in Pakistan. Whenever we talk about climate change, we think that it is happening right now but if you look at the phenomena it is happening from the last 400,000 years, but the alarming situation is that it is actually getting amplified and intensified, specifically in the last 200 years. If you look at the historical data sets, we came to know that the planet has shifted its temperature from plus 2 to minus 5, and this is the range on which the planet is going from the historic value. But if you look at the last 20,000 years and specifically the last 12,000 years, we came to know that the temperatures which were once abnormal become very normal and came into a position which we call Holocene – it is the time frame in the last 12,000 years where the temperatures exceed the limit of plus 5 and minus 5 on a global average. But on the human tendency we have this once. We get curious about something, we tend to develop the path phase of it and once the path is developed, we tend to optimize it and after the optimization of that particular process, we tend to expand it and that is exactly what happened in the last 200 years.
If you look at the year 1850, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics were developed at that time, and with the help of hydrocarbons, we expanded what we call the industrial complex. Specifically, from 1950 to 2020, we tend to enter into a great exploration period in which the human population has actually increased by multiple folds and so has the economy. Right now, if you look at the choices we have, we are looking forward to three dimensions or three figures. We have a 4° centigrade temperature on the global average and then we have three and two. The Paris Agreement tends to believe that we can control the temperatures to a 1.5 threshold by 2100 but the scientific community believes it’s not even possible right now because of the kind of heat which we have added into the system. The last planetary health check from Sweden tells us that six out of nine planetary boundaries are not in the safe working limit, nine planetary boundaries are quantified in which the planet works as we look at the seasons, precipitation, and all the other things. We believe they are over there but six out of nine planetary boundaries are not in the functional limit and this year, they updated that the seventh one is also in the critical zone and climate change is just one of them. It doesn’t mean that if we turn down fossil fuels and all the other bad habits, we can control the change we are experiencing.
The other fact is that the main thermostat of this planet, which we call sea or the water content around the planet, is the thermostat of the North and the South Pole, the conditions are alarming. Water has a certain property that once you put it on the stove it doesn’t get heated instantly but once it is heated up, it stays warm. If you look at the oceans, they are pretty warm and the temperature we are looking forward is around 2.7 degree Celsius, which means on the global average, if it’s 2.7 then on the land it’s around 5°C to 6°C and on the cryosphere it’s around 7°C to 8°C. This change is actually humongous. What we have experienced in the last 20 months is remarkably alarming because every month is breaking the record of the previous year. So historically, we would never at this point in our known history have experienced this, be it from the sedimentation or even from the ice course data sets.
Why I’m saying this, because 50° C is confined to 1 to 2 degree hot spots around the world, but from what we have witnessed in the last one year, that it is happening on the 10 different places around the world and mostly it is happening in Asian and Middle East, like it happened in China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Kuwait. There are significant anomalies in the events that are happening around the world and what we have seen in the flood of 2022 was one of them. The figures on these anomalies are in double digits and they happen once in 50 years or 100 years, or 200 years but as of now, they are happening in a month. The conditions are alarming and the best thing we know today because of science and COP28 is that if we want to remain in this Holocene or to control the temperature to 1.5 °C, we need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 43%. But all the indices we have around the world right now, they are only capping around 2 to 4% of these gases, which is alarming in that regard.
When we talk about Pakistan, there are certain factors that we need to understand about the change that has already happened. We have lost 3.9 years of our average life because of the poor air quality, and the sea surface temperature reached around 1.2 °C which is not normal. We usually talk about the floods of 2022 but other than the floods we faced 13 natural disasters in the last year. So it’s not a single crisis anymore, it’s a poly-crisis that we are experiencing right now. If we take into consideration the upper Indus space and the north side of Pakistan, we come to know that we have around 3,044 glacial lakes and when these glacial lakes are developed, the albedo is reduced from that particular area. Albedo is the reflection with which the glaciers reflect the heat into outer space. So because of those 3,000 lakes, the system is re-amplifying and reestablishing itself which will eventually make it increase in the coming years. In the last year, we have had a disruption in the monsoon cycle, because of which we fail to predict what kind of monsoon spell we will experience in the coming years. We eventually face floods every year and according to the data from 1992 to 2022, it is clear that every year we get more floods, heat waves, and smog issues which we have already witnessed.
The health perspective in Pakistan shows that every child under the age of 1, and adults – above the age of 65 experience 3.6 heat wave days per year, and it increases the health risk (87%) and over the age of 65, it’s 174%. This is the comparison of the data sets with the baseline period of around 1986 to 2005 and if you look at the period from 2014 to 2023, the heat stress is now becoming abnormal. You cannot even walk in the summers outside your home. The life losses were humongous, the most affected people are the old aged, socio-economically deprived people, the young population, the pregnant women, and the people who already have a certain disease, their lives are becoming more vulnerable because of this heat shift. Climatic change also hits people economically. As an impact of heat waves, we have lost around 26 billion potential labour working hours during 2023 and it has increased by 121%. If we compare the data sets of 1990 to 2000 with the current year, the losses in regards to the liquidation of capital is around 17.1 billion USD, which has significantly hit the agriculture sector because we have reduced the potential hours to 65%. These numbers are so humongous that sometimes they feel unreal to me as they are drastically increasing with every passing year.
The dangerous air quality index has increased the risk of cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, and neurological disorders which have created a huge burden on the health system, and it might collapse because of the high number of severely affected people. We have these problems because we depend on coal and thermal energy (high carbon footprint). Coal consumption has increased by 18.7%. Due to the bad air quality, we expect 100,000 deaths each year out of which 105 were attributed specifically to air pollution. If you look at the drought sector, the droughts are impacting our agriculture side. In Pakistan, on average 35% of the land experiences it for one month and 18% experience it for 3 months. The average is increasing every year, and I want to share in the last, the real luxuries we have today are the simple ones including long walks and good conversations with each other etc., Sadly, we take these habits for granted but we need to ensure that we should stick to them since they are more valuable for our long lives. With this message, I would like to end my session. Thank you so much.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much, Talha. In Pakistan women’s labor force participation is low as compared to countries with the same income. In 2023, the percentage of the female labour force in Pakistan was 23.8%. Now, I would like to hear from Miss Ayeza Azam about women’s empowerment. She is currently teaching at Air University’s Department of International Relations and coordinator for outreach and events at the Faculty of Aerospace and Strategic Studies (FASS). She has held senior management roles at research institutions and in the corporate sector her diverse experience includes a fellowship at the European University Institute, Research and Baluchistan Narratives, and Leadership roles at the Pakistan China Institute and CSCR.
Aiza Azam Lecturer – IR, Air University
Thank you so much and Asalam-o-Alikum everyone. When I was asked to speak here on the role of women’s empowerment, I thought it was an interesting question. Before I get to that, I just quickly like to introduce very briefly what we do at the FASS. My colleague, Sir Faraz, I, and the students belong to the faculty of Aerospace and Strategic Studies at Air University. We have representation from two semesters here, today. We are a very young department, just four years old, but in these four years, we have achieved a great deal.
We successfully launched our undergraduate program, Master’s programs, and also our PhD program two years ago of which I’m also a part. but my profile did not mention it because I neglected to tell you that I’m also a PhD candidate in my department and it’s a wonderful experience. When we were coming on the way here it occurred to me that I should ask my students what they feel or what they understand by the term women empowerment, and do the girls that I teach and the boys who study with them feel that the girls and the women who are part of our system are empowered. The responses were common, more or less that for women to be empowered, they should have equal opportunities and there should be an equitable representation. There should be a seat at the table for them and women should be educated, they should be given opportunities to have a role in society and there should be financial independence. Now these are all fair and common understandings that we would have and what it led me to think about was, do I as a woman in Pakistani society, feel empowered or if is it just something that I believe is not enough to say or tell me that I’m empowered, do I feel that? Reflecting on my experiences, I belong to a fairly traditional family system and I think those of you who are a part of Pakistani society would understand what that means. Dominant gentlemen and women who are powerful in the system but they have a different role to play compared to the men.
In my family, we have always seen women have an equal voice and it was evident in my grandmother’s generation, my parents’ generation, and now in my generation. When I think of it in terms of my work experience or my study experience; the faculty members who taught me at school or in different universities, etc., all of them came from different backgrounds varying positions of senior management or teaching responsibilities all confident young women obviously with something to prove and somebody who had been given an opportunity. When I think of it in terms of my career and my experiences, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to study and travel abroad and later got a chance to work abroad as well for brief periods. During my entire journey, I come across women from different areas and sectors of society with different experiences. So, when I think of whether or not I feel empowered as a woman, I think it’s important to identify or highlight the fact empowerment comes from two sources. It comes obviously from your environment, the external source, and it also comes from you within yourself. This would essentially refer to the people that are around you or the people that you surround yourself with and the environment in which you are living or eventually the system of which you are a part of and also how you are responding to that external environment.
Environment, I can tell you from personal experience, it matters a lot. In the course of my 15 years strong career, I’ve had two formative opportunities. The first one was actually where I had the opportunity to meet Dr Faisal Mushtaq for the first time and I believe it was your school sir who actually introduced the teaching of the Chinese language system at the school level and it was introduced in Islamabad and then also in rest of the Pakistan, it was at the Pakistan China Institute. And when I worked there with Senator Mushahid Hussein Syed, the opportunities, the empowerment and the freedom that I was given to exercise, what I wanted to do, the way that I wanted to work. I would really consider that one of the formative phases of my career, because it had a supporting environment and we had supportive employers as well.
The second formative opportunity that I would really credit is here atAir University, where I’ve been working for the last four years and again a great deal of that actually I would credit to our faculty, our staff and especially to our Dean DrAdil Sultan who heads the department, and as we all know leadership comes from the top. It has not only given me and my colleagues both male and female, the opportunity to really express ourselves and start doing what we wish to do, it has also allowed us to help our students achieve those same things. So all the faculty focuses very much on allowing our students to develop thinking minds. We offer them exposure, opportunities such as this event happening today which is really creating a space for them to think, to imagine, to create, and to aspire to something. I’m very happy to see that since we started, for the last four years, we are actually able to see the results of all the efforts of our students. The second thing which I need to mention is particularly for the younger minds sitting here, you are responsible for the people around you, and the ones you surround yourself with, the people that you work for, and then also the people who will come after you should matter.
As I mentioned in both of these places, we were given the opportunities but I think something that keeps coming back to me and something which I from time to time run into again in my experience as well is that it’s not enough to simply be offered a space at the table, you have to have the ability, desire and you have to have the drive to take it. But also, simply being often offered token representation within a system or within a platform is not enough. You have to be given that environment or you have to be given those avenues or channels where your voice can actually be heard. So, if I’m sitting in a boardroom which has 15 male faculty members and I’m the only female member I should not be the token representative there, the token lady who is sitting at the table just to tell that we have some kind of gender representation. I should be given an equal voice, I should also be heard equally and for that the environment matters, the people matter but also it is up to me as well how I make myself heard. Empowerment, I would say really does come from within if you are provided opportunities. For instance, those of you who are studying in the universities, even this opportunity that you have today is a privilege that not many other people you might even know have. So taking the opportunities that you get and then also taking advantage of those opportunities by using them to their full benefit is equally important.
So if you’re part of a system, you need to make sure that you are heard and if there are those who would not wish for you to be heard you need to make sure that you find a way to go around them as well and it’s your responsibility. I think it’s really important to understand this again for my students and all of the other students sitting here that your responsibility is not just to yourself but it is also to those as well who are going to be coming after you. So, if I think back to the question that I began my talk with, do I feel empowered? I feel that I have a voice, I’m capable of and more than willing to use my voice and that I am also heard. So, what you need to take away from this is that being empowered is not a passive experience, being empowered means that you will not be handed things on a platter, you should be able to go after them to seek them and to take what is offered to you. If you’re offered a plate or if you’re offered a platter, it is important for you to step up, take the opportunity and then create that way moving forward for anybody else who’s going to come after you. I’ll leave you with these remarks and I really hope that this stays in your minds because this is important information thank you.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Now ladies and gentlemen let’s move on to the next indicator which remains relatively neglected in Pakistan which is financial inclusion. While the digital landscape is rapidly growing worldwide, Pakistan continues to face challenges in this area, particularly for women. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, 53% of the adult population is financially excluded. A key reason for this large unbanked population is the lack of awareness and knowledge about financial products and how to use them. Additionally, many people lack basic money and financial management skills and also have less knowledge of concepts such as budgeting, investing, and saving which are novel to them. It is my pleasure to introduce Dr Matee-ur-Rahman, head of Policy Research and Chief Technical Adviser at Capacity Analytics. Dr Mati is an accomplished economist with a focus on development planning and program evaluation. Over 15 years of his career, he has worked with a range of esteemed public and development sector organizations, and his expertise extends to major international organizations including the World Bank, USA FCD, UNDP, GIZ and various national donors. He has also served in prominent roles with think tanks, academia and public sector institutions making valuable contributions to development projects across the globe. Please join me in welcoming Dr Mati-ur-Rehman to the stage and share his insights on financial inclusion.
Dr Mutee ul Rehman Chief Technical Advisor, Capacity Analytics
Asalam-o-Alikum and thank you very much KCFR, Ikram Sehgal, Dr Faisal Mushtaq and all the colleagues here. Ladies and gentlemen, I am basically from the background of economics so we primarily talk in numbers. That’s what our language is all about, but having said that it’s my privilege to be here as a speaker and to talk about financial inclusion. Financial inclusion for us is not only a policy choice, it is a fundamental enabler for poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth. It is defined as, ‘Individuals and businesses having access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs and these needs are the transactions, payments, savings, credit insurance which are delivered responsibly and sustainably.’ Financial inclusion facilitates day-today living and helps families and businesses to plan everything from their long-term goals to daily unexpected emergencies.
Around the world, financial inclusion is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of sustainable development, contributing directly to achieving the seventh out of 17 sustainable development goals. It empowers individuals and businesses by providing access to affordable and responsible financial products and services, the empirical evidence underscores that there is a strong linkage between financial inclusion, poverty alleviation, and sustainable growth. A research paper in Bangladesh elaborated on this correlation which states that ‘with a consistent increase in financial inclusion, correspondingly a consistent decrease in poverty rates in the country is observed.’ Research also provides the results that access to financial services enhances savings, capital mobilization, entrepreneurship, and financial stability and ultimately it leads to sustained economic growth. The positive impact of financial inclusion is particularly pronounced among women, disabled, and other marginalized groups. By integrating these groups into the financial ecosystem financial inclusion promotes economic empowerment and helps reduce poverty at a structural level.
Let me give you a little bit of context of what Pakistan is trying to achieve through various programs about financial inclusion. One of the key steps Pakistan has taken so far was done by the State Bank of Pakistan. They launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2015 and that strategy basically represented a bold vision to achieve universal financial inclusion in Pakistan. The access to banking services has more than doubled compared to the recent past when it was 25 to 30% of the adult population and the State Bank claims that right now by this year, Pakistan has significantly expanded the range of banking services to the 60% of the adult population, including 43% of the female citizens. The next strategy that they are developing right now for national financial inclusion is that they are aiming to take this financial inclusion rate from 60% to 75% in the next 5 years. Similarly in the recent past, particularly post-Covid-19, the rate of financial inclusion has rapidly increased globally as well in Pakistan. For example, in the last fiscal year 2023- 2024, it was observed in one quarter that the branchless banking sector reached a historic milestone with over 1 billion transactions conducted in a single quarter in fiscal year 2024, and those 1 billion transactions amounted to rupees 5 billion in overall which was a 12% growth from the previous years.
These transactions were 43% funds transfers, 22% bill payments and the rest were mobile top-ups, and the total number of branchless banking accounts has increased to 114 million with males holding 80 million accounts and females holding 35 million accounts. The daily transactions conducted in Pakistan on average is around 12 million per day and it’s a quite 12 or 13% increase from last year. The government statistics show the rate of financial inclusion has been quite encouraging particularly post Covid-19, but there are a few challenges as well. If we go to the independent researchers, they have their own views about the rate of financial inclusion in Pakistan. For them, Pakistan’s journey towards financial inclusion is not far from over; its progress is transformative, but there are many shortcomings that need to be addressed. Pakistan faces challenges such as limited infrastructure, cultural barriers, and widespread inequality. Currently, I am working with the Social Protection Program in the Sindh province and we are providing social protection, and social assistance money to pregnant and lactating women in 20 districts of the province but for that, there are few conditions.
One of the condition is that the lady will come to the health facility and with those health checkups for each round they will be given 3,000 rupees and when she comes to the hospital and goes back on the phone number which she gives us, we send her a message that 3,000 rupees has been deposited in her Jazz Cash account and she can now visit the nearest merchant to withdraw that money. But here the problem is that the lady to whom the government is trying to facilitate by giving rupees 30,000 in total through 10 installments, they aren’t getting them, because of not having personal cell phones and not the permission to go out. Their husbands get notification on their phones and they eventually get facilitated by the money. Ladies and gentlemen this is the situation of financial inclusion in rural areas of Pakistan right now which we are trying to address at that level.
The problems are quite gruesome, particularly when it’s about the rural areas and the females. As we were talking about women’s empowerment and this is quite alarming as well as shocking for us that while sitting in Islamabad we are making so many policies and programs for the betterment of the marginalized groups and the women. However, in reality, when you go to the field you will find that there is a stark difference between what we are facing and what we are planning at this level, but the kind of initiatives we are taking in Pakistan has largely been benefiting the population, particularly in the urban areas of the country. Pakistan’s branchless banking initiatives have been working towards expanding financial access, particularly in the underserved areas, the initiatives enable millions of Pakistanis to access financial services such as fund transfers, bill payments, and other traditional bank accounts. As I said earlier the post Covid-19 phenomenon is quite encouraging however, it is skewed for the remote rural areas in Pakistan. The World Economic Forums, Edison Alliance underscores the global recognition of efforts of the State Bank of Pakistan Under the direction of Ikram Sehgal. He has started the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) scheme which is a very good initiative and shows a very bold step from the government of Pakistan to have such a facility to increase the financial inclusion in this country.
The AMA scheme is a testament to our commitment to these principles. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and State Bank of Pakistan are leveraging this technology to reach those who have been long excluded from the formal financial networks. Through the Asaan Mobile application, any Pakistani holding a valid CNIC can have their bank account digitally in any participating bank. So this initiative has been launched and has been very successful so far and the results are very encouraging. They speak it for themselves. As of 2022, the Asaan Mobile account application has successfully opened 5.7 million accounts with 7 million non-financial transactions and 42 billion financial transactions. For me as a social scientist and an economist, the encouraging news is that 38% of the participants of Asaan Mobile account are women, so this is a very good initiative that is quite financially inclusive as well.
In conclusion, financial inclusion is not merely a goal but a pathway to equitable sustainable economic growth, and in Pakistan’s ongoing struggle with the structural barriers and cultural barriers to global innovation, financial inclusion can lead us from these dark economic times to a brighter technology-based future. While policies and technologies are evolving, to address these challenges, there are a few questions that we must ask ourselves. The first is, how can countries bridge the digital divide to ensure no one is left behind in this digital era? As I said that perhaps in the major cities of our country, we may have very good financial inclusion rates and programs but practically, I am working in the remote areas in Pakistan and there is a large stark divide for the financial inclusion, and how do we balance the innovation with ethical concerns of privacy, data security, and equitable access. These are a few questions that we need to address at the program and policy level, but overall financial inclusion in Pakistan has been a great blessing, Asaan Mobile Account scheme has been a great blessing and we hope although we are a little far behind in the overall global average or financial inclusion rates. Pakistan’s progress is quite steady and we look forward to a brighter future for financial inclusion and over all the economic growth of Pakistan. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Pakistan is home to 71 million children aged 5 to 16, and an estimated 36% or 23.5 million of these children are out of school. Among the children, 53% are girls and 47% are boys. The percentage of GDP was raised from 1.5 to 1.9% in this fiscal year, it’s good but it’s not good enough because for quality education, we have to do something else and we have to invest more in education. But there is one thing about Pakistan: we are a generous nation and Pakistan contributes 1% of GDP to charity which is similar to devel oped countries like the UK and Canada. I would like to invite Dr Faisal Mushtaq on stage to talk about social development and philanthropy in Pakistan. The next speaker for this session will be Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, I would like to invite him on stage.
Dr Faisal Mushtaq – (TI) CEO, Roots Millennium Education Group
Thank you very much, boys and girls. A very warm welcome to Amaanibagh on behalf of Mr Ikram Sehgal the Co-chairman of the Pathfinder group, and Karachi Council on Foreign Relations and also a Patron in Chief to represent Pakistan at Davos. Looking at so many of you with the difference and diversity that you bring here in this world’s only free auditorium and cinema, you must thank the host. I have never seen in this country so many students enjoying so much popcorn, coffee, teas, and slushes, and you don’t have to pay so this is a true testament to financial inclusion. This is true inclusion which did not even hit your digital wallets, and even then, you got slush and popcorn. Secondly, considering the diversity of the universities who joined here, including Quaid-i-Azam Univerity, Air University, Bahria University, TMUC, and SZABIST, we also have the principal of Lawrence College Brig Mujahid here with us.
I think we should need a fixture after the event, students must be given a chance to play different games which can ultimately cater for their enthusiasm. As it has been said, all the youth of the world need one open sky and one ground, also, they need one man to inspire them to make the world a better place. An African proverb says “It takes a village to educate a child” which means that a child is not only the responsibility of his parents, schools are extensions of homes and homes are extensions of schools.
It is said that the child is not the responsibility of the parents orthe state, it is the responsibility of society and a social contract how you are being franchised with the social contract in society and state. Let’s talk about philanthropy in Pakistan, which is the social contract between society and the state. In Pakistan, philanthropy is social giving in terms of donation, charity, and social impact. It is both formal and informal. Pakistan is the third largest philanthropic country in the world. After the United States and then there are Israelis and the Jewish people, and then comes Pakistan. We are a philanthropic State, but the problem with Pakistani philanthropy is that it’s not regulated. Some of it is documented and the other half is not documented. Pakistan Tanners’ Association shared a figure of $1 billion which people spend across Pakistan in terms of purchase of their Qurbani on Eid-ul-Adha. And all that you need from the IMF for this year is like 2.5 billion dollars in cash remittance. So, the Pakistani people can spend $1 billion for the Qurbani, so why can’t you bring change in your country? I’m just trying to tell you the figure, that the hides of Qurbani have a different economic impact. Only the animals for Qurbani are bought for 1 billion dollars.
Secondly, because of our concept of Zakat, we are giving back, which is a religious obligation on us as a charity, unfortunately, it is not documented. A lot of that grant is going to religious schools and seminaries or some faith group. So, philanthropy is not truly documented here, but then there is a huge massive documented charity in philanthropy like the Pakistan Center for Philanthropy PCP, which certifies and regulates all charitable foundations, not-for-profit socie and NGOs in the country. One big example of a social impact organization is Akhuwat, which is Pakistan’s massive social impact organization. The work has been done on microfinance and digital inclusion in Pakistan, it is emerging as a Frontier Country on digital payment gateways and other microfinance, that’s why you people keep on hearing the terms Finca and Fintech. Now all banking is digital because of the financial payment gateways, Easy Paisa, and Jazz Cash which are global success stories and are celebrated by the World Economic Forum, Asian Development Bank, and IMF. In the rural areas of Pakistan, the biggest organization that is working for their education and betterment is the Citizen Foundation, and it is globally recognized, the phrase we use “By Pakistanis, for Pakistan” is truly executed by the TCF. This foundation resolves the gap between the haves and have-nots.
In Pakistan, we have institutions like Lawrence College, where people like Mr Ikram Sehgal, the Alumni, and colleges like Cadet College Hassanabdal, then you have other institutions like Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Army, and Navy. I’m trying to give you an example of an organization like Akhuwat, TCF, and Development in Literacy, etc. just to tell you that in Pakistan, formal and non-formal centres of philanthropy are so huge, but they are not documented. The money that you give to the beggars is not considered a good thing, we give it as Sadqa or as any other perspective, but begging in Pakistan is a formal multi-billion-rupee industry. This is huge to the extent that now Pakistan has started importing beggars due to which our friendly countries have banned visas.
Previously, politicians used to be on the no-fly list, but now 4000 Pakistan beggars are on the no-fly list. So, when you are giving away to these people and other community members out of empathy and compassion, it is a waste since it is not contributing positively. As said in the 21st Century, “Don’t show sympathy, show compassion and empathy”. What is the difference between sympathy and empathy, if your car stops at a traffic signal and a woman beggar comes and praises you with some catchy statements like “Sadqa do kitni pyari lag rahi ho” etc, you give them some amount in return, if that woman is not wearing shoes rather than giving her money just buy shoes for her. Similarly, if the children of your servants are not attending school make sure they attend it. We need to do affirmative actions for the social impact. Philanthropy in Pakistan is massive but not documented; however, it is the backbone of Pakistani society after climate disasters, earthquake disasters, and these National Security challenges. I was a speaker at the National Defense University and was researching what is stopping Pakistani children in rural areas from going to school. I was shocked that the security challenges, the war on terror, and the blasts have fewer contributions to stopping children from going to school, rather climate disasters were bigger contributions for children not attending schools. Climate change is dangerously impacting our agriculture, weather, rivers, etc. Pakistan is a frontier country that suffers from all-natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, social impacts, smog, etc. which at times makes me think that all the challenges of the world are solely faced by the Mumlikat-e-Riasat-e-Falahi Jamooriya Islami Pakistan.
Only 3% of Pakistanis pay tax, which is a very small number and the ones who do not pay tax start practising philanthropy and say, “We have done a lot for this country.” But that is not the solution, if you are a citizen by law of a country you have to pay tax at source. It is the only country in the world where there is a filer and a non-filer, what do you mean? How can you be a citizen of the world and you cannot be a filer? Social and development sector, as you have heard from the speakers today, what we need to work on is gender parity, gender inclusion, women empowerment, digital literacy, and social development through human development. In Pakistan’s population, 70% is under 63 years of age which is why Pakistan’s younger populations are on the go. We had fewer deaths in COVID-19 because we don’t have an older population not that people were saying Allah was being so kind to Pakistan, it’s because the ratio of the older population was less as compared to the other countries, because of the large number of the young population you had more resilience to deal with that situation. There is a gap between the social and development sectors, but remember there’s massive urbanization going across the Indus belt and the GT Road, and small villages have been transformed. A Chinese proverb says “Build roads to end poverty.” So, Pakistan is building a massive infrastructure of roads across the country. We have the old Silk Route, and we have CPEC in Pakistan and it is happening.
Nowadays, everything is digital, you have the marriage app (Dil ka Rishta) to the Bakra Online, Food Panda, Olx, and all digital payment gateways. Look at the social culture of coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants. We have a big challenge between the privileged and less privileged but it is also not fashionable to say rich. Was Lodhran poor? Just look at the roads of Lodhran, Melsi, Vehari, Sheikhupura, Gujjar Khan, Mandi Bahhaudin, Chak Sawari, Balwal, Killa Saifullah as well as just also look at the roads of even Chichu Ki Maliya and Chandar ka Mangola. Pakistan is at the crust of information because of the infrastructure, and increased social mobility. Challenges are there, we need to invest heavily in women’s empowerment and education. Even today, the session I am addressing was supposed to be delivered by my wife, and I have killed the right of a woman, I might get a charge on this too that “iss nay apni begum ka haq mara hay.” In conclusion, I want to tell you that someone asked the president of the World Bank, “If I give 1 dollar to a country, where should it go?” In its answer one wise man said “This 1 dollar should be invested in girl child education” because that investment has a generational impact. Even if a family has a son and a daughter and they have 1 dollar, they should spend more on a girl rather than a boy. However, I believe in equity to spend equally on both a son and a daughter.
Pakistan has challenges, we have to work on social and human development, and we don’t talk much about issues like stunted growth, out-of-school children, etc. We have to start adopting the social impact and need to start doing community initiatives, we are not supposed to cry that I will be casting a vote and parliamentarians will bring the change. The parliamentarians don’t have much of an impact and influence on transitional democracies. It is your mindset to adopt a school, and each one of us can transform a community from our homes, and villages. Keep Pakistan close to your heart, and put Quaid-e-Azam’s picture in front of your offices and educational institutions, rather than hanging it in the back. We must follow the vision and philosophy of Iqbal, Jinnah, and Sir Syed by putting the picture at the front you will be able to look into Qaid-e-Azam and what he is saying to you. Try to wear the Pakistani flag in any way possible and try to remain positive. Try not to keep friends who push you towards negativity. Thank you.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you, Dr Faisal Mushtaq, as we are coming close to the end of today’s insightful discussions one question remains, why do we continue to fall short of our sustainable development goals, which are our obligations not only at the national level but also internationally. In areas like health education and equality, we still find ourselves lagging. I think, to achieve any significant goal, dedicated and visionary leadership is essential. Today, we are fortunate to have the privilege of hearing from a leader who has demonstrated exactly that, Air Commodore Khalid Banuri. Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to introduce him. He’s a seasoned practitioner and scholar with 44 years of diverse experience in public services, aviation, education, and policy analysis. In recognition of his outstanding contributions the government of Pakistan has honoured him with two prestigious Awards the “Sitara-i-Imtiaz Civil for his excellence and policy analysis and the Sitara-i-Imtiaz Military for his dedicated services in Pakistan Air Force.
Air Commodore (R) Khalid Banuri Visiting Faculty, Quaid-i-Azam University
Thank you very much for a very generous introduction, I hope I can come up to those expectations that people might have after it. Some years ago, I was asked to do a keynote on Pakistan 50 years from now and I said then and I’m going to repeat this that my target audience is the young people in this crowd because 50 years from now you’ll be kind of looking back and say: what how did we do, did we make less mistakes than the previous generations or did we make similar ones or more follies, these are the kind of questions that one has to think and prepare for. We had several examples of what this fabulous work is happening at the World Economic Forum through Pakistan’s representation and what Pakistani perspectives need to be coming. I could give you a lot of information on this as well. However, that’s not what I intend to do. What I want to say is all of these indicators are important and you have heard some very learned scholars talking about them. I can cherry-pick one or two thoughts, for example, philanthropy, we have rightly heard that it is undocumented as a much larger aspect. Dr Adil Najam, a Pakistani who is the global president of WWF also despite being an acclamation, is doing a study on philanthropy and documenting it in Pakistan.
He’s having a hard time because of so much of this undocumented practice. We do a lot of charity but never talk about it but some indicators are positive. We talked about women’s empowerment and several strong women are sitting in this audience whom I know personally. This is just a small section of our society, and I see more younger women who I think are on that track where they will be stronger. The indicators are there and there is positivity. If anyone has ever tried to look at my Twitter, it says “I’m an incorrigible optimist.” So, I’m going to think of the optimism that one can think of. To my target audience, the younger people here, I’m going to tell you a story of a boy. I could have talked about a girl but let me just pick an example of a boy. I’ll take you back to 1971, as you know we had a war and this boy from his home in a small town called Sukkur in Sindh, saw an Indian bomber and he remembered seven or eight times he saw free-falling bombs falling out of the Indian bomber in daylight.
The bombers usually come at night because they come unescorted in daylight, they are dropping off onto a bridge which they could not destroy and it is standing even untitled, but he saw it and impacted him. He went to his school and there was a debate about: “Is man more important or the moon?” because Apollo 11 had gone to the Moon then, that boy made that speech and said that humans are more important because never again should I see such infiltration that I have seen already. He grew up with this kind of thinking and eventually went on to fly fast jets, to the young people speed in an absolute turn you go supersonic, that’s where you know you rule the world and those are the kinds of things that he did. He grew up in the Air Force flying fast jets, the Mirage and the F-16, and the Chinese versions of the MiGs and then he decided to go into the policy realm and went into the nuclear policy. He worked on that for quite a few years, and as it happens sometimes, it doesn’t happen to the best of people but he was also acknowledged in an inverse ceremony in the presidency with the medal and while he was sitting for this medal, he had to sit next to a very young man who was too young to be getting medals but had become a leader at a young age. That’s the target that I am asking you to look for and that young man who was getting a distinction, they call it the order of Imtiaz a medal, was Dr Faisal Mushtaq, the guy with the happy socks.
These are the kinds of things that add to the lesson that I want to draw here. There’s no limit to how high you can perceive to go even when you’re very young, I just say to all of you to build this kind of vision. Sometime later he will meet an older man who is successful and very senior to him but I want to come to this older man a little later towards the end of my talk. But that’s another important story to tell for inspiration. By doing stuff with technology, fast jets, and doing stuff with policy nuclear and so on, then he went on to blend in those things, he started thinking how can I pay back to the Next Generation?
He started talking to the young people and then came the 13th of December, 2024 and he happens to be standing right in front of you all trying to talk about those things. Here I have a few thoughts about leadership and the question I was asked about: What would it take to have the kind of leaders that we need? The answer is we need leaders who can think. If I ask the young people in this audience what are the qualities that you should see in yourself or if there’s something that you need to work on. I could have given you a beautiful PowerPoint presentation and can relate to a lot of theories about what leadership styles should we need, but I’m going to just keep it simple because I deal with nuclear policy also and there’s a nuclear Deterrence Theory which says, there are three C’s of deterrence and likewise there are three C’s of leadership as well which are: Character, Commitment and, Competence. Let me just describe what I mean, the character is not really what we say or do regularly, it is the character who depicts integrity, or are you able to do the right thing and also ask ourselves what will be doing the right thing when nobody’s watching me. So, if we practice these things we might be able to differentiate between right and wrong and this will eventually take us to that point where we will start thinking about our value system, we will get the courage to start correcting our elders too, by saying it in an ethical way that: You are senior in age but this is wrong.
Later, when you have your children or when you have people listening to you and when your teachers or parents start saying that this is the value system that one must have, regardless of who you are, regardless of what kind of work you do, these are the directions that I want you to bring in your notice. As you are aware I have an Air Force background so here’s a reference to something that I have grown up with. The core values that the Pakistan Air Force uses, you can just ignore the institution and say these are core values that I need anyway. What is it? The first is Integrity, would I do the right thing when nobody will ever know? This is being Bakirdar in the angle that I say and I mean that I have a value system which I practice. Despite any profession or job, if a person is highly intellectual or a decision maker thinks that he can be the best that exists, which in Air Force terms is called Bakamal, that person is owned and valued by the society. The quest for excellence should always be there in you, even if you like to play guitar or want to be an intellectual. Just give your best in it. Keep getting the knowledge and keep on adding value in yourself, keep going with the quest of knowledge and you will excel in your position. The third value is Bamaksad, which in my point of view is teamwork, if I’m an individual who has a value system and who strives for excellence, can I have a few of you working with me with that kind of value system or that kind of ethos we collaboratively do the excellent job, as it has been said, “aek aur aek giyara hotay hain” (One plus one is equal to eleven). This is the kind of approach that I want to see in all of us.
After being a better person and working on your personal development, or achieving excellence a Bamaksad person starts thinking about helping others to achieve all those characteristics to be the best version of themselves. A value system practised by one person can lift many others. All of these things need commitment, without commitment, you cannot start and without consistency, you cannot finish anything. Always remember that even if you are doing any research, you cannot do that without these traits, the quickest example is, that you see people who are successful and admire them for their success but in real you don’t look at what kind of toil they have done over years to develop themselves into those positions. If you want to have very good white teeth you don’t just go to the dentist for one week and get them fixed forever, for that you have to brush your teeth twice a day every day this is the example of consistency. I could go on talking about several other things, but here I want to mention another old man, the first time when I ever talked to him, I remember he talked to me with a lot of annoyance in his tone and the way he and I handled our conversation, we became friends for life despite the difference in age and experience. Now this person who was from a similar profession had been in the air, flying these birds, and went on to set up a business industry but here is what he has said, “Pathfinder Group, Empowering challenge into Opportunity.” Mr Ikram Sehgal, I want to stop at this, that’s the area that we want to focus on. I may take the liberty to say Ikram Sahib, two months from now after Davos, in this room, we will try to gather maybe all of you and some other young people and ask you, how you look at this leadership challenge and, how you intend taking this forward, can you make fewer mistakes than what we need to think. Thank you very much.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much sir, it was lovely hearing from you as always. Now we have another leader in our audience, the President of the National Institute of Maritime Affairs, Vice Admiral Ahmed Saeed, please come up to the stage.
Vice Admiral (R) Ahmed Saeed President, National Institute of Maritime Affair (NIMA)
Bismillah-ir-Rehman-ir-Raheem, thank you, for giving me the stage, I’m thankful to KCFR and Sehgal Sahib for being so kind and to Dr Faisal Mushtaq, the way he speaks, he touches the hearts. I’m looking after the National Institute of MaritimeAffairs which is a little less known, we are the ones who are the only exclusive think tank looking after the maritime sector. As Faisal Mushtaq said about the SDGs, one of them, which is SDG-14 “The life underwater” is the area in which we are working with the government and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Climate Change. When we talk about the potential, we must know that 71% of the globe is water, 80% of the total trade is through the sea 91% of trade in Pakistan is done through the sea and we have a 1.5% contribution to the GDP. The blue economy has a contribution of 27 trillion in the rest of the world, which is almost equal to the GDP of the USA. The contribution to the average economy should be 10%, which is around 40-45 billion dollars. Unfortunately, we are standing at 1.5% which is much less than the others and is seen as a major defect. Further to bring to everyone’s notice that currently we have a potential of 100 billion which is charted. If we plan out the process for at least three years, our economy can flip from at least 1.5 to 15 billion, for example, Vietnam was 1/3rd less than us 30 years ago they had 230 million exports of fisheries like us, but now they have increased it to 10 billion and we are on 400-430 million. This shows that we need to work a lot on ports shipping, etc. Our ports have become irrelevant because the entire world has shifted to the Smart Port System, which has the visibility, and usage of IOT and digital technologies. They clear the average containership in around three hours.
In Pakistan, unfortunately, it takes around 2 to 3 days to clear the containership. So, for them, time is money and our ports are irrelevant. A lot of work is being done in policymaking to change the process. The last thing I would say is if we have to turn around our economy, then we have to make the blue economy an integral part of our national economy, we have to make policies and think blue and I am also glad to see our young future is sitting here, who can work with us and can visit our website to see how we are making difference. I am again thankful to Mr Ikram Sehgal for giving me this opportunity to address such an important issue.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much, sir. Now I would like to invite Brigadier Azam Effendi Sahib on the stage to share his views.
Brigadier (R) Azam Effendi Former Pakistan Army Officer
Asalam-o-Alikum, you have heard all the intellectuals and educated people. I am a man from the mountains and I represent 70% of Pakistanis and none of them are sitting here. I’m also the only English-speaking shepherd of Pakistan and as you just heard that a billion dollars’ worth of Qurbani is done, have you ever thought about who is raising those sheep and goats and how many boys and girls are walking up and down the mountains, and walking in the desert, raising these animals for you. We just have the meat and say we had “Butt Tikka and Shinwari” but we never realize who is behind all this. I’m going to be talking very unconventionally in a few words so please bear with me, but before I forget sir, on behalf of everybody, let me share my gratitude to Mr Ikram Sehgal for his very generous hospitality and for getting us together for a very important occasion.
I was just discussing with Dr Faisal Mushtaq that we don’t know where Pakistan and the world will be in 2050, we are working on a Global Knowledge Engineering University which will have two wings, east and west and we are in the process of working with education around the globe to find out how to train our babies so that by the time they grow up to join the university they are in line with the modern world. Ladies and gentlemen, our education system dates back to 1860 and we are just pursuing failure after failure, please don’t mind what I’m saying. We talked about women’s empowerment; you’ll be very happy to know that I am the president of Global Oppressed Husbands.
All these young girls who are sitting here will be married tomorrow, and unfortunately, all the young boys will be oppressed husbands. While talking about woman empowerment, we also have to talk about the poor men who are having a rough time. Now on that side, since all the young ladies are here, nobody says that Allah created the female basically to be a good mother. Have you ever thought that are you being trained to become a good mother? We are creating models, our social sector is getting destroyed, I pity all of you because I don’t know whether you’ll have a successful married life or not.
I’m lucky I’m running my 51 years. My young lady is younger than me, so that is my message to the men, take care of your wives, and to the ladies, take care of your men and the children because our society and country will only grow if we are socially strong. What we don’t realize especially our educated lot, is if you look at KPK, you look at Afghanistan, who is running that? It’s the ladies who are running it. I am a global person but I’m still known by my mother’s name, when I go home, they say “Begum Sahib ka beta hai” which shows that I am no one. My son is in the UN but is still known as “Begum sahib ka pota,” when he goes to our hometown there. So, what I’m just trying to leave with the young girls is, don’t feel neglected, just think about what is the Western concept of awareness. Also, think about the Islamic concept, you have a place, you have motivation and you are the anchor of the family. Our families, we have been all abroad, we have been out of the house it’s for the ladies who run the house, they are the ones who keep the family together and they keep the society together.
The last point I want to share is that Pakistan is a great country. In the next 5 years, we are planning to train 2 million people in IT, in knowledge engineering, to work in Pakistan for foreign countries. They will be paid in foreign currency; we will bring foreign exchange to Pakistan and we will make Pakistan a global country. We keep hearing that Pakistan is 140, 150 years behind the modern world, this is wrong, sorry. You are number one. I worked with all the people around the globe, God has given us the best brain. And if you look at
yourself, your colour, your hair, your brain, your heart, your life, and everything is number one. Nobody in the world has this combination that you have as a human being, so be proud of it, our place is number one. Right now, we are around 7th or 8th, which is not that bad statistics at all, but actually, look at the houses and the development around. We are from the Tonga age when we were small, we used to go to school in Tonga, today we have gone to the Space, so all this development has taken place in the last 60-70 years.
So don’t feel discouraged, be happy, be contented, and be grateful to Allah that you are born in a great country. You are a free country and we will keep it free and we will make it great. I would also like to salute our great principal Brig Mujahid from Lawrence College who helped 11 generations to become the best in Pakistan. Thank you.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much, sir. Now we are fortunate to have with us today, a remarkable individual, a trailblazer in the realm of technology and digital transformation. He has 24 years of experience in the IT industry and worked in different parts of the world. His leadership has been instrumental in transforming the organization through cutting-edge digital strategies, empowering businesses to adapt and thrive in the ever-evolving technological landscape. Mr Shakeel Ahmed is currently working as Head of Information Technology for Utility Stores of Corporation of Pakistan which is the largest retail chain of grocery stores in the country operating more than 4,000 outlets across Pakistan.
Shakeel Ahmed, Head of IT for Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan
Asalam-o-Alikum everyone. Digitalization or digitization is a very buzzing term these days. What is digitalization? We humans are passing through a very critical phase of human history where technology has woven itself into every fabric of our society, reshaping how we live, work, and interact, this phenomenon is called the digitalization of life. It is more than just a trend it is a revolution that is transforming societies, economies, and individuals’ experiences at an unprecedented pace, from the devices in our pockets to the digital streams that power global commerce digitalization is touching everything at its core. Digitalization is about translating our physical, social, and economic interactions into digital formats it is a transition from the paper to the pixels, from the physical presence to the virtual meetings, and from the traditional systems to the interconnected networks. We see this digitalization and digitization in every phase of our lives, in healthcare, digital health records are introduced, and telemedicine and wearable technologies are enabling humans to improve their well-being like never before. In education, virtual classrooms and e-learning platforms provide access to knowledge and education, transcending geographic and economic barriers.
In businesses and economies, e-commerce, digital currencies, and digital payments automation are revolutionizing industries. This digitalization is giving us several benefits like accessibility, now people around the globe can access information, services, opportunities, and efficiencies. Automation brings efficiencies saves time, reduces costs, and enhances productivity, innovating new technologies and ideas to emerge faster driving progress across industries. Sustainability through digitalization reduces the dependencies on the human factor, so once the system and the process are digitalized then the processes are system-dependent, not human-dependent.
As you know when we talk about digitalization or digitization, it brings us to the point that when we are more digitalized, there are more challenges as well. Privacy and data security is a big challenge when we are more digitalized, the more vulnerable our data becomes. So, we have to address those data and privacies issues as well. If I talk about the digital divide, there are still several and millions of people around the globe who do not have access to digital tools, and infrastructure.
Human connection is important in a hyper-conducted world. You must ensure that technology enhances, not replaces meaningful human interactions. What should be our role in shaping the digital future the digitalization of our lives is not technological evolution; it is a collaborative effort that requires foresight responsibility and inclusivity. We must invest in digital infrastructure to ensure that no one is left behind to bridge the digital divide. Prioritize ethics, we should develop frameworks to safeguard privacy data and fairness, and through AI and automation, we should equip people with digital literacy skills to navigate this new era of confidentiality.
We should have a vision for the digital future, imagine a world where technology works seamlessly to enhance human potential where farmers working in a remote area using AI can predict the crop yield, and a student in an underserved area has access to the world-class education online, and a patient in need receives life-saving care using the telemedicine app. This is the promise of digitalization of life but achieving this vision is not automatic it requires deliberate actions, collaborations, and commitments to innovate and serve humanity. Thank You.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much, Sir. Today, we have the honour of welcoming an eminent statesman, whose career embodies a commitment to excellence and services on the global stage. Ambassador Zamir Akram is a graduate of the prestigious London School of Economics. He dedicated nearly four decades to the Pakistan Foreign Service, representing the nation with distinction from 1978 to 2015.
As Pakistan’s Ambassador, and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, he led critical discussions on disarmament human rights and trade diplomacy with experience in major global capitals including Moscow, New Delhi, Washington, and Katmandu. He has a deep understanding of South Asia, Afghanistan, nuclear policy and international law and his insights are very invaluable in this regard. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in warmly welcoming him to the stage to share his experiences and reflections.
Pakistan to the United Nations.
Ambassador Zamir Akram, Former Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations
Asalam-o-Alaikum, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a pleasure for me to be here, I had the good fortune of briefly teaching at the Air University, so I found a number of my students in the audience as well, and it’s a pleasure to see them. Let me clarify something in the beginning, I’m a diplomat, a retired one, not a statesman. If I were a statesman I would probably be in jail, so I’d rather not end up in that situation.
Firstly, I want to thank my friend Mr Ikram Sehgal for inviting me to speak at this very prestigious event. Today, I am conscious of the fact that I am following many eminent speakers who have shared their very informative and inspirational statements and positions. I want to speak about what this event is all about, what Davos is, and what it means to Pakistan. You all have heard of the World Economic Forum I’m sure, this is a not-for-profit foundation action that was started by Mr Klaus Schwab in 1971, but after the beginning of globalization from the early 1990s onwards and the so-called Washington consensus, which saw propelled the WEF onto the world stage in the sense that it is today.
Its purpose from its inception and its mission statement is to generate a platform for a public-private partnership involving heads of nations, heads of states, heads of international organizations, heads of academia, the business community, and heads of corporations. There is also an element of the WEF which deals with the leaders or youth leaders that have an impact at the global level.
So, you can aspire to that position as well, the purpose of bringing these people together is to shape and improve the global state of the world, improve livelihoods, encourage, and enable development both economic and social development, promote equality, promote better health care, and to promote solutions, for instance, to climate change and other transnational challenges that we are facing.
Because the WEF is based in Geneva, the Swiss government recognized it as an international organization which is based on public-private partnerships. In 2015, I served in Geneva as the permanent representative and Ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations, I had the good fortune of being responsible for arranging Pakistan’s participation in the WEF, and in that process, I attended almost 10 sessions of the WEF.
It’s not an easy job to do this because it’s a small Swiss Village, Davos, not geared to housing or hosting thousands of global leaders and it’s a logistical nightmare to arrange for your head of government or head of state to be able to even find accommodation, and if you find accommodation, then for him or her to be able to move around this little village in the dearth of winter in January where it’s snowbound and most of our leaders, I’m sorry to say except for one, were not athletically fit enough to walk through the snows, which were at least ankle deep. It’s a challenging task and you can’t afford to slip up, because that might cost you your job, if not, your posting. This is my recollection of organizing visits by our heads of state and government to Davos. But what is the purpose of Davos? It is determined every year by Professor Klaus Schwab and his excellent team that works with him in their headquarters in Geneva. They work to suggest, to decide upon a particular theme which is current or relevant now. Let me come now to the World Economic Forum, which is going to be held in January next year.
The theme of this session which is going to be from the 20th to 24th of January 2025, is collaboration for the intelligent age. I’m sure you understand that this deals with what we are going through at this particular point in time at the global level, and that is the impact of new and emerging technologies particularly artificial intelligence and everything that is related to that.
This collaboration for the intelligent age is then subdivided into sub-themes which are relevant to the international community: The first sub-theme is reimagining growth, that is to build stronger and more resilient economies, the second is Industries in the intelligent age, which is how industries need to adapt to the geo-economic and technological changes that are taking place around the world, and the third and most important and relevant to what we have been discussing today is investing in people, employment, skills, wealth distribution, health care, education, and public services.
There is another sub-theme as well that is safeguarding the planet which deals with climate change challenges, involving different kinds of innovations, and the need for partnerships, and investments to address these challenges, and finally third the last theme is rebuilding trust which addresses the gaps and geopolitical, and societal divides, which I think is an extremely important aspect of the current state of the world which has gone through tremendous challenges, undergoing tremendous challenges both in the political sense and the economic and social sense.
What has been Pakistan’s role in this World Economic Forum? I would say based on my involvement with it the role has been mixed, it’s mixed because it always depends upon the personal calibre and capacity of your leaders who have attended the WEF and their vision as well as their capability to deliver. This has been uneven, we have regularly participated as far as I can remember, and every year Pakistani leaders descend upon Davos, their success or failure in achieving what they have come for in Davos depends on the quality as I said, the quality of their leadership, the quality of their governance, and most importantly on the vision that they bring to this very important gathering of world leaders from different walks of life. This is an area where there is a tremendous opportunity for Pakistan because it enables these leaders from Pakistan to interact with their counterparts, the leaders of major countries China, the United States, Russia, and others. It also provides an opportunity for Pakistan’s business leaders to interact with their counterparts from around the world, seek greater business opportunities for themselves, and promote the consequence of Pakistan’s interests in the economic and business sectors. There are massive opportunities for Pakistan.
Before concluding, I want to come to the point that I wanted to make here, pay tribute, heartfelt tribute based on my personal experience to Mr Ikram SehgaI. I can say that he has single handedly and repeatedly for several decades been the most important representative of Pakistan even more so than many of our leaders, in the context of Davos. He is an outstanding figure and a major player on the global stage where you are competing with the allies of Elon Musk and others, and to still be able to be a leading figure is a major achievement that Mr Sehgal has demonstrated.
He also provides a platform for Pakistan, and Pakistani leaders and the business community through the breakfast that he hosts at Davos, and sometimes it’s quite uncomfortable because you have to get there at the crack of dawn to be able to get access to the breakfast because it’s so well attended, so you have to stand in line early in the morning.
He is a highly respected and valued partner of the World Economic Forum and this has been said not only to me but to a lot of others and by Mr Klaus Schwab himself, and his contribution to the WEF makes it the success that it has become. Finally, I would only encourage Pakistan’s other business leaders to follow in Mr Ikram Sehgal’s footsteps because he funds this through his pocket, it’s his own money, it’s his funding, and the government does not support him the government cannot even afford to participate.
Some of our leaders cannot even afford to pay the kind of fees to be able to attend the summit at the World Economic Forum because you have to pay a fee to be there. He has done all this for the country through his efforts, and that’s something that other Business Leaders in this country need to learn to be helpful to Pakistan. Thank you so much.
Sehrish Mustafa, Moderator
Thank you so much, Sir, and before we come up to the closing remarks. I have an important announcement to make. We have a Mosque in house and we shall go there for Jummah prayers, and I would like to invite ladies also because we have arrangements for females too. It is very difficult for me to invite a person to the stage who needs no introduction, ladies, and gentlemen, it is an esteem moment to call upon Mr Ikram Sehgal, the Patron in Chief of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations and Co-chairman of the Pathfinder group for the closing remarks.
Ikram Sehgal Co-Chairman, Pathfinder Group and Patron in Chief, KCFR
Thank you Sehrish. First of all, I would like to thank Ambassador Zamir Akram whom I requested very shortly, because Senator Mushaid Hussain who was supposed to be the chief guest, was given short notice, and was sent away to Beijing by the government of Pakistan to represent them. Ambassador Zamir Akram very kindly accepted the invite, and I also thank you for your kind words. We’ve had a very good partnership. The best time that we had at Davos was when you were there because we really could do something for Pakistan.
I would like to thank Dr Faisal Mushtaq, there’s a generation gap and you are the generation gap that can do something for Pakistan today, because you can influence policy, and not only can you influence policy, you can implement that policy too. I think it’s not that rhetoric, you have proved it by the Roots Millennium Education Network. There is nothing that can equal education, educating people is a best practice, like people say don’t give aid, give them something to do. Similarly, if you give education to a person, you create something. We are very lucky to have people like you Faisal, and we are lucky to get the support of the Roots Millennium Education Group that we’ve got here. My son volunteered to be president of TCF for a few years to raise money for TCF in the USA, and at that time Amaani was only 12 years old, she used to come here and used to teach the English language voluntarily in one of the TCF Schools. She came back and said,” The poor children don’t have books, I’m going to do something about it.” And that’s how Providentia Books Foundation came into being. She is my first grandchild, and I named this entire place Amaanibagh after her. As we speak, she has now applied to go to college, and hopefully, tomorrow or the day after, her first admission request will come whether she’s accepted into one of the prestigious universities.
I like to say that I’m very glad to see this diverse group from many universities. You must understand that we do not leverage Pakistan the way we should. We have the second-largest copper and gold reserves in the world, third-largest coal reserves in the world, fourth-largest cotton and cotton textile industry together in the world, and a surprise to many of us, fifth-largest milk-producing country in the world, a sixth-largest rice-producing country in the world, a seventh-largest wheat producing country in the world, and when it comes to manpower, they are second to none. I had a very good friend during my years in Davos in the early years. He is the one who created HIIT and he was a Dogra from Kashmir. I asked him one day in 1999, I said to him “Please help me set up something like this in Pakistan, and he didn’t answer” I asked him again, and then I asked him “What’s the problem? Are you keeping that Kashmir thing between us, we are friends now,” he said, “No if I were to train your youth, you would far outstrip us, so, I will not do it.” Just imagine that was 25 years ago. Right now, our youth is second to none and you’ve heard two speakers talk about an Asaan Mobile Account which means that you can open up a bank account in less than 2 minutes on your telephone and it does not have to be a smart telephone. It is acknowledged by the Edison Alliance of the World Economic Forum as the most innovative thing in the world, not in Pakistan, we are not recognized so much in Pakistan but in the world.
Today, I just want to say that from 2022 till the date, we’ve got 11.6 million accounts. It was created by 100 Pakistanis with an average age of 27, and its CEO Salman Ali is sitting here today. What it does is, if you go to a bank and try to open an account even if you are an educated person, you will find it difficult to fill in so many forms, and for instance, if a poor person goes to the bank to open an account the bank manager will not open that account. Without having access to an account, how can you progress in this world? You can have Roti (Bread) and Kapra (Clothes), but who is going to give you a Makaan (House) without financial inclusion? It is very important.
I must tell you another thing that is also of great importance. You know we all see a lot of Indian movies and in 1971, I had the misfortune to be a prisoner of war in India, and of course, in the movies that we saw there are actors like Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, etc. And of course, the fact is that all of them came from Peshawar, not to forget that most of the beautiful women in this country came from the Pakistani city of Bhera, Meena Kumari was from there too.
We do not know that Al-Beruni made the latitude and longitude of the world by sitting on the ridge near Kalar Kahar. On that plateau, he calculated the latitude and longitude of the world, so there is so much history. As a young helicopter pilot, I was posted in Mangla and I used to fly over this area. I just went and saw what Alexander the Great’s route was and of course, I did not know about the Al-Beruni thing at that time. But what I’m trying to say is there is so much heritage that we have and have so much potential and this is the thing that excites me. Therefore, I encourage you to make sure that people like you come together and create something not only for yourself but for Pakistan, for the Pakistan that we love and some of us have fought for, there is no comparison. If you put your mind down to it and work at it, there is no comparison.
I would like to tell you to look at this facility and look at how it’s run, I want to thank my staff who works night and day, starting with Sehrish, what a wonderful event she organized, and other people out there who are handling the coffee machine and making sure that the washrooms have heaters, and the sports complex outside, which was built up partly because of my second granddaughter. She is a tennis player and John McEnroe is coaching her in New York.
I escaped from India in 1971 and was the first one to escape. I was walking barefoot, with no money, nothing except God above me right and there was this one thing that kept driving me “I’m a Pakistani,” I will do it. I must mention here that I told you about all these actresses and all that I looked around me and said where are all the beautiful women that I used to see in the movies because they don’t belong there, they belong in Pakistan they’re all in Pakistan. If you look at yourselves you will find at least 10% of the beautiful people, 90% are in Pakistan, so be encouraged by the fact that you are second to none, get yourself down to earth. We are grateful to China; it has helped us a lot. I was one of the first pilots flying at ED-LOD 3 with the Chinese, over the Karakoram Highway, when they did not have helicopters in 1970. I was flying them and I thought, “Why are they making this Road, Xinjiang Province was nothing and what were you going to give to Xinjiang Province, and what were you going to take from it?” Let me tell you, yes, we need the Chinese but they need us much more than we do. They are building aircraft carriers, they’re building submarines, they are making ships, you would think they want to dominate that Pacific Ocean, they get nothing out of the Pacific Ocean, they want to dominate the Indian Ocean and by dominating the Indian Ocean, the only land that can be accessed in Pakistan with 250 million population. With the world’s 8 billion population, within 2,000 miles of Pakistan, there are 5 billion people, out of which 1.5 billion are Muslims, out of which 13 undeveloped countries are Muslim. We are the land barrier to everywhere, we are part of Eurasia, we are part of South Asia, we are part of Central Asia and we are part of the MENA. My point is, do not underestimate yourself.
I want to thank each one of you, in the end. I acknowledge with great gratitude somebody, whom I knew from maybe when I was 8 years or 12 years old probably, is Brigadier Mujahid Alam, the principal of Lawrence College, technically even though he has left. He turned Lawrence College into the best, there is no comparison to us. When we (Lawrence College) went to compete in sports we excelled, in athletics, hockey, and cricket.
We were accepted by the PMA, five of us went there, four of us were Sword of Honor winners and one was a company or a Battalion winner. So, we were always on top, the only difference was that academically we were very weak. Mujahid, you have made us good academically as well. Today, it is good to see Gallians academically coming on top and what you have done for us, is beyond compare. I’d like to thank all of the young people over there. I’m 79 years old and I’m very grateful for whatever life is left in me. I’m very grateful because people like you all and people like Dr Faisal Mushtaq, even though we have an age gap, we became very good friends. I would like to invite you afterwards for a very light lunch, Burgers, etc. And you people, go up to the mosque too for Jummah Prayers. It is named after my father, Col. Majeed Sehgal. It accommodates a lot of people and also there is a mezzanine for women which was my father’s wish. He said, “When you go to Makkah and Madina women and men pray together, then why shouldn’t we all pray together here.” So please, if possible before lunch, you can come up and offer prayers. Thank you very much.
