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Pak faces greater threat from poor economy: army chief

Pakistan Army Chief General Jehangir Karamat has expressed serious concern about the poor health of the economy and warned that this is a greater threat to the security of Pakistan than any external threat.

The general, who was talking to the media at a diplomatic party in Islamabad recently, emphasised the need for stringent measures to revive the economy. His warning is an echo of what former president Farooq Leghari said early this year. That ''the greatest threat that Pakistan faces comes from its poor economy and not from an external enemy''.

General Karamat referred to the burden of debt that every family in Pakistan has to carry on its head. During the present regime, tax collections have been very poor. They are not even enough for debt servicing, writes The Muslim.

The government has been talking of reducing expenditure, but, the paper says this, on the contrary, is likely to increase substantially. For, government servants's salaries are to be hiked and so is the allocation for defence. Moreover, to be good in the eyes of the World Bank, the government will also have to allocate some funds for the social action programme.

The Muslim writes that General Karamat's fears will be shared by more and more people if the Muslim League government does not convert its political mandate into an economic mandate and deliver the promised goods.

UNI