Am from India.
In my analysis, I feel the reason for so much wide spread poverty in Pakistan is due to the old Zamindari system still prevalent in Pakistan, after the Europe renaissance it’s now the Arabic revolution, as in Egypt, Libya etc.....
India got rid of this system which the English had introduced, that way it was easier for them to collect taxes, in then the undivided India,
Moving on, Indira Gandhi one of the Prime Ministers, quite a visionary moved it the land back to the people who originally owned it by a movement called tiller will become the owner of the land in a 20 point program which had other changes too, the best thing started then on, most citizens which had reduced to a
almost beggar like status now had land, no more poverty, they could now sell some of it and start investing in educating the next few generations, education sprang up great new jobs like insurance, banking, stock markets, electronics, automobile, there were immediate hiccups, as to who will claim what? eventually there was a system which was put in place and everything settled down, there was opposition and danger to the Prime Minister as well, that's why Pakistan is unable to come up with such measures of reform, as the families that back the political parties are Zamindars themselves, the system does not favor the rich who right now have all the power concentrated in their hands, People were trying to assassinate the then PM, so the regular leaders will not help, one with zeal for change and good intention in heart will be the only person who can drive this change, being in an democratic setup myself, I have realized that elections means, spending big money, and then after coming to power you focus on returns, plus funding for the next election, RTI which is right to information is another such measure that the Pakistan system lacks, disembarking the army into Navy, Air force and Infantry will be another way to ensure there are no dictators rising in future, what the old dictators could have done, was to remove the Zamindari system, any way the dictator is not a popular choice and is well guarded, this could have well paved the way to change, however, the generals seemed more interested in power play, Abolishing and bringing in the new order this is the way to go forward, as of now 20 families control Pakistan, this system does not work in favor of the majority. There needs to be constitutional amendments which need to allow multiparty options, for different opinions, the abolishing of the Zamindari system will bring about riots, chaos but this is a necessary evil to move into the next century, the opposition party will not support it, so there will be a deadlock in parliament, the best approach would be to get this done from the hands to the citizens themselves, 70% of the Irish economy is from the tertiary and service sector, agriculture and manufacturing must be handled by few individuals with mechanized implements, rivers need to be networked, so that excess flow from one can feed the other, Dr. Abdul Kalam mooted this great idea, India right now is making hay, as they speak English, translating into jobs, such as call centers, medical transcription and IT, it is time for Pakistan too to start engineering colleges, start skilling their folks to take on the competition, a vision and a mission must be established by the state sooner, a tactical plan must be embarked upon, what will we do 3 years from now? What will do 5 years from now, what must be done right away? In a state where skills are general, agrarian, removing Zamindari would be step one. This system of reforms could be replicated in the entire northern African region.