Brains and Drains in Pakistan.

In last May and June, when political instability and economic disparity of Pakistan were at their greatest, it was very much in the air that a record-breaking 800,000 Pakistanis had left the country in the first half of 2023, with at least 100,000 of them being highly skilled professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers, IT experts, and accountants. It was incredible though to believe such a huge exodus of talent out of Pakistan had taken place in such a short time but soon afterwards, this incredible news was confirmed as true by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment department to the surprise of all. Though immigration from Pakistan to other countries was a common practice for several decades, such a high number of immigrants was never reported before.

In view of our deteriorating civil and economic conditions where there are not enough jobs to cater to our surging population, nor are there adequate laboratories or research centres where new advances in fresh discoveries of knowledge could be taken up and tested, most of the fresh youth, seeing a dismal picture at home, leave their country in frustration for greener pastures looking for a better future.

Beside the categories described above, of immigrants leaving for abroad belonging to those wishing to acquire higher techniques or professions, there is another bulk of 450,110 Pakistani immigrants who are of a diverse mix, belonging to various other backgrounds and qualifications, who also left their homeland in pursuit of work opportunities abroad, according to the information provided by the Bureau of Emigration.

Pakistan is currently facing in a bit of a dilemma as to how to deal with this pattern of mass migration. Migration is a complex and multi-faceted problem which has both benefits and drawbacks at the same time. More immigration will expose more public to the explosion of new knowledge from foreign universities, our diaspora will intermix with cultures of various foreign countries and by a direct contact very soon imbibe their ways and methods which can enrich our own culture. Thus instead of living in a secluded existence, knowledge of world culture and partaking of its good qualities would be our need to bring us close to the point where they have reached on the ladder of their progress today.

The other side of the picture is that we make huge expenditure on the construction of our effective and better equipped educational institutions with our own funds or...