Pashtuns, China and the economy -- a trilemma.

A former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Ishrat Hussein has written a book in which he analyses why Pakistan's economy lags behind that of India and Bangladesh. "Accepting that the generals ruling Pakistan did better in economic matters at times, Hussain faults Zia-ul-Haq and his Islamisation for negating the positive achievements of General Ayub Khan: 'He spread the Kalashnikov culture that has nurtured ethnic and sectarian violence throughout the country, the mushrooming of illegal and parallel economic activities such as smuggling of arms and goods, and promotion of Jihadist parties.'" Convenient to blame Zia since he is dead. The Kargil war in 1999 did not happen during Zia's time and 164 people died in Mumbai attacks in 2008, organised by the ISI. Hussain is wise not to blame the present thugs running the army. "Pakistan's military is waging a quiet war on journalists," wrote K Nazish. "According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, nearly 10,000 people have gone missing in the country since 2001, with 3,000 still unaccounted for. In 2016 alone, there were 728 disappearances." Nazish received death threats for reporting the shooting of an activist, Sabeen Mahmud and "currently divide my time between New York and Turkey". He has to be careful. While the generals in Pakistan carry out their arrests and killings quietly, Erdogan of Turkey does so openly, making him a much more dangerous thug. However, Pashtuns are openly accusing the army of human rights abuses and have formed a Pashtun Protection Movement after the shooting of 27-year-old Naqueebullah Mehsud. The movement is led by Manzoor Pashteen who trained as a doctor and is therefore being compared to Che Guevara. He directly accuses the generals of supporting terrorists against India and Afghanistan and calls them tyrants. Perhaps a collapse of the economy will bring the generals to heel. Pakistan's central bank has devalued its rupee twice in four months and foreign currency reserves are down to $12.1 billion, in an effort to defend the currency. There will not be any further devaluation because the economy will grow by 6.25% next year, said the economic adviser. The central bank has allowed the Chinese yuan to be used for trade within Pakistan presumably to ensure that the Chinese do not lose out from the falling value of the rupee. The generals think that the Economic Corridor with China will bring in $50 billion and friendship with China will make it stronger against India but China is looking to dominate Pakistan, as it is doing to other countries. China is spending more in Malaysia than it is in Pakistan because it sees Pakistan as a financial risk, wrote S Ren. It might be a blessing for Pakistan if China walks away.