ISLAMABAD- link>link>Pakistanlink> has been listed among the next11 countries that, along with the Brics nations (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa), have a high potential of becoming one of theworld’s largest economies in the 21st century.
In the last five years, Pakistan’s literacy rate has grown by 250 per cent,the largest increase in any country to date. According to a poll organisedby the Institute of European Business Administration, from 125 countries,Pakistanis have been ranked the ‘fourth most intelligent people’ across theglobe. The Cambridge exams of both A and O levels have been topped byPakistani students and this is a record yet to be broken.
The world’s youngest certified Microsoft experts, Arfa Abdul Kareem andBabar Iqbal, are from link>link>Pakistanlink> . Arfa became famous in 2004for earning the honour of the youngest Microsoft certified professional(MCP) at the age of nine, Gulf News has reported.
The seventh-largest pool of scientists and engineers come fromlink>link>Pakistanlink> . And the fourth largestbroadband internet system in the world is inlink>link>Pakistanlink> .
link>link>Pakistanlink> is the first and only Islamiccountry to have attained nuclear power. It is also notable for having oneof the best trained air-force pilots in the world. The country’s missiletechnology is one of the best in the world. The country produced a largequantity of various types of missiles in a very short time since it becamea nuclear power. It also boasts of the sixth-largest military force in theworld. In cooperation with China,link>link>Pakistanlink> has produced the PAC JF-17Thunder aircraft — a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraftdeveloped by the link>link>Pakistanlink> Aeronautical Complex (PAC).
It has also constructed the world’s largest warm-water, deep-sea port onthe Arabian Sea at Gwadar, in the Balochistan province oflink>link>Pakistanlink> . Tarbela Dam is the world’slargest earth-filled dam and second-largest dam overall. The KarakoramHighway, connecting China and link>link>Pakistanlink> , is the highest pavedinternational road in the world. The Khewra Salt Mine, the second-largestsalt mine in the world, is in operation in the Punjab region oflink>link>Pakistanlink> . The world’s largestirrigation network is present inlink>link>Pakistanlink> . It serves 14.4 millionhectares of cultivated land.
Land of some of the oldest civilisations (Indus Valley and Mohenjo-Daro),link>link>Pakistanlink> is a multilingual country withmore than 60 spoken languages. It is the sixth-most populated country inthe world and the second-most populous Muslim-majority country. It also hasthe second-largest Shiite population in the world. Abdul Sattar Edhi in1951 began work on the world’s largest ambulance network. Edhi, a Pakistaniphilanthropist, ascetic and humanitarian had founded the Edhi Foundation,which runs the volunteer ambulance network, along with homeless shelters,animal shelters, rehab centres and orphanages acrosslink>link>Pakistanlink> .
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Malala Yousufzai became the youngest individual in the world to receive aNobel Prize due to her tenacious struggle against terrorism. A victimherself, she inspires females who are deprived from education.
link>link>Pakistanlink> is one the biggest exporters ofsurgical instruments all around the world. About 50 per cent of the world’sfootballs are made in link>link>Pakistanlink> . Among its natural wonders,link>link>Pakistanlink>has the highest mountain rangesin the world. The world’s second-highest and the ninth-highest mountains —K2 and Nanga Parbat, respectively — are inlink>link>Pakistanlink> . The Thar Desert is among theworld’s largest sub-tropical deserts.
In 1994, link>link>Pakistanlink> became the first country in theworld to hold four World Cup titles tournaments in mainstream sportssimultaneously: Cricket, Hockey, Squash and Snooker.
The Lonely Planet, a global tourist guide has listedlink>link>Pakistanlink> as being tourism’s “next bigthing for more years than we care to remember. But world media headlinesalways send things off the rails”.
Pakistanis are the happiest among all their neighbouring nations, a 2018United Nations report on happiness revealed. The list could go on and on,but this should be enough to soundly reject the inappropriate label of a‘failed state’.
By: Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator.