Pakistan today is divided not by ethnicity or geography but by access to functioning institutions. A growing middle class has quietly seceded from public provision, purchasing substitutes whenever the state fails. Their children attend private schools, their families rely on private hospitals and their homes are powered by generators or solar panels. Meanwhile, millions remain trapped in collapsing systems, absorbing every failure as a personal catastrophe. The numbers are stark. With education spending at just 0.8 per cent of GDP, over 25 million children remain out of school. Healthcare fares no better, leaving infant mortality among the highest in the region. Those who can afford alternatives exit, while those who cannot are left behind. This dual reality erodes the very solidarity that sustains nations.
When policymakers themselves rely on private solutions, they lose any stake in reforming public institutions. The feedback loop that drives accountability in democracies is broken. Unless public systems are rebuilt to serve all citizens, the divide will widen into estrangement and estrangement into collapse.
Dr Zafar Khan Safdar
Islamabad
