Hailing from a family with a long-standing industrial background, as a young student in the 70s, I vividly recall dinner table discussions on how the national industry at the time was shutting down due to poor government policies, misplaced priorities and, as a result, ensuing but expected bureaucratic overkill. The resulting industrial devastation is now a part of Pakistan’s economic history, where subsequently the country’s economic depression of the mid-70s was perhaps the worst to date. Not only was a perfectly ‘take-off stage’ industrial economy derailed and dismantled, the reality also remains that it never really recovered since. Today, a similar sort of lot, with little understanding of manufacturing, a disregard for SMEs, no real practical experience in the field, with absolute power concentrated in a few hands, little room for any objective opposition, a compliant judiciary and an out-of-control bureaucracy, is sadly governing key industrial (operational and taxation) policies and, in the process, jointly playing havoc with the industrial destiny of this country. Make no mistake, Pakistan is de-industrialising. The concern this time is even more serious than in the 70s because closures today are not preceded by a boom, which in essence means that once displaced, the entire industrial memory may be at risk with incoming future or potential domestic investors. Also, when talking to related decision-makers in the echelons of power, one invariably gets the troubling impression as if this entire anti-industry strategy is perhaps deliberate and almost desirable. References are made to why our current industry is obsolete and therefore needs to be replaced by a more modern one that is based on modern technology and is more environmentally friendly; and examples are cited of Norway, where the national industry was systematically closed down and........

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