FROM asylum seekers to economic migrants, the continuing exodus from Pakistan shows mass disillusionment with the state, which has failed to make life easier for citizens. According to the European Union Agency for Asylum’s Country Focus on Pakistan report, between October 2023 and October 2024, 28,000 Pakistanis applied for “international protection in the European Union Plus countries”; refugee status or subsidiary protection will be granted to 12pc of these applicants. The report takes a detailed look at the country’s political and security situation, the judiciary’s role, human rights violations, the fallouts of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan and the plight of marginalised sections, with an emphasis on the worsening security situation in KP and Balochistan.

The marked uptick in people leaving the country should be unsettling for the government as the absence of development and opportunities has led to a colossal decline of our human capital, particularly when, according to the UNDP, over 64pc of Pakistan’s population is under 30 years of age. The Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment stated that in 2022, Pakistan lost 832,339citizens to greener pastures. In the first five months of 2023, 315,787 people moved out. The state cannot look away from the sad but simple truth — people leave home for a better life. Therefore, be it political asylum or persecution, it is mostly economic migration under various guises. The state should know that a nation’s principal asset is its youth because it shapes the socioeconomic progress for the future. This depletion has to be reined in to avert a talent crisis, which is a clear and present danger to every aspect of commercial and technological evolution. Pakistan’s youth must be included in policymaking in a wholesome environment where the focus is on health, education, harmony and employment alongside policies for sectoral reforms and individual growth. Home should not be synonymous with despair.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2024