Shazia Mehboob Islamabad: For a country to progress it needs to retain and utilise the best of its human talent. The lack of opportunities at home are driving those who could be contributing to the development of Pakistan to look elsewhere. The nation truly can’t afford for the ‘brain drain’ of the country’s young talent to go unchecked. During a recent visit to Huawei’s Asia Pacific office in Singapore, a student of the National University of Singapore presented his designed application. It was impressive to observe how the entire team of Huawei’s Asia Pacific office supported his work and encouraged him to present his ideas. This was nothing short of a dream for many of us (Asian journalist fellows). We could not remain but to be inspired by how the young entrepreneur of a large tech firm was encouraged and supported by a team of professionals at the Huawei Singapore office. When we make a comparison to this Singaporean youth to our youth in a similar situation in terms of opportunities, encouragement, and facilitation, we find ourselves seriously lacking in almost all aspects. Of course, the encouraging culture of the tech firm is something to be admired but it is overall policy of the Singapore government for nurturing and assisting its youth to achieve high in their areas of interest in their own country. In Pakistan, the opposite is true. One such example is our interim prime minister’s recent negative reaction to a journalist’s question on the topic of brain drain. It may be that the interim prime minister doesn’t fully understand the full impact of the nature and the extent of the brain drain on Pakistan’s drive for progress and prosperity. Interim prime minister should realise that brain drain caused by lack of economic possibilities, absence of merit, political instability, inflation, research and innovations, low wedges, corruption, nepotism, and lack of recognition and rewards for the most talented are holding Pakistan back from competing on the world stage. The interim prime minister’s response raised many questions not on his level of understanding of the country being deprived of its most precious resource but the backward peddling of the political leadership when it comes to making a selection for such an important role. Starvation Of Millions How can the leadership hope to bring about change to prevent Pakistan from being deprived of its precious human talent when it fails to fully grasp the debilitating impact of the brain drain on the future of this country? There needs to be the realization that the cream of the country’s human resource that should be used in our labs for the development of science and technology, industry, and business is left unattended. Our caretaker prime minister’s statement demonstrates that he is unaware of the implications of brain drain for this country and its over 240 million population. Because Pakistan has a large youth population under the age of 30, the interim prime minister must recognise that Pakistan youth constitute a substantial section of the population and have a critical role in molding the nation’s future. Making excuses and turning away from this pressing issue does not serve the state’s interests. What the country needs is for the nation’s young people to have access to merit-based at home for them not to leave for the opportunities abroad. This remains a critical issue for the country. Access to merit-based employment opportunities and public-centric policies will help to keep the country’s youth talent at home. Pakistani citizens have demonstrated their skills and expertise all over the world, however, the benefits of these skills have gone to other countries rather than the motherland. Pakistani youth are a diverse and vibrant element of the population, and their participation and empowerment are critical for the country’s future. Efforts are required to invest in young people for their education, skills development, and employment opportunities so that they do not leave the country to contribute to the development of other countries, but rather that investors from other countries come to Pakistan to take advantage of this enormous potential. The writer is an investigative journalist based in Islamabad. She tweets @shizrehman.  The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy. Post Views: 1,659