Extortion, nepotism and inconsistent policies keep investors at bay

[Abdussamad]

Law and order:

Although the law and order situation in Sindh has affected each and every individual in the province for a number of years, it is only during the last two years that it began to hit the business community directly. The last straw, perhaps, was the outbreak of widespread kidnappings, in which over two dozen tycoons or members of their families had to secure their release from kidnappers after paying huge amounts as ransom during this period.
...
The Nooriabad Industrial Estate, set up with much fanfare a few miles out of Karachi on the Super Highway during the Junejo period, is in complete shambles as industrialists are increasingly afraid of travelling to the estate. Those who have set up units there also complain bitterly about the bhatta (protection money) that they have to pay practically every month to area 'notables'.

License Raj and nepotism:

One businessman complains bitterly about the manner in which political patronage has swiftly replaced all other criteria for the allotment of licenses for setting up industries. "Today, you have to be a cabinet I minister, an MNA, or someone who is recommended by sources close to the prime minister to get permission for I setting up anything."

Source


Uncertainty due to inconsistent policies:

There is a great need for “predictability and consistency of policy and its implementation, as the (foreign) investors can take market risk but have difficulty in managing systematic risk,” OICCI President Irfan Wahab emphasized at the meet.

Source

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

I have read somewhere ~250K armed-to-the-teeth bodyguards are employed in Karachi!!! Why such Escobar-class protection is required for some folks? How much money do they own? The State needs to go after those folks. I am pretty sure Pak's financial/taxation problem can be solved to a great extent...

 

[Abdussamad]

I have read somewhere ~250K armed-to-the-teeth bodyguards are employed in Karachi!!! Why such Escobar-class protection is required for some folks? How much money do they own? The State needs to go after those folks. I am pretty sure Pak's financial/taxation problem can be solved to a great extent...

Government doesn't provide security so people have to make their own arrangements.

The richest people are the very ones that make the laws and run the government so that's why tax evasion is the norm. They won't make laws that will hit their own pockets.