Pakistan, June 15 -- For decades, Pakistan's economic discourse has revolved around familiar explanations: foreign debt, IMF conditionalities, fiscal deficits, declining exports, political instability, and external shocks. While all of these factors undoubtedly play a role, they often obscure a far more fundamental reality. Pakistan's greatest economic challenge is not a lack of resources; it is the systematic concentration of those resources in the hands of a privileged few.

The uncomfortable truth is that Pakistan is not a poor country in terms of potential. It is a country where economic opportunity, state support, and public resources have been disproportionately captured by powerful interest groups. The result is a system that trans...