Dr Qaisar Rashid
The year 2025 has brought the news of the prospective entry of Elon Musk’s Starlink into Pakistan. Along with it, another two global low Earth orbit operators – OneWeb and Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology – would kick-start their operations as well. Currently, their applications to get licences are in process.
With the arrival of the administration of President-elect Donald Trump in US, the licensing process would gather momentum in Pakistan, as Musk would be a significant part of the US administration. Starlink has been registered but has yet to secure a licence to operate. The operation would render two main services: first, providing satellite-based internet services, which would ensure high-speed uninterrupted connection of subscribers to the world; and second, covering remote rural areas that are still deprived of internet facilities.
In 2002, Pakistan liberalised the country’s broadcast sector and offered licences to private cable and satellite channels. Subsequent years witnessed a boom in private TV channels and their viewers, initially in urban and then in rural areas. By 2014, cable remained the most common form of offering services. Post-2014 was the era of internet services opening space for YouTube to operate. Hence, around 2017, utilising the YouTube facility, the era of vlogs commenced, challenging the monopoly of TV-based talk shows, which had become so trite as to be a nuisance to the intellect. Presently, vlogging is the most favourable mode to reach out to viewers; the other is the podcast genre, compared to the viewership of TV channels, which has taken a nosedive.
Taken together, the global reach-based internet facilities such as Starlink and the local expression of views through media such as vlogs and podcasts are bound to transform Pakistan from its current stuck-in-the-mud status to an open one. Every Pakistani has a right to speak and express views unhindered by the state’s coercion and oppression.
For Pakistan, the previous era of US President Trump (from 2017 to 2021) was a blessing in disguise. By denying the free flow of US dollars, Trump helped Pakistan discard the crutches of US aid to run its affairs. Pakistan is now learning to stand on its own two feet for the first time in its history. Though IMF is offering a helping hand, Pakistan has been experimenting with various formulas (mostly relying on agriculture) to make ends meet. Instead of being in the lap of luxury, Pakistan is in the lap of the IMF, a de facto controller of the country’s financial destiny.
In 2009, Pakistan’s foreign remittances were below US$10 billion per year. However, in 2023, the foreign remittances were around US$30 billion. The reason lies not in Pakistan but outside it. In the post-2001 era, Canada spearheaded opening its borders to international investment and skilled immigration. Canada had sensed the engagement of the US in the war on terror, which was bound to consume billions of dollars. The same happened to the consternation of the US administration. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 made business corporations in the United Kingdom (UK) and broader Europe insecure with their investment. Hence, funds from the US, UK, and Europe started flowing to Canada, which opened immigration channels to offer the requisite staff and workers to the businesses ready to run on its land. Whereas both the US and broader Europe got drained of financial resources, Canada prospered at their expense. Australia and New Zealand also followed the Canadian path to enrich their countries with foreign workers. Nevertheless, besides the outflow of money to pro-immigration English-speaking countries, the cost of the war on terror exacted an additional toll on the US and broader Europe, making them hungry for finances. The same factor impacted their political systems, seeing right-wingers taking over the countries. (This is why Trump wants US money back from Canada by offering Canada to be a new state of the US.) The second major destination of money was Dubai, which invited high-profit investment to develop its land. In this broader scheme of immigration and the movement of money, thousands of Pakistanis (as both semi-skilled and highly skilled workers) made their way into these countries ranging from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Dubai. Currently, Pakistan is financially supported by remittances sent by these emigrated Pakistanis.
This is where a paradox appears. On the one hand, Pakistan is appreciative of foreign remittances sent by emigrated Pakistanis, whereas on the other hand, Pakistan is denying them a voice to speak on the socio-political happenings in the country. Various declared and undeclared measures are in place. Nevertheless, Pakistan has been failing to realise new realities. In the age of vlogs and podcasts, the state cannot keep its firm hold on the people’s voice, especially those who are not financially dependent on the state’s goodwill. At the individual level, financial autonomy has been transforming people – in the context of both people-to-people and people-to-state interactions. Foreign remittances have been making Pakistanis residing in Pakistan independent of Pakistan’s bounty. Moreover, emigrated Pakistanis try to visualise Pakistan through the liberal lens of the countries where they secured immigration.
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com
