Pakistan’s crisis is presented as a widening divide between an entrenched military–political–bureaucratic elite and a population facing economic insecurity, deprivation and diminishing prospects. The article links mass emigration—more than 317,000 Pakistanis reportedly left for overseas employment in the first half of 2026, while over 1.87 million migrated during 2024–26—to declining confidence in the state. It alleges that senior officials and political families protect wealth and foreign options, while military-linked business interests expand into commercial activity and provincial mineral resources. IMF-driven taxation and subsidy reductions deepen popular hardship, even as elite privilege persists. Food insecurity, multidimensional poverty, terrorism, political repression and widespread psychological distress are portrayed as symptoms of institutional failure and a growing crisis of legitimacy and public trust.
Pakistan is going through a deepening national crisis, as a self-serving ruling elite amasses wealth and prepares its escape abroad while ordinary citizens face mounting economic hardship, widespread despondency, and a growing loss of hope. Recently, official government figures presented to Pakistan’s National Assembly revealed that a staggering number of people, including doctors, engineers, and IT specialists, who are considered highly skilled professionals, are leaving Pakistan because they see no future there. In fact, in the first half of 2026 alone, more than 317,000 Pakistanis left the country for employment abroad. When a child is born in Pakistan, their aim is somehow to escape the country, a reality reflected in the fact that over 1.87 million citizens have migrated between 2024 and 2026, highlighting the scale of the country’s brain drain and the growing desperation among its people.
Beneath this growing exodus lies a deeper crisis of corruption, military dominance, and political misrule that has weakened state institutions, diverted national resources, and pushed Pakistan closer to a breaking point.
Bureaucrats’ Portugal Properties and Political Dynasties’ Corruption Scandals
This is not limited to ordinary Pakistanis; even those running the system itself, including bureaucrats, do not see their future in Pakistan as secure. According to federal audits reported on 5 October 2026, more than 2,500 active federal officers have obtained dual nationality, with hundreds of senior bureaucrats actively concealing their foreign assets. Once they retire—or even while still in service—they move to foreign countries, particularly Portugal, which has emerged as a premier getaway for the elite through residency-by-investment schemes.
As Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, recently claimed on social media, more than 50% of the top bureaucracy has purchased luxury properties in Portugal and is preparing to obtain European citizenship using wealth allegedly amassed through corruption. A major scandal even revealed that an absconding middleman collected massive sums from high-ranking officers to fast-track their Portuguese permanent residency. They enjoy state privileges and high salaries while treating their own homeland as a temporary stop. Taking a direct swipe at their loyalty, Khawaja Asif stated:
“They [bureaucrats] prepared for this while they were employed by the Government of Pakistan, doing so under a deliberate plan. This raises questions about their commitment to their homeland and their jobs during their tenure.”
This is not limited to the bureaucracy. Political leaders also engage in corruption, amassing enormous wealth by fleecing ordinary Pakistanis during their tenure and then seek to enjoy their retirement in foreign countries. Their children are already settled abroad, where they study and often choose not to return to Pakistan.
In fact, members of Pakistan’s Parliament receive official blue passports as a perk, allowing them to travel abroad easily and settle in foreign countries after retirement. This was made even more shameless on 19 October 2026, when Pakistan’s Senate, the upper house of Parliament, passed the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2026. This new legislation permanently grants retired parliamentarians and senators the right to retain these gratis official blue passports for life—even if they never even complete a full legislative term. They make all of these arrangements well in advance.
Then comes their history of corruption. Take, for example, the Sharif family and the Bhutto and Zardari families, all of which have been associated with major corruption scandals.
The Sharif family’s mega-scandals were exposed by global leaks such as the Panama Papers, published on 3 April 2016, which linked Nawaz Sharif’s children to offshore shell companies, including Nescoll Limited and Nielsen Enterprises Limited. These front companies were used to launder money and secretly purchase ultra-luxury real estate, famously including the multi-million pound Avenfield apartments on Park Lane in London. Federal investigators also traced a web of over 200 fake telegraphic transfers (TTs) and paper mill accounts used to syphon state wealth out of Pakistan via illegal hawala channels.
Meanwhile, the Bhutto and Zardari families have institutionalised kickbacks to the point that Asif Ali Zardari earned the notorious international moniker “Mr. Ten Percent”. In 2008, reports highlighted allegations of illicit payments linked to government contracts, state monopolies, and customs deals. More recently, the Fake Bank Accounts Case exposed how they channelled billions of rupees through dummy bank accounts opened fraudulently under the names of impoverished ordinary citizens—such as a Karachi slum-dwelling ice-cream seller—completely draining public funds to finance private sugar mills, luxury palaces, and offshore properties.
Then there are the other destructive forms of corruption—like rampant nepotism and blind favouritism—where they distribute powerful ministries, lucrative state enterprise posts, and plum diplomatic assignments exclusively to family members, loyal cronies, and sycophants. They manipulate government procurement policies behind closed doors, handing out massive, lucrative state deals and tax exemptions to their preferred business cartels. Because these transactions are wrapped in bureaucratic red tape and classified as national security or strategic partnerships, they remain completely invisible, unrecorded, and unreported by mainstream media, allowing the elite to systematically bleed the economy dry without ever leaving a paper trail.
Military Business Empires and KPK’s Mineral Exploitation
Then comes their boss—the military—which actually runs the country. The military makes enormous amounts of money by running Pakistan like a real estate company. It is involved in everything from diaper manufacturing and cement factories to hotels, the Fauji Foundation, aviation, telecommunications, and real estate. It has built vast business empires and makes huge profits, including investments in foreign countries. Military leaders also prefer to spend their post-retirement years in Europe and other foreign nations. Take, for example, Qamar Javed Bajwa, Raheel Sharif, and many other military chiefs who settled or moved abroad.
Gen. Bajwa was particularly noteworthy for corruption. On 20 November 2022, an explosive investigative report published by the data-journalism website FactFocus revealed that his family members’ known wealth skyrocketed to over PKR 12.7 billion ($45+ million) during his six years as Army Chief. This included his daughter-in-law, Mahnoor Sabir, whose declared wealth went from zero in the last week of October 2018 to over PKR 1.27 billion by November 2, 2018, just nine days after the allocation of backdated DHA plots on October 23, 2018, instantly turning her into a billionaire holding backdated DHA plots, lucrative apartments, and shares in Taxx Petroleum Pakistan. She was appointed head of a company that became operational only after her appointment. Such is the level of corruption. His brother, his wife, Ayesha Amjad (whose assets went from zero to PKR 2.22 billion), and other family members were similarly implicated in allegations of accumulating wealth. Other Pakistani military chiefs also amassed enormous fortunes.
Similarly, today, the military under Gen. Asim Munir is making substantial amounts of money in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Utilising the military-led Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and its commercial engineering arm, the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), the military is aggressively extracting the province’s rare-earth minerals and critical metals. The military-run FWO recently sealed an envisaged investment MoU worth $500 million with United States Strategic Metals (USSM) to export copper, antimony, tungsten, and gold directly out of the country
To make matters worse, the military has completely rigged the legal and financial system to siphon these profits. Through the centralised Mining and Mineral Amendment Act 2025, last year the federal-military apparatus seized absolute control over what they call “strategic minerals,” completely stripping KPK of its constitutional autonomy over its own natural wealth. As recently the military establishment even slapped emergency and governors rule onto KPK to crush any provincial or local resistance against this resource theft. While the military under Gen. Asim Munir eyes a massive $2 billion net profit next year from these rare-earth projects, a staggering 13-year timeline shows that despite nearly 5,000 mining licenses being processed, the actual provincial Mines Department was left with a measly PKR 7 billion ($25 million USD) in revenue in 2025. This rapid resource exploitation allows the military to embezzle most of the profits, leaving the local population with nothing but environmental destruction, disease, and only a small fraction of the wealth.
The ruling elite of Pakistan comprising the military, the political leadership, the bureaucracy and crony businessmen are busy emptying the economy of the state bulding their fortunes within the country and abroad.
Maryam Nawaz’s Luxury Jet, and Pakistan’s Deepening Poverty
Similarly, when it comes to the IMF, Pakistan operates under continuous bailout programmes, and the ruling elite repeatedly shifts the burden of IMF conditions entirely onto ordinary people by increasing levies, slashing subsidies, and imposing other harsh measures.
To secure the latest $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, the state agreed to severe conditions, wiping out over PKR 120 billion in electricity and fuel subsidies and slamming an aggressive sales tax hike up to 18% on everyday essentials. The government continuously increases taxes on ordinary citizens while leaving large corporations, feudal lords, and other powerful interests relatively untouched, unfairly placing the entire weight of taxation onto the common people.
At the same time, the ruling elite enjoy luxurious lives—buying private jets, maintaining fleets of expensive cars, and enjoying other costly facilities and gadgets—while ordinary people struggle to afford even a single roti (flatbread).
The absolute height of this elite hypocrisy was exposed when reports emerged that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif had acquired a luxury Gulfstream G500 private jet valued at between PKR 10 billion and PKR 11.7 billion ($38–42 million). In early 2026, the Punjab government acquired a 2019-manufactured Gulfstream G500, previously registered in the United States as N144S. Its estimated market value was between $38 million and $42 million. Although the provincial government initially described the aircraft as part of its proposed Air Punjab initiative, subsequent reporting established its use for official VIP transport, including the Chief Minister’s travel. The acquisition and subsequent operational expenditure have raised questions about public spending priorities, particularly in a province where poverty, unemployment and pressure on public services remain substantial. This 19-seat VVIP aircraft allows her to fly nonstop from Lahore to New York at an operating cost of roughly $15,000 per hour—all reportedly funded by public money while the country begs the IMF for loans.
Meanwhile, ordinary people in Pakistan face extreme hunger, widespread deprivation, and multidimensional poverty. Alarmingly, people have lost hope and are now largely resigned to their suffering.
According to the 2026 Global Hunger Index, Pakistan’s food insecurity has reached a “serious” level (although not alarming yet), ranking a low 106th out of 122 countries. Shockingly, the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) tracked up to 7.5 million rural citizens experiencing acute hunger, with over 1.25 million shoved into IPC Phase 4 (Emergency level), meaning they are on the very brink of starvation. The UNDP 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) exposed that nearly 100 million Pakistanis are trapped in acute multidimensional poverty. A staggering 38.3% of the entire population faces overlapping deprivations—such as severe stunting affecting 33.6% of children under five, collapsing access to basic schooling, and zero access to clean drinking water or safe sanitation. Hit by back-to-back climate shocks and historic price surges, the poorest households are forced to exhaust over 60% of their total income just to put basic food on the table.
Similarly, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Economic Update, a staggering 48 percent of the extremely poor population across the newly reclassified MENAAP (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) region lives in Pakistan. At a time when many countries are making progress in reducing poverty, Pakistan appears to be moving in the opposite direction, with poverty continuing to weigh heavily on its population. The World Bank confirmed that Pakistan accounts for nearly half of the region’s population living below the critical $3-a-day international poverty line.
Form 47 Regime and Pakistan’s Approaching Breaking Point
Moreover, the current government is not the one the people voted for, as the illegitimate “Form 47” regime remains in operation. The army has kept the country’s most popular leader, Imran Khan, locked away in Adiala Jail, while violent insurgencies and rebellions tear across Pakistan—spanning from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to Balochistan and Sindh. To make matters worse, after imposing governor’s rule in KPK, the authorities have even disappeared Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, illustrating the alarming extent to which political repression and the erosion of provincial autonomy have taken hold. Pakistan is experiencing tremendous structural instability, and everywhere, there is a massive wave of growing public anger toward this military-run state
Meanwhile, according to the newly released Global Terrorism Index 2026, Pakistan has officially topped the index for the first time, becoming the world’s most terrorism-affected country and surpassing even heavily hit nations in sub-Saharan Africa. Pakistan is approaching a point of fragmentation. Western countries have certain interests in Pakistan, which are helping prevent such a breakdown, but this may not be enough in the long run as public anger and despondency continue to grow.
While the political and civil leadership presents a false sense of normalcy through tight media management and controlled media discourse, portraying everything as fine—while simultaneously presenting the country as a center of world diplomacy where the decisions of the world are taken—the stark reality on the ground is that Pakistan is rapidly approaching a point of no return.
On the contrary, recent data reveal the extent of the crisis, with one in three Pakistani adults suffering from a mental or behavioural disorder, reflecting the growing distress faced by the population amid economic instability, widespread uncertainty, and the other factors mentioned above. Findings from Pakistan’s first-ever nationally representative mental health study, published in BMJ Public Health, officially confirmed that a staggering 32.3% of Pakistani adults—one in three people—are living with a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder.
Ultimately, Pakistan’s deepening crisis is the direct result of an entrenched ruling elite—comprising corrupt political dynasties, a complicit bureaucracy, and a predatory military—that treats the country as a private corporation. By manipulating laws for lifetime privileges, plundering provincial resources, and passing the brutal weight of IMF austerity onto the common man, this elite syndicate has created a broken society where they ride in luxury jets while ordinary citizens face literal starvation and systemic trauma. Shaken by historic terrorism levels, a fraudulent “Form 47” regime, and widespread public rage, the nation is rapidly approaching a definitive breaking point. As millions abandon this sinking ship, it is undeniably clear that until this military-run state apparatus is completely dismantled, Pakistan will remain hopelessly trapped in an engineered cycle of fragmentation.
Conclusion
Pakistan’s predicament is therefore far more profound than a balance-of-payments crisis, an IMF dependency or even the recurring instability of its political system. It is a crisis of the social contract itself. The figures cited in this comment paint a disturbing picture: more than 317,000 Pakistanis reportedly left for overseas employment in the first six months of 2026; nearly 100 million are estimated to suffer multidimensional poverty; up to 7.5 million rural residents face acute food insecurity; and 32.3 per cent of adults reportedly suffer from a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder. Pakistan’s first-place position in the Global Terrorism Index 2026 adds another dimension to this institutional distress. These are not isolated indicators of economic misfortune; together, they point towards a state struggling to discharge its most fundamental responsibilities.
The most consequential feature of this crisis is the growing asymmetry between those who govern and those who are governed. The military establishment, political dynasties, sections of the bureaucracy and their business associates appear increasingly invested in securing private wealth, foreign assets and alternative futures, while ordinary Pakistanis are left to absorb inflation, unemployment, austerity, insecurity and diminishing opportunities. A ruling class that increasingly sees its future outside the country has little incentive to repair the institutions and social foundations on which the country’s future depends. The resulting brain drain further depletes the human capital necessary for recovery.
Pakistan may yet avoid state collapse; its institutions, external relationships and strategic importance provide considerable buffers. But these cannot indefinitely compensate for the erosion of public trust, provincial alienation, economic exclusion and political disenfranchisement. A country cannot sustain itself indefinitely when its elite accumulates the means to escape while its citizens are denied the means to live with dignity. The real danger is not simply that Pakistan may run out of money, but that it may progressively lose the consent, confidence and collective commitment of its people. A state can survive economic insolvency through external assistance; it cannot indefinitely survive the failing of its social contract.
Dr. Imran Khurshid is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Peace Studies. The views expressed are his own.
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