NINETY-FOUR per cent of youth had no access to a library, 93pc to a sports facility, and 78pc to a park. Ninety-seven per cent had never been to a live music event, 94pc to a sports event, and 97pc to the cinema. A whopping 71pc had no access to any of the above.

These figures are from a survey conducted for UNDP’s Pakistan National Human Development Report 2017: Unleashing the potential of a young Pakistan, of which Dr Adil Najam and I were the lead authors. It was a national survey that highlighted a youth population with few opportunities for positive engagement outside their home.

Since 2017, the economy has not been doing well. We have not had any significant positive changes in national human development outcomes, and the impact of Covid and global slowdown has hardly been encouraging. So, one would expect that since conditions have not changed much, a similar survey carried out today would show numbers that are not very different from those reported then.

I have been staying in London for the last couple of months. There is a large park about 400 metres away from our place. The park is managed by the local council (local government). It has a walking/ jogging track running along its almost kilometre-long perimeter. The park has two multipurpose fields. I saw them being used as cricket fields in August and they were converted into football and rugby........

© Dawn