THIS piece proceeds from a simple fact: all available data, such as the multidimensional poverty index (MPI), tells us that social inequality and economic marginalisation in Pakistan are correlated with geography. Looking at MPI or human development index maps shows us this fact clearly. There are clusters of low-poverty, moderately developed districts around GT Road (north and central Punjab); a few districts do better than their respective provincial average in KP (Hazara and the Peshawar valley); and Karachi presents itself as an outlier in Sindh. Balochistan is largely a high poverty and underdevelopment zone.

Now comes the difficult part: this fact requires interpretation and analysis. Interpretations carry policy-related consequences: what is to be done. But they also carry political consequences: who is responsible, who can fix this problem, how can it be fixed.

Because underdevelopment maps onto provincial differences and because provincial boundaries broadly (though not fully) correspond to ethnolinguistic divides, it is plausible to make a case for inequality and underdevelopment being a product of ethnic discrimination. What this means is that prejudiced and discriminatory attitudes produced patterns of development spending and economic growth that allowed for some areas to prosper considerably more than others.

This is one standard interpretation made by parties, activists and intellectuals from underdeveloped parts of the country. The relative prosperity of some areas then becomes a function of ethnic majoritarianism and ethnic power associated with Punjab.

If ethnic identities were perennial status groups, such assimilation would be considerably harder.

Politics is not........

© Dawn