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KARACHI DIARIES: Know Thy Ally

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Published in Economic Affairs / August 2014 Till 1989, the average Pakistani is better off than the average Chinese or Indian for that matter, in terms of GDP / Capita. The graph would change. By 2012, the Chinese would be 6 times better off than their Pakistani counterparts. Their GDP would rise by 30% - the economic reforms in the 1980’s would leave everyone behind; and a talk on China’s exponential growth and towering skyline would trigger an inadvertent comparison with its trusty ally. Adil Husain, originally from Karachi, and later found in Washington eventually ended up spending 7 year in China, and was recently seen waving a disclaimer in T2F (The Second Floor). The views, he will share are his own. The contrasts he witnesses will be dramatic. And the China from his vantage point would appear in the form of a well mapped chessboard. As he winds his way back in time, he will be struck by the entrepreneurial spirit of its people, their strong work ethic and the high % of fe