Pakistan's social indicators among worst in Asia: ADB

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in a special evaluation of Pakistan on its 60th independence anniversary described it as a country with "poor governance, endemic corruption and social indicators that are among the worst in Asia".

In the first evaluation report "Learning Curves: What role for ADB in Pakistan?" in 22 years, the bank said, "Pakistan has provided a challenging context in which to implement a programme of development assistance," although it was a major client of the bank.

"Wars and cross-border conflicts with its neighbours, strong ethnic and cultural divisions, existence of feudal social relations in some parts and a complex structure of government comprising federal, provincial, district, tehsil or taluka and union levels, each with an elected body since 2002 have marked Pakistan's modern history," Dawn quoted the report as saying.