AN URGENT APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN

Economic Espionage, Institutional Penetration and the Urgent Need to Protect Pakistan’s Economic Sovereignty

The Government of Pakistan must confront an alarming question: if even the world’s most powerful technology executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, must operate under strict American export controls, national-security regulations and government oversight, why should any individual or institution in Pakistan be allowed to operate beyond meaningful scrutiny when national economic interests are at stake? Economic power, political connections and international influence must never become shields against accountability. No individual, however influential, should be beyond the reach of the law.

In 1997, Virginia prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. made the deeply insulting observation that poor Pakistanis would “sell their mothers.” For decades, Pakistanis regarded those words as an outrageous slur against a struggling nation. We carried that humiliation with anger and sadness. But today, we must confront an even more painful question: what happens when the very institutions entrusted with protecting Pakistan’s national interests fail to distinguish public service from private interests, and when allegations of institutional manipulation and economic exploitation are not investigated? The tragedy is not the poverty of our people. It is the possibility that their poverty may be exploited by those entrusted with protecting them.

Economic Espionage extends beyond stealing military secrets to the unauthorized acquisition, manipulation, or transfer of sensitive economic data, resource intelligence, and national development plans to benefit foreign entities. It also encompasses covertly influencing domestic decision-making institutions. Upholding national integrity requires strict rule of law and indiscriminate justice, ensuring powerful corporate executives, political figures, and ordinary citizens alike face equal legal accountability when public welfare and economic sovereignty are compromised.

What a tragic story for South Asia. Open-source publications, unencumbered by official secrecy, raise serious questions about the use of covert political and economic strategies in the region. One such publication, Geo-Politics of South Asian Covert Action, associated with Bahukutumbi Raman, a former Additional Secretary in India’s Cabinet Secretariat and former head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), discusses strategies concerning Pakistan’s internal stability. Such material deserves careful examination by Pakistan’s national-security institutions. If any foreign strategy seeks to weaken Pakistan’s economy, society or sovereign decision-making, our institutions must identify and address it through credible evidence and lawful investigation.

Pakistan stands at a critical juncture. Nearly 260 million people are struggling with economic hardship, industrial stagnation, unemployment and the erosion of essential public-welfare services. No sovereign nation can survive without protecting its economic integrity, strategic resources and institutional independence. Economic security is national security. Water, energy, food, industrial capacity and public finances are not merely subjects for academic discussion; they are the foundations of national survival.

Across the world, powerful states do not hesitate to impose national-security requirements on influential corporate and institutional figures. In the United States, technology companies and their executives operate within strict export-control frameworks and national-security oversight. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, despite his extraordinary corporate influence and global prominence, operates within a regulatory environment where strategic technology exports remain subject to government restrictions. If the world’s leading powers recognise that corporate influence cannot override national security, Pakistan must apply the same principle to its own institutions. No individual or organisation should be permitted to influence sovereign economic decisions without transparency, accountability and proper scrutiny.

In Pakistan, however, persistent concerns have emerged regarding policy manipulation, institutional conflicts of interest and the influence of powerful individuals over national decision-making. Particularly deserving of independent examination are the activities, governance and international engagements of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and its Executive Director. His extensive institutional influence raises legitimate questions about the transparency of policy-making and the technical foundations of decisions affecting Pakistan’s energy, water, agriculture and economic security. Where an individual’s professional qualifications, institutional authority and influence over specialised technical policies appear mismatched, independent scrutiny is essential.

There are also questions concerning SDPI’s institutional engagements with the Indian think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), commonly known as RIS India. The nature, financial arrangements and policy implications of these engagements deserve transparent examination. Reports and policy interventions have associated SDPI with advocacy concerning changes to the Indus Waters Treaty dating back to 2013. Given India’s subsequent April 2025 decision to place the treaty in abeyance, Pakistan must examine whether any domestic policy advocacy, institutional engagement or external influence compromised its negotiating position or weakened its national water-security narrative. These questions must be answered through documentary evidence, not political rhetoric.

The concern becomes more serious when we examine the concentration of institutional responsibilities. ED -SDPI has reportedly held positions or participated in several important public-sector advisory and governance bodies, including the Government of Pakistan’s Economic Advisory Board, the Board of Governors of the National School of Public Policy, the Board of the Benazir Income Support Programme and the Board of Directors of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund. His reported participation in multiple institutions over an extended period raises questions about conflicts of interest, institutional independence and the concentration of policy influence. The government must establish whether appropriate declarations, safeguards and accountability mechanisms have been maintained.

It is deeply troubling if the Prime Minister’s Secretariat or other senior government offices become excessively dependent on the advice of a narrow circle of individuals without independent technical verification. Pakistan’s economic and national-security policies cannot be outsourced to unelected advisers or institutional networks. Nor should the country allow foreign policy narratives to enter domestic decision-making without transparent scrutiny. The responsibility for this situation, if established, would not rest solely with an individual. It would also expose the failure of a bureaucracy that has repeatedly opened its doors to influential intermediaries without adequately examining their interests, credentials and institutional affiliations.

The allegations concerning public welfare are particularly distressing. The National Socio-Economic Registry survey associated with the Benazir Income Support Program involved substantial public expenditure, reportedly amounting to approximately Rs. 2.25 billion. Serious questions have been raised about the methodology, field verification, contractor performance and possible manipulation of beneficiary information. If a supposedly comprehensive door-to-door survey was compromised through desk-based assessments, politically supplied voter lists or inadequate verification, then the consequences were not merely administrative failures. They potentially deprived Pakistan’s poorest families of assistance intended for their survival. Every rupee diverted, misused or spent without proper verification represents food, medicine and educational opportunities denied to vulnerable citizens.

Recognition must be given to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for rejecting compromised survey frameworks in the distribution of relief to families affected by the 2022 floods. Her decision demonstrated the importance of transparent beneficiary identification and the need to place human suffering above manipulated records. Pakistan’s welfare programmes must be based on verified field data, independent audits and compassion for the people they are designed to serve.

The damage potentially extends far beyond social protection. Pakistan’s strategic energy independence has suffered from years of policy inconsistency and disputed research narratives. The persistent controversy surrounding major hydropower projects, particularly the Kalabagh Dam, has contributed to the failure to develop a substantial source of affordable domestic electricity. The country has consequently remained exposed to expensive thermal generation, imported fuels and capacity-payment obligations. Cheap hydropower, potentially available at approximately Rs. 4 per unit under certain historical cost assumptions, could have reduced pressure on consumers and the national economy.

Similarly, Pakistan’s shale gas potential has remained inadequately developed despite its possible contribution to domestic energy security. A properly evaluated and commercially viable shale development programme could have helped stabilise domestic gas supplies and potentially moved prices towards the $5/MMBtu benchmark under favourable conditions, drawing lessons from Argentina’s Vaca Muerta experience. Instead, Pakistan has continued to face heavy dependence on imported LNG and coal, placing additional pressure on foreign-exchange reserves and the balance of payments.

Agricultural policy presents another serious concern. Research and policy interventions affecting major cash crops, particularly cotton, must be examined for their long-term consequences for domestic production, textile exports and rural employment. Cotton is not simply another agricultural commodity; it is the foundation of Pakistan’s textile economy. Likewise, policy advocacy concerning the Indus Waters Treaty must be assessed against its implications for national water security. Environmental protection cannot become a pretext for weakening Pakistan’s sovereign negotiating position or compromising the interests of millions of people dependent on the Indus Basin.

When international development assistance intended to improve people’s lives is absorbed by conferences, expensive foreign travel, high-level symposiums and administrative expenditure, while ordinary citizens struggle with inflation, unemployment and poverty, the matter ceases to be an academic concern. It becomes an issue of public trust, institutional integrity and national accountability. Foreign grants are public-interest resources, not private entitlements.

The text urges the Prime Minister and Pakistani national institutions to enforce anti-corruption and national security laws equally across all individuals. It calls on security agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence, to establish a specialized mechanism to identify economic espionage, foreign interference, and sabotage in strategic sectors. Additionally, it demands that the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan conduct a comprehensive forensic audit of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, its leadership, funding, and consulting networks. Any misappropriated funds or proceeds of corruption identified during the investigation should be traced and recovered from domestic and international assets in places like Dubai, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Finally, it asks international development partners, financial institutions, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres to independently audit two decades of donor grants and projects channeled through the institute to ensure governance, performance, and financial compliance.

The 1997 words of Robert F. Horan Jr. should never define Pakistan or its people. Our poverty is not a national character flaw, and our economic difficulties must never become an opportunity for exploitation. The real measure of a sovereign nation is its ability to protect its poorest citizens, defend its natural resources and hold its most powerful individuals accountable.

If the United States can subject its most influential technology companies and executives to national-security regulations, Pakistan must have the institutional courage to examine its own policy networks, financial arrangements and strategic decision-makers. We cannot demand accountability from the world while tolerating unanswered questions within our own institutions.

The people of Pakistan have endured too much economic suffering to accept another generation of institutional negligence. Every rupee of public money matters. Every drop of Indus water matters. Every unit of affordable electricity matters. Every decision concerning our natural resources matters.

We appeal to the Government of Pakistan to act decisively, impartially and without political pressure. Investigate the evidence, follow the money, examine the institutional relationships and establish the truth. If wrongdoing is proven, those responsible must face the full force of the law. If allegations are unfounded, the same transparent process must clear those concerned. To counter the threat of economic espionage from adversary nations, the government must immediately form a dedicated task force comprising economists, engineers, and cybercrime specialists to safeguard strategic sectors and secure national economic interests.

History will not judge our institutions by the number of committees they establish or declarations they issue. It will judge them by whether they protected Pakistan’s economic sovereignty when it mattered most. The nation deserves nothing less.