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The writer is a retired professional based in Karachi
Khisht-e-awwal chun nahad memar kaj
Ta Surraya miravad deewar kaj
(When the builder lays the first brick crooked, the wall will remain crooked even up to the star
Surraya — known in English as the Pleiades).
This Persian couplet, attributed to Saadi, is more than a poetic aphorism; it is a timeless truth about foundations, be they walls or nations.
Some time ago, Pakistan's Finance Minister held a press conference brimming with optimism and carefully chosen numbers. When confronted with the IMF's stark critique of our economic mismanagement, he brushed it aside, pointing to longstanding structural problems dating back to independence. But here lies the problem: no structure — economic or architectural — can stand straight if its first bricks were laid crooked.
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