So this is why Pakistan is a failed state

I've always wondered why Pakistan has not been able to progress the way many other countries have, and why most of its citizens are so illiterate. Every now and then, there's a suicide attack (like the one in Quetta yesterday), or a bomb blast, or an honor killing, or brothers killing each other over property disputes. Lack of a good education, of course, is the main reason, but why are our people so illiterate?

It turns out that instead of factories, we have been building mosques and seminaries (madressahs) in the country. There are more than half a million mosques (about 600,000) and about 50,000 madressahs, compared to only 23,000 factories. This is why people want to leave the country and try to reach Europe via boats or other illegal channels. But so many mosques and madressahs in the country results in most of our children growing up without acquiring any marketable skills. Even those who are skilled can't find jobs due to the dearth of factories. So these madressah graduates occupy plots and build mosques there. Later, they build houses for themselves. Naturally, when the owners of the plots return from abroad, they cannot demand that the mosques and houses be demolished. 

So the mosques and madressahs will keep on increasing, and we'll see more and more unemployed men with dozens of children who will grow up to be criminals or suicide bombers.