Comments on Professor Huda’s Conference Address: “Planning Experience in Pakistan”

It is a privilege to have been invited to comment on Professor Huda’s Conference Address. It is worth noting that five out of the eight gentle¬men whose comments appear in this symposium have been students of Pro¬fessor Huda himself, no small achievement by one of the most successful teachers of his generation in this country. Ironically enough, the institution where Professor Huda has spent his whole teaching career (and hopefully will return to) does not have any of these presumably distinguished economists in its current roll; nor, for that matter, are any of them, save a solitary exception, currently serving any university in the country. But let us get down to business. 1.2 In his characteristically lucid exposition of experience and prob¬lems in planning, Professor Huda has touched upon issues in a range too wide for a commentator to do justice to within the constraints of space allotted to him. I shall confine my comments to two of the issues only, viz., repayment of external debt, and the strategy of generating higher income in the {private) capitalist sector. Other issues will be discussed, I hope, by other more competent colleagues in the panel.