Mind you, that's if you manage to get a Pakistan International Airlines plane! Apparently, the European Union bureaucrats have told Pakistan not to bother flying three quarters of their planes into anywhere near any European airport, because of the poor maintenance record of PIA . It's anecdotal evidence, but at least in Manchester Airport, anytime a Pakistani aircraft lands, it is checked with closer than usual scrutiny for substances carried above and beyond the call of aviation duty.

Then you usually have somebody or other from all over the world usually wagging their fingers at Pakistan. Usually it's the Americans, the latest being Vice President Cheney, who was on the finger-wagging trip. Every other week or so, an American general, ambassador, congressman, senator, bureaucrat, or somebody else will toddle over and poke the Pakistanis to do more about the Taliban and other assorted jihadi's. And all this is not even mentioning the official U.S. sanctions which are still applied on Pakistan. Others who are further away are bit more discreet, but generally, Pakistan's neighbours do go about the finger-wagging and furrowed brow exercise quite frequently. Heck, even the Saudi's check the Pakistani Hajj pilgrims closely for drug trafficking and visa irregularities. Take a close look at this vivid example. Even marriages are not immune. If you want to marry a Pakistani, and you are a citizen of another country, be prepared for a spot of bother about an official checking your spouse out.

Economically, Pakistan is looking a bit better, but still Foreign Direct Investment is meagre, so there's that sort of mental block/wall as well. The growth which Pakistan has seen is mostly because the expatriate Pakistani's are pulling their assets back from the world and sticking it into assets in Pakistan to avoid scrutiny. Pakistan is among the top seven 2007 politically risky countries according to the Eurasia Group and FDI magazine. Money transfers from Pakistan are scrutinised very closely, and the hawala system is now under tremendous pressure. Exports to Pakistan get checked that bit better, especially on dual use equipment! After Pakistani nuclear hero Abdul Qader Khan drove a coach and buggy through the nuclear non-proliferation scheme, exports and imports to and from Pakistan are checked and rechecked, or in some cases, not as the case might be. Pakistani banks and firms go through an extra level of scrutiny compare to other countries, but mind you, so do Nigerians! If you are wishing to travel to Pakistan, then you need to get extra approvals from your boss, the corporate security chief, the local embassy, etc. etc.

So, once I put these various bits and bobs together, I do get the strong feeling that Pakistan is definitely under the microscope, if not under quarantine. Not a good feeling to have, I am afraid. It reminds me of the old eighteenth century maps, just in reverse. In those maps, where there were dangers, pirates or just simply unknown territories, you would see notations like, "be careful as there be uglies/devils/pirates there". Seems like slowly the world is turning its back on this country by raising all forms of overt or covert walls and raising a big sign on the barred gate, "be careful as there be uglies there."

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!