Industrialist, politician and the country’s former finance minsiter Miftah Ismail tweeted a clip on Monday from a recent conversation that he had with students at Karachi’s Habib University a few days earlier. The caption says that the contents of the clip did not go down well with some people while asking Twitterati for their opinion.

In the clip, he addresses the issue of social mobility in Pakistan while pointing out how Pakistani society is gearing towards making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

“Pakistan is for the one per cent,” said Miftah, who comes from a family of industrialists and confectionary makers, while thanking God for being born with the proverbial silver spoon. This frank reflection was not lost on the students who responded with laughter.

The soft-spoken PML-N leader said that if he were not the son of a businessman, then he would not have been able to be in the position that he is now. Miftah recently made way as finance minister to accomodate Ishaq Dar.

“Fifty to sixty years ago, his father was the richest person and today also he is the richest man and his children will also be rich,” he said to illustrate his point.

The same trend can be witnessed in politics, he continued, where most of the parties follow dynastic and hereditary politics.

“Pakistan is the only country, surprisingly, where doctor’s children become doctors. There are even special seats for doctor’s children - around 5% to 10% seats so that doctor’s children may get admission in Dow (Medical College), etc. That’s mind-boggling,” he continued.

He pointed out how the system was inherently skewed in favour of the rich and the skilled. “If someone’s father is a doctor, their mother is a doctor, then the parents can teach them, give tuition and help,” he said

“Help the children of a driver instead,” said the bewildered Miftah while talking o seat quotes.

Continuing his argument, Miftah pointed out that eight current judges of the Supreme Court (the top court can have a maximum of 17 judges) are from one school: the Aitchison College in Lahore.

Simiarly, half of Imran Khan’s cabinet back in the day belonged to the same school, he said. Imran Khan himself was a student of Aitchison, a British-era school for the children of Pakistan’s elite.

He lamented that so many brilliant minds could not reach their potential because of such policies and development models.

“If things continue the way they are, then the 4,000 children of [the rich] today will be the ones who will be ruling the country 40 years later. This is where Pakistan goes wrong,” Miftah concluded.