Pakistani Business Takes on India, China

THEY call Yasin Lakhani, chairman of Karachi’s stock exchange, the “incorrigible bull”. And last Thursday he was in full charge when the index closed at a record 7,014. Lakhani is not the only bull in Pakistan’s commercial capital. A new wealthy middle class has been created in the five years since General Pervez Musharraf took over as president after a military coup. Since then the stock-market index has shot up by a factor of almost seven — and all the gains are tax free.