JANUARY
6, 2020
It’s been over 15 months since the Dear Leader was imposed
upon us in the hope that he would easily change the fate of the country. In
these months, the country’s debt has grown by another trillion-and-a-half (more
than a hundred billion rupees every month). Those who were stupid enough to
believe that he could do the impossible, most of them are now bitterly
regretting they voted for PTI. But the truth is the emperor isn’t wearing
anything. Yet his minions keep telling him that his clothes are the finest in
the land.
And it soon became clear that he would never be able to bring
back the supposedly looted two hundred billion dollars stashed abroad by those
who preceded him. It is doubtful if there is that much illegally earned
Pakistani money in foreign countries. So it was only inevitable that gas and
electricity rates would be increased to help the Great Khan maintain his precarious grip on power. On New Year’s
day, when petrol prices were again increased, TV channels showed people
wringing their hands in despair, some of them on the verge of tears, but I
doubt if it had any effect on Kaptaan (assuming that he saw the videos, or read
about it in the papers). This makes me wonder why hungry people are not out on
the streets; demonstrating against the continuous torture inflicted upon them
by the unscrupulous ones who promised them utopia.
I believe it’s the charity of well-to-do Pakistanis, which has
saved the country from turmoil. Charitable organisations (like Sailani, Edhi
and Chippa) feed thousands, if not millions, of hungry people daily. I have
noticed that until recently those being fed were usually very poor, but now you
can see plenty of people there who would have preferred to die rather than be
seen standing in line for the free meals. I’ve also heard that the downward
slide in the economy has considerably reduced the amounts donated to these
charitable organizations and hospitals which provide free treatment to the
poor. The stupid measures taken by our equally stupid leaders have caused a
steep rise in the number of hungry and poor people in the country.
And the tragedy is that it wouldn’t have been so very
difficult to turn the economy around. We’ve had very efficient finance
ministers in the past, like the late Dr Mahbub-ul-Haq (who turned South Korea
into an Asian Tiger). His formula was simple: increase taxation by ten per cent
every year, while reducing expenses by an equal amount. Instead of following
this method, our emperor has increased expenses phenomenally (his cabinet is
the largest in recent history), while doing practically nothing to increase
revenue (like stopping smuggling and taxing the property and agricultural
sectors). And with NAB now having been made practically redundant, we can
expect corruption to further increase.
With war clouds hovering over the region, it will become
increasingly difficult to balance the books. Oil prices are expected to rise
further, adding to the country’s woes. The government should immediately embark
upon cost-cutting measures, like curbing fuel consumption by its ministers and
bureaucrats. It would be a good idea for it to send some of its ministers home,
as they have proved to be highly inefficient and useless. But if that is done,
who would tell the Dear Leader that he is the best thing to have happened to
Pakistan?
The writer is an engineer, a former
visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College
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