Pakistan is in the grip of a severe economic crisis in its history.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is in the grip of a severe economic crisis in its history. However, no single person is to be held responsible because this situation is a manifestation of our own behaviour. We spend more than we earn as individuals as well as a nation. Our leaders’ fascination with luxury watches and vehicles set by ambitious lifestyle compels them to crave for more, be it through unfair means or borrowing. Right or wrong, legend has it that one of our top leaders who sought loan from lending institutions went to their office in his luxury car and parked it outside the office. The chief of the lending institution was late to meeting. When he came in, he tauntingly said that he got late because he could not find the appropriate place to park his bicycle as most of the space was taken up by huge luxury cars outside. Our leadership hasn’t changed its ways over time. They keep having royal ways of living while the country keeps spiralling down the debt trap. The progenies of our leaders keep bragging about their popularity and how well they ran the country. Each party is busy pulling the leg of others claiming they are best at running the country and their opponents are failing. They don’t realise that the issues of economic crisis and inflation can only be solved if people from all segments of society work together. The rich and wealthy such as businessmen, industrialists, bureaucrats, high government officials and landowners have to make sacrifices so that the masses can breathe a sigh of relief. Mere exchanging accusations of malpractices against each other is not the solution. It is rather an attempt to throw the poor into the inferno of misery.
Raja Shafaatullah
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2020.
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