Cruel summer

As this cruel summer of power breakdowns seemingly stretches on indefinitely, there seems little we can do to convince the authorities to provide some relief from the constant loadshedding. The people of Mianwali finally had enough after 18 hours without electricity and took to the streets. Rather than reacting with sympathy and empathy, the police fired on the suffering protesters, killing two of them. Misplaced optimism might lead us to believe that this would be the final straw but Pakistan does not operate in that way. Rather, if there is to be any change for the good, it will come because portions of the Sindh Chief Minister House had to do without electricity for all of 90 minutes. For high-level government functionaries, the idea of living like the people who voted them into power is unthinkable and may just spur them into action. Here is how things work in Pakistan. We do not produce close to enough electricity for the whole country and so loadshedding — often lasting more than half the day — is necessary. When we complain to the electricity companies, we are given a complaint number that is in the thousands and it may take days to repair any faults, that is if anyone bothers to show up at all. Another rule is in operation for chief ministers, governors and ministers. Their offices and official residences are to be provided electricity at all times. If there happens to a breakdown, it is essential that instant service be provided to them. Government officials don’t need to riot in the streets because an angry phone call is all it takes for their power to be restored.

What is so galling is the double standard that is in play. The chief minister is supposed to be our representative; he should suffer the way we do. Those who have the power to do something about our electricity problems have no incentive to take any action because they do not suffer from loadshedding. We need to stop discriminating in favour of influence and position so that those in charge may finally take this problem seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2011.