We would appeal to the protesters’ sense of patriotism, but they long since made it abundantly clear that they are more than willing to achieve their political ends. We would like to address the voters of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a very simple request: if the PTI continues its protests in Islamabad, the only lender currently willing to finance the Dasu Dam, which will bring in $8 billion worth of capital investment and construction jobs in your province, will likely pull out. Instead of once again becoming — literally — the powerhouse of Pakistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be reduced to a rump province.
We could, of course, list the multiple levels on which this would be bad for the country. Yes, it would require us to borrow money to build the dam, but this is the good kind of debt: the kind that builds critical infrastructure for the country. It would substantially increase electricity production capacity at the lowest possible marginal price and with the lowest possible environmental impact. And we could potentially lose it all because a leader cannot seem to understand the concept of proportionality. Does any of this matter to the chest-thumping nationalist supporters of the party? Or is their lust for power too great for them to care? Even take a look at the whole exercise of not paying your utility bills. How is that going to unseat a popularly-elected government? Perhaps, the only thing that this will achieve will be to cause major problems for all those who do burn their electricity bills, since the party leader will not be around to help get their connections restored. Such ideas are nothing more than populist gimmicks and do little to resolve any serious problems.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2014.
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