Daily Times

The shambolic display of disconnecting the supply of electricity to the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the Supreme Court and Parliament was mere theatrics for the many and numerous talk shows that have mushroomed in the country. It was nothing more than naked desperation on the part of the bizarre Minister of State for Water and Power rather than any serious affront to these echelons of power. The power was restored within hours on the orders of the minister’s uncle, Nawaz Sharif, and the commotion was over. As the country starts to sizzle while the scorching heat rises after a delayed onset of summer, the waxy edifice of the false proclamations and haughty promises of this semi-religious right-wing leadership has begun to melt. The power cuts and the ‘load shedding’ have struck back with a vengeance.

The vociferous Minister of state Mr Abid Sher Ali, well known for his remarks often verging on buffoonery, has been using the issue of the non-payment of electricity dues that run into hundreds of billions of rupees from the institutions of the state and other official departments. He has made it a political stunt by taking an aggressive stance and making scathing attacks against the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh that are being run by the PTI and the PPP, consequently unleashing more meaningless political squabbling, accusations and counter-accusations. These political gymnastics are in reality only a cover for the real issues daunting society.

It is not just towns and villages in Pakhtunkhwa but also Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab that do not pay their electricity bills. This practice has been going on in some areas ever since the electric supply to these areas started. They cannot afford it and, after decades of accessing electricity without paying, it is unlikely they are going to do it now. Most of these areas are economically backward regions whose pre-medieval tribal social structures have been badly caricatured with the intrusion of black money and saturated with heavy weapons along with banditry and gangsters ruling the roost, and the state institutions being too weak and impotent to impose their writ.

However, the biggest electricity thieves are the big industrialists and landlords like the Sharif conglomerate who have devised ingenious, covert and meticulously engineered ways to go undetected for this pilferage. Larceny is not confined to electricity; it goes far deeper into all different aspects of the economy and society. Corruption is rampant amongst the ruling elite, including the civilian and military bureaucracy, exposing the real character of the national bourgeoisie of this country, which cannot sustain its political, social and economic existence without having to resort to corruption and other criminal practices. Along with exemptions from customs duties, direct income taxes and other state provisions, they have now become habitual defaulters of massive loans with open patronage from the Sharif regime. This is not accidental; it is essential for this decaying system. There are no ‘ideological’ or political differences within this elite. These ruling clans have at least one family member in the upper echelons of the bureaucracy, military, judiciary and almost every mainstream party or the coalitions that have recently been the norm in this corrupt political circus. Whether it is a civilian or military set up, it is a win-win scenario for this evil nexus of capitalists, landlords, judges, generals and top bureaucrats as its interests are covered and preserved. The elite families have a palpable presence in this evil nexus.

Then there is imperialist intervention in the economy, politics and the state. The imperialist plunder through coercive loans, extortionist foreign investments and aid projects has its own booty allocated in these deals for this parasitic elite. One blatant example is the private independent power producers that invested here in the late 1980s when crude oil was only $ 14 a barrel as opposed to over $ 100 a barrel today. The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have extracted mammoth profits worth tens of billions of dollars in the last two decades. Let us not forget our corrupt rulers have been paid hefty commissions from this plunder.

These private power firms produce far less than they could. The state exchequer, almost crippled and bankrupt, ends up defaulting and this leads to colossal piling up of the ‘circular debt’, which reached five billion dollars at its peak and was paid back by the present regime as soon as it came to power with a scrounging loan from the IMF. It has now soared to almost the same level. The IPPs have again cut their mainly fuel-fired electricity production and the vicious cycle of load shedding has recommenced with excruciating torment for the ordinary people. The state-owned hydro and other power generating units are in a run down condition and that worsens with the lack of state funding in the power infrastructure. The state is already depleted with record fiscal and budget deficits. Hence no money!

However, the capitalists are now eyeing this sector with lust and greed for the enormous profits in it. The native Chicago boys who funded Sharif are now in the driving seat in formulating his energy policy and will be the main winners in the forthcoming ‘transparent’ privatisation. The numerous new projects may produce a great surplus of electricity, whether it is from coal-powered plants or from other sources, but it will not solve the underlying fundamental problem. The country already has the capacity to produce 23,000 megawatts of electricity — far in excess of the running consumption, which is about 15,000 megawatts. So there is already an overcapacity but the masses are suffering in these agonising power cuts paralysing daily life. With an increased power producing capacity, this problem cannot be solved.

Most of the new projects are in the private sector and about 31 state-owned units are being privatised. The main investors are the Chinese and other imperialist corporations along with national corporate vultures. They are entering this sector only due to the high rates of profit. With the removal of subsidies and increase in tariffs, the actual purchasing capacity of the vast populace will unravel in a downward spiral. This ‘new’ electricity will go even further beyond the reach of the ordinary people. The vicious cycle will go on. The basic law of capitalism is production for one purpose only: to increase the rate of profit. This insatiable lust forces wages to be cut and prices to soar. Hence the scenario confronting the masses is further misery under this loathsome and exploitative capitalist system. It has dismally failed to provide the masses with electricity, as is the case with many other basic and crucial necessities of life. Without the expropriation of the production and supply of the power sector, this deprivation cannot be eliminated. And this goes for all sectors of industry, agriculture and the commanding heights of the economy. In other words, without a socio-economic transformation, there is no light at the end of this pitch dark and harrowing tunnel of capitalism.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and international secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com