The budget, which is supposed to be an annual roadmap of the financial direction of a country, has become a mockery of juggled and disrespected economics. The figures released in the Pakistan Economic Survey of the past year’s performance are contested, with various vested interests denying the authenticity of the figures. The future projections are an attempt of somehow balancing the expenditures with revenues that have no connection with the ground reality. The life of an original budget announced is short and un-sweet. Barely a few weeks into its life, the budget is cut, chopped and changed according to the whims and fancies of the government, and soon after the extensive budget formulation exercise becomes a document nobody bothers or cares about.
The fact that there is a bomb blast nearly daily gets a routine response from all concerned. The government shrugs its shoulders, the public shakes its head in disbelief and the media goes hysterical at the multifold opportunities of breaking news. The government has heard such terrible things about itself from home, abroad, media, public, Google and WikiLeaks that they have dropped any pretence of caring for what is being said or perceived about them. Consider this: Hillary Clinton makes a brief visit to Pakistan and puts to task the government, military and the ISI and tells them in no uncertain terms that Pakistan will have to be at the beck and call of the American high command where the US will demand all intelligence from Pakistan and give none if it does not feel like it. The icing on the frosty cake was when she told the army to start military operations in North Waziristan at the earliest. The government, in perpetual denial, kept on giving statements that they had lodged protests with Hillary Clinton against the territorial encroachment and drone attacks but the reality pointed to a totally opposite direction where they were given a real dressing down by the Americans for daring to raise a voice against any of the American commands.
The apathy at the top is reflected in the apathy at all levels. Punjab has always been a separate country and has been at loggerheads with the federal government for proving its own superiority. The recent example of the Punjab government declaring that they are not going to take foreign aid is a typical, one shot, reactive approach where the purpose is not self-reliance but the desire to encash anti-government feelings. The PML-N’s philosophy of banking on the mood of the hour rather than a solid principled stance has cost them a huge dent in their vote bank. With a history of doing these emotional big bang activities with little impact, they have added to the economic ruin of the country. The 30-billion-rupee sasti roti disaster is one of the many examples where projects made without any heed to cost and benefit have saddled more burden on the fluctuating cash flows of the provincial exchequer. Yet they remain consistently oblivious to the after-effects of such irrational decision-making and behaviour.
Whether it is politics or sports, the same culture of arrogant dismissal of the consequences prevails in the country. Shahid Afridi has announced his retirement from international cricket not because he wants to hang up his boots and rest in retirement but because the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), with its autocratic chairman, has now become intolerable for him. In a team already reduced below par due to lack of experience and real stars, his exit will create a serious dent, but it is once again treated with disdain by the man in command of cricket as he happens to be a personal appointee of the president. The damage it will do to our team and the already tattered repute of our cricket board is a matter only the die-hard cricket fans of this country will feel. As far as the cricket board itself is concerned, these are matters unimportant.
One extremely dangerous trend of this merry-go-nobody’s-bothered vicious circle is that the killing spree has extended from just a two party clash to the members of civil society who dare to step into the land of murkiness and try to highlight the real truth. The sad killing of the journalist Saleem Shahzad is a reflection of how encouraged the wrongdoers are at the gay abandon attitude of the authorities towards the complete breakdown of all law and order in the country. Apparently, he had some crucial information on the PNS Mehran disaster that would have brought to the table facts too uncomfortable for some people in high places to digest and thus he had to be removed. We may speculate why it happened and how it happened but we all know we will never tack down those responsible for it. The case of Wali Baber of Geo TV and many more are still mysteries unsolved. Aside from journalists, teachers and professors have also become easy prey. The shooting of Professor Dashtiari of Balochistan University, the third professor to be shot from the same university, is frightening evidence of how huge this circle of desperados has become.
How low can a nation stoop in its basic value system depends on what level of tolerance its public has in accepting the wrong as right or rather not accepting what is wrong as right but still not doing much about it. That is the dilemma we are facing each day as a nation that cares enough to crib and complain yet glues itself to talk show parodies and thus does not care enough to actually decide that they will do whatever it takes to stop the nation from turning into a barbarian haven for all those who can pull triggers at whoever dares to be in contrast to their way of thinking. The public must realise that this growing monster of lawlessness and injustice is going to hit each one of them sooner or later. Thus, from both perspectives, personal and national, intolerance of this insanity of legal and moral destruction must be strongly, unitedly and persistently fought together with one voice and purpose to rise against this flood of injustice and apathy. That is how it happened in Egypt, that is how it has always happened in history and that is how it will happen in our country.
The writer is a consultant and can be reached at [email protected]