Daily Times

To live but not to let live is the motto of those who have power over those who are powerless. As the weather heats up, the issues in temporary recession rear their ugly heads with a lethal effect on the public. Load shedding, dengue, target killings, spiralling inflation — all add misery to the already stressed and distressed lives of the majority of the citizens of this country. With so much missing and no hope in sight, the public reaction in the form of protests, bashing and looting is but inevitable. While the government celebrated its fourth year in power, the people of this country literally commiserated on the fourth year without power.

What has been on the rise in these four years is a sense of insecurity. Starting from life insecurity to food insecurity to economic insecurity, there is an endless list. The statistics are so glaring in their analyses of how deep the rot is that it is impossible to understand what the government feels elated about except for the fact that despite its worst actions, it has survived. For the ordinary man life is not worth much. His basic survival kit is now so expensive that many are considering all types of extreme measures to level a highly unlevel field. In the four years of the present government, the prices of basic supplies have climbed up from a minimum 50 percent to almost 200 percent This includes flour prices that have increased from Rs 22 per kg to Rs 36 per kg, while sugar prices have jumped 126 percent. While electricity and petrol charges have posted a 100 percent spike, diesel has taken the lead by registering a 176 percent increase in the last four years.

The war on terror seemed to have only one mission and that was to terrorise people to such an extent that they wanted to either flee from the country or flee from life. Over 30,000 people have been killed, many of them innocent, and costing almost $ 60 billion has impoverished the country not only of its already scarce resources but also of the ability to feel independent and confident in one’s own homeland. The crime rate has soared, suicides and depression are at an all-time high and sentiments about the future of the country are as bleak as they have never been.

For this great performance, most men in charge of this socio-economic wreckage have been awarded the highest honours of the country. ‘Dr’ Rehman Malik has been awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz award along with a string of his colleagues. The reason for getting this honour was his continuous struggle to fight terrorism. Dr Fahmida Mirza, Nargis Sethi and Farzana Raja also received awards, while Farhatullah Babar and Salman Farooqui were also included in this benevolent award dole-out list. Looking at the criteria for qualifying for this award, Firdous Ashiq Awan and Fauzia Wahab must be feeling completely stunned at not making it into this ‘illustrious’category’. However, one can almost feel sorry for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy at having received an award that only she truly deserved among all these people. She must be comparing that to her moment of glory when she received the honour at the Oscars having defeated the best of the best and then being subjected to receiving this award, surrounded by the worst of the worst.

This hall of fame includes some who put many of our public sector organisations in dire straits. Pakistan Steel is an example, which after being ravaged by some of these renowned award winners, was changing through a reform strategy to actually becoming profitable. In 2008, Pakistan Steel had a surplus of Rs 11 billion in the banks. For the last four years, it is suffering from a deficit of Rs 110 billion, a decline of 900 percent during the present government’s tenure. Similar is the deterioration in PIA and Pakistan Railways that are in financial ICUs, with no plans in sight for preventing further devastation.

When the worth of degrees and awards is less than the money spent on preparing the show, the sad tale of losing all value for the true and the deserving begins. Human beings strive for better when they are motivated by the thought of being awarded or rewarded. But when all you need is to please a few powerful people, the value attached to these honours diminishes to the extent of being worthless. The ability to struggle and achieve a better status in life keeps the progress lamp on. However, when the struggle for life becomes meaningless and what you see all around you is the most undeserving grabbing the share of the deserving, most people naturally become disbelievers in change or anything good in life. This mental state is the ripe ground for losing balance and going to extremes. Either they will join the gang of those who go headlong into a spree of breaking all principles to get what they feel is theirs or they will completely withdraw from the world and fall into a despair where the end of life becomes an attractive alternative to dismal living.

Despite facts screaming loud and clear, the leaders have become so engrossed in making it through the five-year period that they are least bothered about the agony caused to the common man by this apathy. Consequently, the public unrest is on the rise again. People are out against load shedding; nurses are out protesting on low wages; gangs are out again wanting an eye for an eye and law and order has become an extinct specimen. In all this mayhem, the irony of the situation is that the police have decided to incorporate a huge change in the department: the colour of their uniform would be changed from black to white. The high-ups of the police feel that by wearing white they will be able to change their performance and perception. Such actions denote the complete retardation of the mental faculties of the people running our institutions. It is this surface and shallow mentality that has let things deteriorate beyond control. However, it is also symbolic of how blind and disconnected they have become to the real issues of the public. Changing colours and announcing temporary relief in load shedding are typical examples of how not to understand and manage problems. This mental and emotional blindness eventually leads to a fall not only for others but eventually becomes their own nemesis.

The writer is an analyst, consultant and information Secretary of PTI Punjab and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com