Daily Times

When ordinary citizens protest on the roads with highly inflated electricity bills, it means the national economy is sinking and warrants urgent attention by the government. Even if the unelected government cared less about the public pressure caused by inflation, the public hardships would not lessen. Recently, the departed PDM government blames the previous PTI government while the latter blames the former for leaving behind the economy in shambles.

How do the taxpayers view the present state of the economy? They believe that every government that comes to power is top-heavy and its bureaucrats live beyond the national income. Their salaries, privileges and housing consume a major portion of the budget. Besides, the governments spend far more on official buildings than required, for example, the NADRA building in Jauhar Town and the Punjab Food Authority building near Thokar Niazbeg. Such buildings are supposed to be centrally air-conditioned when we know the existing state of electricity. Neither it’s likely to improve in the near future.

In any case, whom do we want to impress? Are we a nation of show-offs? When a so-called VIP travels in a cavalcade of vehicles and the ordinary travellers on the same road are barricaded to give him uninterrupted access, doesn’t he know what people would think of him? Why do the judges and bureaucrats of sorts feel insecure in their own country and travel in the cordon of security details? If they were part of a foreign occupation force, they could be justified to show off their superior status but not in the country where they were born, bred, and grew up.

Black yawning holes gulping the taxpayers’ hard-earned money must be filled.

Moreover, what ails the society the most is the curse of nepotism. One wonders if there’s any other country in the world where this menace is as deeply entrenched as it is in our dear land. Even though there are many reasons for the decay and degradation of our society and its institutions, nepotism tops the list. A civil service officer’s son joins the civil service, a judge’s son becomes a judge and similarly, a police officer’s son joins the police service. And how unjust it is that the slots they occupy are not always filled on merit. Supremacy of merit has little importance in the administrative system. Be that a democratic government or the one superimposed.

During the recent legal cases filed in the courts, the nation learned how like-minded judges passed decisions to suit certain politicians. The judiciary rightfully earned its 130th position out of 139 nations in The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index. Incidentally, it’s in place to quote the status of Pakistan’s passport which is a notch or two better than Afghanistan’s passport. Afghanistan’s passport has the lowest status among the world’s passports. Why are we topping from the bottom? The intellectual classes and the think tanks must study it seriously to determine what’s keeping our country so low in stature as compared with other countries.

And to add to the country’s troubles, the population is galloping. We have already touched 240 million heads according to a recent survey. The educated class has fewer children but the uneducated lower classes of the society grow much faster, as if they’re in some kind of competition. Visit a far-flung village and you find hordes of children playing around in the streets. Invariably many of them are Afghanis. Unregistered Afghan families multiply faster and add to the increasing population as well as crime.

However, the good news is that the COAS has taken it upon itself to rejuvenate the economy by winning the confidence of the Arab states to invest in Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has committed to invest $25 billion in the country in the next five years. Similarly, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are interested in investing in the country since vast opportunities exist to invest, especially in Balochistan. Although thinly populated, the largest province of the country – Balochistan – offers a wealth of unexplored minerals in its parched land.

The COAS was also quoted as saying that Rs.1.3 trillion being spent on the state-owned enterprises must be stopped. In other words, the black yawning holes gulping the taxpayers’ hard-earned money must be filled. He may have pointed toward the Pakistan Steel Mills, the PIA and other SMEs in the country. Understandably, both Russia and China were interested in taking over the PSM but the offer was declined. Why? The mystery remains. But dumping the loss-making dinosaurs is in the national interest.

Gen Asim Munir is also determined to return all those Afghans who are living illegally in the country. Only registered Afghan families could be allowed to stay back in Pakistan. The unregistered Afghan refugees must return to their homeland. Afghanistan is now independent and ruled by its own people.

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com