Liberalism, as a political philosophy was good, it gave the human race, or at least the Western Europe Enlightenment, replaced the obsolete medieval modes and means of production, paved the way for the new ideas like Marxism, Anarchism and various others. However, the history took a dark turn then, where philosophy and economics transformed into post-modernism and neo-liberalism respectively. The free market took over the aggregate demand, and narratives overburdened the objective reality. Francis Fukuyama called it the ‘End of History’, by overruling Hegel and Marx.
Conversely, the 2008 global financial crisis overruled Fukuyama’s rhetoric, and today, in 2026, the aftershocks of Reaganomics and Thatcherism are annihilating the foundations of human survival, with such an intensity, through financial constraints and climate change, that Fukuyama himself is not a Fukuyamist anymore. As per the World Inequality Report 2026, the global bottom 50 percent captured 8 percent of total income and 2 percent of total wealth in 2025, whereas the global top 10 percent owned 75 percent of the total personal wealth and captured 53 percent of the total income in 2025.
Nonetheless, in Pakistan, the international poverty rate has reached 44.7 percent, according to World Bank, yet the labor departments and other watchdogs across the country especially in Sindh, seem like sawing logs amid snooze fest. Nasir Mansoor, a renowned union leader and the member of Sindh Minimum Wage Board told Daily Times, that out of 80 million workforce in Pakistan, 23 percent is allocated in industry, whereas 27 percent in the financial sector, among which 90 percent are skilled workers. He claimed that only 5 percent of the industrial sector complies with the government’s minimum wage policy, besides, the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) affirms to have registered 8 million workers, is exaggerated by 50 percent. While Sindh Employees Social Security Institution also professes 0.5 million registered workers, which, in actual, are not more than 0.25, he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is facing a wave of a narrative, called ‘Privatization’, with two of its peers, Deregulation and Liberalization. The phenomenon is known as neo-liberalism. A time, when the trailblazers of neo-liberalism are going protectionist and trying hard to get out of the existential crisis; Pakistan is glamorizing and reinforcing “the-government-has-nothing-to-do-with-business” and “Private-sector-has-to-lead-this-country” narratives. But, the fact is, in 1992, Pakistan had gone under a massive privatization of the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) for pennies on the dollar, and that mantra is still continuing in the form of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which has gone controversial already. The profits of the private sector multiplied along with the retrogression of the lifestyle of its employees. Even then, as of today, the economy of Pakistan is not capable enough to grow at the pace of 6 percent without a current account deficit. The question is, who is responsible for the surging inequality, escalating poverty and skyrocketing exploitation of labor? Were the SOEs privatized, or procured?
Most of the workers, especially the security guards in Karachi, work for 12 hours a day for merely 16 to 20 thousand rupees per month, without a single holiday the entire year. The irony is, most of them have to leave the job, just to go home for the Eid celebrations. Besides, another vulnerable target is the women workforce, often hired at lowest possible wages, especially housemaids and textile factory workers. Whereas, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) seems to be interested merely in occasional CSR activities, phony strikes against the government, and then backstage apologies. Besides, the International Women’s Day, which was supposed to raise voice for the working women rights, has unfortunately been captured by the postmodern, radical feminist movements with a touch of LGBTQ.
Again, it appears that the labor unions have also not played their part, what they had to play; what is going to be the course of history in the future, all dialectics seem to have failed.