Daily Times

What are people supposed to make of the claim of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz that the government was working on a strategy to control inflation and stabilise prices of essential commodities? One was just forced to notice that once again, like he and other ministers have done so many times before, there was no real breakdown of what that strategy really might be. Sure, he said the same old things about hoarding, how the practice is such a menace and one of the biggest reasons for the price hike, and that the government is doing what it can to control it and expose everybody behind it, but that is it. It’s as if people are supposed to listen to these statements every other day and just go back to the shop and pay the same elevated price that, according to the government, ultimately only benefits the bad guys.

The country is only just making international headlines about its miraculous rebound from the depths of the coronavirus threat. Exports, revenue collection, even remittances have picked up. But while all that is very welcome nobody should forget that the national kitty would look only so much better if the common man on the street struggles more every day to afford basic necessities of life like food items. In fact, the reason that the country got a hold on the virus so successfully was the prime minister’s concern for the poorest of the lot. If we too had remained shut down completely like every other country then our daily wagers would have begun to die of hunger, starvation, etc.

Yet now that the economy seems on track and growing, it would be a shame if that same segment is left out of the good times. The government has been aware of rising food prices for the longest time, and in this time it has made the tallest promises, yet not even so much as a breakdown of what it intends to do has reached the press or the people. It must therefore reevaluate its position immediately and come up with a workable plan that can be shared with everybody. *