Daily Times

If the multi-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has been able to rise from the dead and grab the initiative once again, it is only because of mismanagement of so many things on the part of the government. It wasn’t long ago that senior ministers and the PM’s many aides were firing off tweets, claiming that the last nail in PDM’s coffin had been hammered in; and it was a self-inflicted wound because of all the differences between its two principal parties – PML-N and PPP. And now it’s no surprise that the alliance has been able to take to the streets once again because it is so easy to rally people around the failing economy; especially unbearable inflation.

It doesn’t help the government that PDM rallies have coincided with the rising of Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which caused its usual trouble in Lahore, in which three policemen were killed and many others injured, before marching on to the capital. And it’s also very obvious that the rush in international commodity prices mean that inflation is not going to go away in a hurry, which is why it was smart of the opposition to call upon traders, businessmen, and students in their speeches as they lay the blame of everybody’s troubles on the government’s inability to control prices.

The government clearly needs to improve its governance as well as its strategy to deal with such protests. Ministers claiming that the inflation rate in Pakistan is lower than regional countries stand only to have egg on their faces once other indicators, like per capita income, purchasing power, and average wages are also taken into account because economic indicators can never be studied in isolation. PTI’s leadership must realise that the only way to win public favour in this environment is to move beyond promises and verbal attacks to actual on-ground performance. The announcement that some “relief package” will be announced “soon” is not going to calm anybody down because people have been listening to such promises since this government came to power. And inflation has been a problem since its tenure started; during which it first blamed the previous government for it, then mafias, and now it is taking refuge behind international price trends.

From making people’s lives miserable to wrecking plans of businesses, inflation is now raising the political temperature as well as the election draws near. So far it seems that the government does not have a concrete plan to deal with the pressures that are building. *