If the government thought that increasing consumers’ electricity bills many times over by sliding fuel adjustment charges into them – especially since the additional charges are at times more than 200 times the original bill – would not immediately trigger a harsh revolt, then it just did not have its hand on the pulse of the people; which ought to be unforgivable for a ruling party in the present circumstances. In terms of economic management, especially, such policies can only be termed ridiculous, more so because they are not communicated to those who are going to be most effected by them ahead of time. High inflation, particularly in food items, and insufficient job opportunities have already pushed much of the country’s population against the wall. And for the government to resort to such tactics to inflate its own balance sheet reeks of a disturbing disregard for the lives and livelihoods of people whose votes it relies on to stay in power. The recent drubbing in the KP local body polls should have been a strong reminder for the government that it has taken its eye off the ball. Yet even in that case the prime minister chose to blame wongly distributed tickets for the loss, not the government’s policies and how they are rubbing the people the very wrong way. The whole situation becomes that much darker when you realise that these charges and price hikes are only the tip of the iceberg and the people will have more to lament once the government presents the much-hyped mini-budget in the national assembly as a necessary prior condition for reviving the IMF program. It will withdraw billions worth of subsidies and impose billions worth of more taxes, making the lives of people, especially those at the very bottom of the food chain, even more miserable. So far the government’s response to all such things is that somebody else is always to blame for each one of them. Sometimes it’s Covid, other times its mafias and/or hoarders, etc, but mostly it’s previous governments; and never PTI. This, too, must change and the people should see not just better policies, abut also a show of responsibility. *