Like insects. Crushed under the feet. Women and children. In the desperation to get one bag of flour. Not just a one-off. It is a daily routine. Stripped of their dignity. Standing in heat. Waiting for hours. Bags are thrown at them. Fighting for a bag and giving up their life for a 20-kilo C-grade flour. This is heart-wrenching. This is heartbreaking. But only for those who have a heart. But only for those who think they are human. The absolute apathy of the government on the plight of the country, the plight of the industry and the plight of the people of Pakistan are appalling. While the country is moving closer and closer towards a social eruption, the power centres are busy scheming on how to pose, behave, and operate as if they are and will crush all opposition, retaliation and rejection.
There is amazement in the country, and there is amazement in the world as to how come the most visible thing to all, the sinking of the country’s political economy, is not visible to the people who are running it. The IMF has said it. The World Bank has shown it. International publications have analyzed it. The whole country is screaming over it. Yet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday goes to the incomplete Lahore Flyover and spends the morning dismissing people and ordering its completion immediately. The kingpin, his brother and his daughter are of course royal guests of Saudi Arabia and are enjoying their spiritual sojourn, while the public perish in hell. This disconnect was always there but never so lethal and never so pinching as now. This realization that this difference in the lifestyles of those who rule and those who are ruled is now at an anarchical stage has still not sunken in. In the past, they have always managed to evade and escape. Times have changed as they are themselves behaving atrociously to leave people with no choices:
The Emperor’s New clothes-There are no two opinions on the country being led to crash both economically and politically. Yet, no impact on the government. It is the Emperor’s new clothes effect. It is a folklore tale by Hans Christian Anderson. The Danish emperor is obsessed with his glory and spends lavishly on his clothes at the expense of the state expense. Two swindlers arrive in the city and tell him that they are going to weave him clothes that will be so splendid but invisible to stupid or incompetent people. The emperor and his officials go to see the looms and all pretend and praise the clothes as none want to be classified as a fool. Finally, the day arrives and the emperor wears the suit and walks into the city. A child points out that he is wearing nothing but the emperor walks proudly being ridiculed by the public. This is the story of the PDM government. Ishaq Dar has been telling them that there is no default and IMF is coming in a few days. Rana Sanaullah has been giving open statements that there will be no elections. Under these assurances, the Prime minister is roaming around pretending all is well in the country. The public is not fooled and can see that the country has been brought to its knees by the incompetence and incapability of a government whose only intent is to prolong its lavish stay at the expense of public money. There is no plan for reducing deficits. There is no plan for increasing revenue. There is no plan to engage IMF with a real strategy. There is no plan to reduce inflation. There is no plan for the 3.9 million people who have been pushed below the poverty line. There is no plan to plan. The government is without direction, without action and contingency. Despite this huge crisis the PM and his family are proudly displaying their royal welcome in Saudi Arabia. This is not just ironic but hugely tragic.
There is amazement in the world as to how come the most visible thing to all, the sinking of the country’s political economy is not visible to the people running it.
2. The Foreign Policy Mutation-Like the PM, Like the FM. Foreign policy has almost been abandoned. The early rounds of the US and Europe to seek flood aid has petered out to some non-descript appearances by the Minister of State at important regional conferences. There is no US policy except to ask for more money to counter terrorism. There is no Europe policy except to ask for money for Climate change. Why would people call you on important meetings if you have nothing of intellectual substance to offer? The criminal negligence in constant exposé on Modi and the rather lame statements by our government is unforgivable. So much so that the Pulwama attack on Pakistan has created an uproar in India while Pakistan seems to be speechless on this topic. Pulwama was a self-induced false flag operation pinned on Pakistan. Satya Pal Malik was the governor of IIJK in 2019 when 40 soldiers died in an attack on a convoy and the whole blame was laid on Pakistan. In a recent interview with Karan Thapar, he said all of the internal security lapses were raised by him directly when Modi called him from outside Corbett Park shortly after the incident. He said the prime minister told him to keep quiet about this and not tell anyone. Separately, Satya Pal said that NSA Ajit Doval also told him to keep quiet and not talk about it. He said he immediately realised that the intention was to put the blame on Pakistan and derive electoral benefit for the government and the BJP. This was a mega scandal on which the DGISPR and the Foreign minister should have at the minimum held a press conference to splash the true face of India in the media. Nothing happened.
3. The voter Outrage- When a country is headless, it has no mind and sight to see the obvious. The PM thinks that by giving free bags of flour, they will curb the resentment simmering in the public. They feel by giving false reassurance of the IMF agreement happening they will counter the industrial anger. They feel that by giving some excuse for lack of funds, they will calm the voters. They are missing all these criticalities. The public is ready and waiting. They are waiting for the Supreme Court decision. They are waiting for the post-Eid reactivation. Then the real show of the power of the public will be on trial.
In folklore, the Emperor spent public money. The emperor’s men fooled him. He was too full of himself to see through them. He became an object of ridicule and mockery. The public had the last laugh. Unfortunately, in our country, there is a lot of anguish, screams and cries from the public, pushed and bruised against the wall. Let us hope these cries result in constitutional and legal redemptions rather than redemptions of blood and body.
The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com. She tweets at @AndleebAbbas