Toshakhana. March to the capital. TV programs on old scandals. Gogi’s corruption. Smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors.
On the other side – other than these loose talks – Pakistan is on the verge of financial collapse. It’s almost bankrupt.
Let’s move gradually. International rating agencies have already downgraded Pakistan. IMF is with a knife on our jugular vein. Funds from Saudia are not coming. They said no. No from China too after messing with CPEC for years, particularly under Pizza Bajwa’s reign of terror. ADB funds of $1.5 billion – which we received weeks back – have already been dusted.
$1.5 billion is almost Rs.333 billion. I’m sure not a single billion has floated in the flooded regions of the country. Apropos, flooded water is staying this winter. The situation is going to get worse but it’s fine. If you change your TV channel, things change. Nothing happens if you switch.
Cricket is over. No problem. Switch to FIFA. Useless indulgences never end. Never. Even then, Messi must win the World Cup. It’s vital.
Anyway. We have wrong priorities. Wrong men. Wrong place. Wrong time. Perfectly dark comedy.
The Joker in the PM House has no clue. He is clueless. He thought he can walk here and there like he used to do in Punjab, and with a couple of suspensions, things will be fine. He brought Miftah and failed. The elder Joker sent his Dar home to do magic. Daronomics. Dark comics. Failing again.
One reason for being here today is Dar. Not a sole reason but surely a reason.
The blame is not on one individual or political party. Pakistan has been trying and testing big names in the Finance Ministry, but all have failed. They all failed because they all were rich elites. They all had their eyes on the wrong side. And that view never had public-at-large in perspective.
Asad Umar – who was promoted as the Financial Messiah from 2013 to 2018 – took three months to fail. He was a complete lie in himself. As a CEO of Engro from 2004-2012, he made a cartel to increase the prices of Urea from Rs.850 per 50 kg bag to Rs.1,580 in 2010 (an 86% increase). CCP fined Rs.8.6 billion on Fauji Fertilizer and Engro Fertilizers on making this cartel. Now imagine, Asad Umar actually working for poor, lower, and middles classes of this country. He can’t.
Same were the other stories. Shamshad Akhtar. Hafeez Sheikh. Hammad Azhar. Shaukat Tarin. Miftah Ismail. And then ultimately to the point from where it started, Ishaq Dar. A complete vicious circle.
Before all these, we had Shaukat Aziz too. He messed things uglier than all these.
The point is, the country is crumbling and there is no one to save. And no one can. These rich Finance Ministers have nothing to lose. And they have no idea of how the system works for the wellbeing of the public. All they know is to keep on asking more and more from outside.
When Khan was on right track – long before coming to power – he had a clear narrative of not borrowing. And that narrative can work, as it did in other countries. It can work anytime in this country with right priorities on agenda and cutting useless costs.
Even now, in all provinces of Pakistan, there are development schemes which are utilizing billions of rupees only to cut ribbons for the sake of future elections. The parliamentarians keep on bugging Administrative Departments to have something in their locality so that they can cut ribbon before elections. Sometimes, even empty rooms and buildings are constructed for nothing. Keeps on happening. Continuously. Billions going in drain.
And Administrative Secretaries – my gorgeous bureaucrats – are so pathetic in their big seats that they can’t sustain with ‘no’. They say ‘no’ to powerless. ‘Yes’ to powerful. ‘Testicular Massage’ to the absolute powerful. Bureaucracy is a hierarchy of bastards. That functions around lickable testicles, even when there are no testes involved. Remember Marla had testicular cancer?
Hence, even public servants cannot represent public.
The system needs an overhauling. Coming back to Nawaz, Zardari, Khan in a loop is not going to solve the problem. Coming back to Dar after testing dumb old guys in Finance will never solve a problem. They are all businesspeople. They are bourgeoise. No proletariat is there to represent you.
Now coming to the crux. Even these all are not to be blamed alone.
Intelligence agency has already started examining bureaucrats. So, the one who lick best are given higher priorities. So that they may keep on licking. And intelligence is part of the dumb boys. The boys who rule and keep a string attached to everyone single politician and judge. It’s a militarized cage with no escape in sight.
It’s like a brothel. The prostitutes are inside, providing service to the public that can afford. A pimp outside is keeping an eye on all the guests and keeping track on the financial matters. And above all of them is a Naika – with the noticeable absolute power. But no. The SHO in the police station in the adjacent street is the man with absolute power. Apparently, he is safeguarding everyone, but actually, he is the Pimp-in-Charge of every fuck that happens around.
There is no solution. Not in the short run. Not soon.
The shackles of these attached strings to the private videos and calls needs to be shattered. Blackmailing shouldn’t be able to blackmail and blackmailers should be exposed. Puppet politicians and their puppet leaders should be defeated at polls. New and your politicians with a vision, manifesto and narrative must be tried. But that isn’t going to happen. Not any time soon. Because the SHO won’t let them win.
Nothing’s going to change. May be, another Summer will help to dry the flooded lands. But aren’t Monsoon to knock again during Summers? May be in another life. When we don’t have to born again.
#SakiNama
