The bugle call

The IMF-dictated budget is out now to distress the already wide-eyed nation, particularly the people belonging to the lower and middle-class sections of the society. The budget that aimed to please the IMF was avowed to be people-friendly and in favour of in dire straits economy of Pakistan by the PML-N-led government’s finance minister.

Miftah Ismail reiterated that some tough decisions are to be made to put the country’s ‘in extremis’ economy back on track but the people in peril are well aware of the fact that the “tough decisions” were made merely to please the monetary body (IMF). All the key decisions were taken under IMF’s influence including the increase in salaries of the government employees while the finance minister acted as a go-between IMF and Pakistan assigning the guilt to PTI.

The thunderous blow hit hard to the in-misery-nation as the costs of daily commodities along with transportation fares will jack up adding insult to the injuries of the masses, especially the poor segments. With the new or increased taxes, withdrawal of subsidies, and the hiked prices of petroleum products along with revised electricity and gas tariffs, the government has been pushing the nation towards a death bed and the political crisis is similar to twisting the knife in the wound.

The unveiling of the so-called people-friendly budget has left a lot of uncertainty regarding inflation and the third time announcement of jacked-up fuel prices is a mighty blow for the unprivileged people. The vagueness of the situation has led to lowered investment in the private sector which will further cause a dent in the economy.

The government’s bigwigs have been lambasting the previous leaders alleging them as incompetent for the roles as it has been customary for years to blame the previous governments for all the losses on the economic front. Miftah Ismail during his pre and post-budget speeches maintained that the PTI-led government is in the wrong of the prevailing economic and political plight in the country turning a blind eye to the exemplary economic growth in the last two years of the Imran Khan’s government.

It is quite difficult now to point the finger at where things went wrong but it is high time for the nation either to embrace the ball game or to take exception to it. We are so accustomed to such budgets that we remain unwilling to take the matters at hand. The pie-in-the-sky promises of all the governments have been keeping us all in the cages with no robustness left to grapple for a whiff of fresh air.

A major chunk of the society has been paying the price of their existence and carrying piles of responsibilities on their shoulders from feeding their families to managing the power outages amid scorching weather. While the segments relishing power and opulence paint a black picture of our country. It is time for the common man to step forth with passion and steer the country towards better days.