Please take more action

Over the past week or so, the caretaker prime minister has had a difficult time controlling public expectations. Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar acted swiftly to allay public anxiety when demonstrations over the sharp increase in electricity rates first started. He assured the populace that he would obtain some sort of relief. He didn’t seem to have done his research on the financial situation of the nation.
He is now informing the populace that they “have to pay the bills” after receiving a reality check from his cabinet and the IMF. However, several of those bills had already been set on fire. As people waited for the PM to deliver, many are also likely to have fallen overdue, incurring further fines. Mr. Kakar has a negative reputation since he unintentionally created more problems than he intended to fix. The incident may be used as a cautionary tale about how even the best-intentioned actions can worsen societal problems.
Even if Mr. Kakar may not be able to provide any immediate “relief,” he is still in charge of leading the nation during these uncertain times. He instead appears to be rather removed from the realities on the ground as the man charged with “taking care” of Pakistan until elected representatives are sworn in. On Friday, Mr. Kakar told a group of journalists and TV hosts that he believed political parties were behind the outbreak of public protests against skyrocketing prices.”I am aware of their situation. He reportedly said, “I would have done the same if I were to run in the [upcoming] election.” Even if nothing else, the comment conveys a lot about the PM’s point of view on the matter. The country’s stability is being threatened by the desperate citizens, who are not a chance for politicians to squeeze for electoral benefit.
Mr. Kakar just needs to read the Fiscal Risk Statement 2023–24 from the Ministry of Finance to see the serious threat inflation poses to the nation’s external stability. According to the research, energy price uncertainty is “the main upside risk” to Pakistan’s inflation outlook. In plainer terms, Islamabad’s leaders must exert enormous effort to prevent the collapse of the Pakistani economy unless the dollar miraculously stops rising and world petroleum costs abruptly fall.
The government can no longer view most citizens’ everyday struggles as “non-issues” in the context of its overall strategy because the expense of living has already reached an unsustainable level for the majority of people. A sustained downturn in economic conditions may lead to broader social discontent, which will make managing the economy considerably harder than it already is. The decision-makers should take action before the nation falls into that vicious loop. This is now an existential issue rather than a political one.