One way to write this article would be to begin with the pattern of events that started unfolding with the creation of Pakistan. However, I would rather narrate the events to which I have been a witness, although not a participant. I remember load-shedding, especially during the summers of the 1970s. The public was advised that, owing to low water levels in dams and reduced rainfall, electricity consumption should be curtailed. I remember sweltering summers and studying under lamps at night.
The Afghan War and Its Aftermath
Alongside load-shedding came the Afghan problem, and Pakistan suddenly offered to become a frontline state in the fight to save the free world. Although billions of foreign dollars were poured into the Afghan war, no serious effort was made to improve the country's infrastructure, industry or education, all of which could have contributed to GDP growth and long-term development. Consequently, when the dust of war settled, everyone left, while Pakistan was left with chronic problems of poor infrastructure, power outages, low economic growth and a growing low-skilled and undereducated population.
Water Tanker Mafia
However, Pakistan continued pursuing Kabul-centric foreign and defence policy goals that even the British Raj failed to achieve in Afghanistan. Simultaneously, the political elite, continuing their usual shenanigans, promoted the idea of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the 1990s under the pretext of overcoming load-shedding. Resultantly, because of poorly conceived projects and a lack of focus on industrialisation and skill development, the IMF was allowed in to underwrite the government's lavish and misguided ventures. Since then, IPPs and the IMF have continued to haunt the ordinary masses to this day.
Infrastructure and Environment
Come 2000, Pakistan once again became a pawn in the great game and was drawn into another destructive war, while industrial and economic development again took a back seat. Post-2010, national assets were privatised at throwaway prices, resulting in the creation of monopolies. Consequently, the masses are now suffering at the hands of sugar mafias, cement mafias, ghee mafias and others. In further insult to public intelligence, more IPPs were commissioned based on perceived future electricity demand. In deja vu fashion, foreign influence in Afghanistan once again packed up and left overnight, leaving Pakistan to deal with the blowback of the Afghan war, which continues to this day.
An Endless Virus
Thus, there appears to be a recurring template that is enacted every couple of decades because of some cosmic miscalculation: Pakistan becomes embroiled in a foreign misadventure and turns into its epicentre, but once the dust settles, the country is left to pick up the pieces and emerges economically and industrially weaker than before. Now, fast forward to the present day. Pakistan is once again at the centre of world diplomacy. Once considered a pariah state, it is now again being praised in Western capitals. However, the existential question remains: when the present roulette stops, where will the Pakistani masses find themselves? Nothing has changed for ordinary people. IMF loans have fuelled inflation, pushing large segments of society below the poverty line. Exorbitant electricity and gas rates caused by IPPs, along with excessive taxation and petroleum levies, have further deepened public suffering. The few resources available are either spent on issues disconnected from the public, consumed by debt servicing on foreign loans taken by the elite, or absorbed by the elite for the benefit of future generations.
Past in Perspective
Finally, our leaders vociferously claim to follow China's transformation journey, which began under Deng Xiaoping and continues under Xi Jinping. Deng prioritised industrialisation to lift China's massive population out of poverty and maintained a strict aversion to foreign entanglements and wars. Pakistan, however, since its inception, has remained trapped in recurring crises and conflicts that have pushed ordinary citizens deeper into poverty, debt and despair. In short, for the past seventy-five years, the political and ruling elite have had their fill while continuously promising hungry masses that better times are just around the corner. Those promised times, however, never seem to arrive.
Budget 2026: Reform Pressure and Balance
Ahsan Munir
The writer is a freelance columnist.
