Laraib Nisar
Since the time of its inception, Pakistan has been dealing with different structural, cultural, and administrative problems. Though successive governments played their due role in the resolution and prevention of challenges, the overall progress of the country was always adversely affected by such problems. Currently, Pakistan is faced by multiple issues which aren’t only impeding its development, but also destroying its image in front of the world. Some of the issues posed to Pakistan are:
COVID-19:
Pakistan was among the list of countries which tackled the global pandemic in an excellent manner. Its efforts in successfully managing the health crisis were acknowledged and praised by the supreme global health organization i.e., World Health Organization. However, the economic and social consequences of the pandemic are still the leading cause of Pakistan’s low development. The employment void created in the country hasn’t been filled even after two years and though the economic depreciation was controlled to a large extent, the lower and lower-middle socio-economic class has still not managed to come out of the financial crunch they faced at the hands of the pandemic. With the approaching winters, a surge in the positivity rate is expected because only 17 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated and a large chunk of the population is outside the vaccination net. Immediate efforts are needed to vaccinate as much people as possible to save the country from another fatal wave of the virus outbreak.
Dengue:
The country’s fragile health care system wasn’t over the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic when it was faced by the dengue fever outbreak especially in the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab. The number of cases is rising at an alarming rate and the already overburdened healthcare infrastructure isn’t capable of tackling the increasing number of affectees. In addition to causing economic and social problems, the disease outbreak is a threat to the national human resource as the mortality rate due to the disease is quite high. Though the government has started mass fumigation drives to get rid of the virus carriers, it is not practically and biologically possible to develop an environment without mosquitos (prime carriers of the dengue virus). The government needs to raise awareness among the public to take preventive measures at the personal level to avoid infections.
Inflation:
The last week, the Finance Division issued a notification stating the new price of petrol, effective from Oct 16, to be Rs137.79 per litre while that of high speed diesel to be Rs134.48. Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO) were increased by Rs10.95 and Rs8.84 per litre respectively. The new price of kerosene is Rs110.26 per litre and that of LDO is Rs108.35 per litre. This is perhaps the first time for which data is publicly available that all the four major petroleum products are being sold above Rs100 per litre in the country. Since the prices for almost all the commodities are directly linked with the price of fuel, the price hike disturbed the supply chain and the prices of all commodities were increased, giving rise to a new wave of inflation in the country. With inflation, the already poverty struck chunk of the population is further pushed down. The lower and lower-middle socio-economic classes, making up a huge portion of the population are helpless and do not fall in the government’s social safety net. Though the government has taken excellent initiatives for poverty alleviation, the poor still remain unattended because the stipend provided in such endowment programs is not aligned with the rising poverty and is totally insufficient.
Smog:
Since 2014, smog has been a routine affair in the country, especially the Punjab province, from October to January. In November last year, smog levels reached hazardous levels in Punjab with Faisalabad and Lahore even topping the list of world’s most polluted cities. The reemergence of smog isn’t only causing health issues among the population, especially in the elders and children, but also causes an obstruction of day-to-day life activities as the visibility drops drastically, especially in the mornings and evenings. The Punjab government has declared the phenomenon a calamity and has directed the concerned administrative authorities to make concerted efforts for mitigation of this health hazard across the province, but no tangible measure has been taken in this regard yet, as the pollutants causing smog aren’t always local, the burning of the remnants of wheat crop in India also plays a major role in affecting the air quality in Pakistan.
All these crises caused by environmental, infrastructural, and administrative glitches are impeding Pakistan’s development and need immediate resolution in order to stabilize the country’s national progress. But unfortunately, the government is seen prioritizing the resolution of problems that are far from the real, on-ground problems faced by the common population. Since all these problems directly influence the commoners’ life, negligent government attitude toward them may lead to unrest in the population and increase their grievances. Moreover, ignorance of the relevant authorities toward these issues creates an opportunity for the opposition parties to raise public voices against the current government, which has practically manifested in the form of the long march announced and initiated by the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan on Friday. Such uprisings not only malign Pakistan’s image in front of the world but also lead to a wastage of national resources along with causing economic losses both to the government and the population. The government should realign its policymaking priorities and try to facilitate the common people as much as it can, as the prosperity of a country rests in the development of the common people.
The author Laraib Nisar is a Defense and Strategic Studies’ graduate, working as a Program Coordinator at the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Islamabad.
