A lament tells it all: ‘In Pakistan, human life is cheaper than a bag of atta’

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stands rigid on its pre-conditions to Pakistan on tax reforms, the government seems to be looking towards the already stressed masses to bear the brunt of the reform implementations by increasing prices of gas, electricity, petroleum products, and taxes on basic commodities.

This is being done at a time when the country’s industrial sector is deteriorating due to the closure of imports and Lease Credit (LC), forcing many multi-national and national manufacturers to shut their plants in the country and lay off thousands of employees.

At the moment, inflation in Pakistan is hovering around 27.5 per cent and if it can be seen in parallel to widespread closure of various sectors, causing an increase in poverty and starvation, it will not be difficult to realize that the life of a common man has become almost impossible to manage.

“I used to be a permanent employee of an MNC (multinational company) with at least 16,000 employees in Pakistan. But due to the ban on imports by the government, the company had to shrink its operations and has laid off at least 30 per cent of its staff”, said a former employee.

“When you fall from a stable MNC job to being jobless, that also at a time when even drinking water is getting beyond the buying reach of a common man, when everything from fuel to gas to basic eatables have become expensive, when a normal house hold’s monthly expense has increased by at least 40 to 50 per cent, where there are no jobs in the market as the markets are shutting down… what do you do? How do you survive?” he queried.

In Pakistan, this tagline has become a common word of mouth “Pakistan mein aata mehenga hai aur jaan sasti”, which means “human life in Pakistan has become cheaper than flour”.

This most certainly highlights the dire and devastating affect, inflation, new taxes and price hikes have had on the lives of the masses, who are not only suffering to increased inflation but are also losing hopes of survival due to joblessness, poverty and starvation.

–IANS