Misplaced priorities

As is the wont in Pakistan many Misplaced priorities visited on Pakistan are simplistically explained and the reasons provided for them are attempts to deflect the attention from the actual causes. It is quite clear that the perpetually dominant elites of the country go out of their way to create stories in the way of explaining the causes of the current difficulties faced by the country. The intention of the elites is always to pass on the buck in every possible direction in order to save themselves from the blame of devising and taking faulty policies decisions that have mired the country. Since its inception the Pakistani decision makers have mostly bugled policy initiatives but have gotten away scot free simply because they have always avoided any attempt at accountability. The way the system has been devised has successfully ensured that no harm ever comes to the elite-protected decision makers.
This convoluted governance methodology is now shifting the blame of the intense economic difficulties experienced by the country on to multiple factors. This tendency is the outcome of a system of national existence that is bereft of basic consensus over almost all its aspects. The obvious result of incremental disunity is gradual dominance of external factors that follow their own priorities rendering the governance of the country devoid of any logical moorings. Pakistani policy therefore has proved to be an ideal locale for the birth and widespread belief in conspiracy theories and over the period of time hardly any attention is paid to substantial issues and more time is consumed by peripheral matters that further complicated the national governance. This national tendency is now deeply entrenched and it has become almost impossible to extricate the policy making in Pakistan from it.
Quite obviously the onus of the current economic crisis in Pakistan is described to be the unprecedented global inflation that has made life miserable even for the people of developed countries and this phenomenon has also impacted Pakistan. In this context it is repeatedly mentioned that extreme difficulties faced by global supply chain after the pandemic has added to the increase in price regime. It is also stated that Russian invasion of Ukraine has created difficulties in zones much wider than the sector it is taking place in, particularly the provision of wheat considered essential food staple around the world. Policy makers are also blaming the interest rate rises undertaken by the US Federal Reserve that have weakened the monetary cycle of many currencies. The strengthening of the US dollar has disturbed the monetary equation causing the trade prospects to become cumbersome for developing countries like Pakistan.
The mental and functional bankruptcy of the Pakistani decision could be gauged from the fact that they vociferously claim that the only problem encountered by the country currently is the rising debt distress and they loudly profess that coming to grips with it will open the roads to development and prosperity. While doing so they conveniently ignore the reality that the financial distress of Pakistan is half a century old phenomenon and that because of it the country has been sustained on the self-defeating diet of external financial assistance. They willingly neglect the fact that Pakistan first entered an IMF programme in 1958 and since then has rushed to the only financial institution for providing relief from balance of payment crisis almost two dozen times. This very need glaringly points out to a deep-rooted and chronic malaise that has been injuriously left to unresolved leading to the ongoing economic paralysis.
Looked at this issue more closely it is observed that the current IMF programme is the result of thirteenth balance of payments crisis since 1988 implying that the country has experienced this difficulty practically less than every three years revealing the profound structural imbalances in the economic policy making and implementation. The gravity of the situation and the casual manner it is dealt with is reflected by the reality that even this solution of last resort was ditched half way many times manifesting that personal and political preferences proved supreme than the cumulative national needs. This sorry state of affairs has ultimately brought the country to this pass yet it is very painful to observe that the high-level decision makers have not abandoned their mode of operations.
The economic situation of the country is dire and with the prevailing mindset of the cluster controlling its destiny looks woefully inadequate to rectify matters. It is manifest that unless choices are properly prioritised and woven around a plausible construct no improvement is possible. The most important question now faced by the country is whether its policy makers are willing to alter their perceptions and model them according to the national requirement. It must be kept in mind that the time is fast running out and any further delay in adopting appropriate measures would prove fatal. TW