Paying in Blood : Current Cost of Living in Pakistan.
Living in Pakistan is becoming harder by the day as expenses continue to rise with little to no increments in earnings. The country is faced with recession and inflation simultaneously, forcing people to move abroad – even the staunchest patriots.
Imagine you’re a father of a toddler. Your wife asks you to bring milk on the way back home You check your pocket – you don’t have enough money.
Imagine you’re a daughter. Your parent needs to undergo surgery requiring you to deposit money in the hospital, but your entire salary is spent in food and bills. You know your parent might die, but there’s nothing you can do.
Imagine you’re a husband. Your wife is pregnant and there’s a complication. The doctor tells you that it will be a C-section otherwise both the mother and child are at high risk. You have recently lost your job and are unable to find a new one.
The hypothetical scenarios presented above are a living, breathing reality of millions of Pakistanis right now. People are faced with these tough situations everyday.
More and more people are resorting to one way out of this mess – suicide.
Pakistan has never been an easy country to live in. From unstable economy to terrorism and dictatorship, we have seen it all. We have also been surprisingly resilient through the hardest times. We remained hopeful. However, all of that is changing now.
The people of Pakistan have simply lost hope for this country.
The monthly inflation rate in Pakistan continues to average around 30%. Meat is a far cry, even pulses and vegetables are out of reach for a major chunk of the population. Fruits are a luxury. People are receiving electricity bills that surpass their monthly income – even those who don’t have ACs at home.
And all of this is only going to get worse as the government announced YET ANOTHER petrol hike, taking petrol prices to a whooping Rs. 331 per litre! This price hike will soon pass down to all products across all sectors.
We are in a spiral, with no way out. There seems to be no end to an average Pakistani’s misery.
Perhaps the most unfortunate part is that no one even wants to put an end to this. Those who came to power after a “mehangayi mukao march” (end inflation), comfortably left after putting the country in the worst economic crisis. The finance wizard who was brought to solve all our economic woes is back in London. Those who are currently in power – the interim government and their backers – are least bothered about the economy. The caretaker Prime Minister very comfortably said that conditions aren’t even as bad as they are being portrayed.
All while people are dying in lines for cheaper flour, or are jumping off buildings out of desperation.
The only matters of importance for the decision makers are to somehow prevent Imran Khan from getting released, or to make new cases against him and his supporters. While the brightest brains of the country – those who might be able to find solutions to this mess – continue to move abroad in huge numbers, our decision makers are hell-bent on ensuring those who are left also leave by curbing all breathing space for citizens.
Read More: Wreck-ed State of National Affairs
With economic stability no where in sight and the dual crisis of recession and inflation simultaneously, citizens are left to fetch for themselves, as there is no one interested in finding any solutions for them.
Perhaps that was the plan all along – keep the average Pakistani so caught up in trying to survive, that they are unable to focus on all of their other rights being snatched away. And it’s working. We don’t hear anyone talking about the delay in elections, the rising terrorism, the absolute failure of the judicial system, or any other pertinent issues that were being discussed till a few months back.
No matter what the politics behind this is, one thing remains clear – it is a tough choice between life and basic necessities for many, and they are choosing to sacrifice the former to rid themselves of the stress of the latter.
Gut-wrenching read, seems to be no way out of this mess.