By Iyma Atiq
With crisis after crisis being reported on, more and more problems emerge each day and the constant daily struggle for people to earn a living means that potentially the future of the economy of Pakistan may not be a good one…
Blackouts, business moves and deteriorating living conditions are just few of many examples of how the current state of Pakistan is quite unbalanced. The increase in threats and dangers and the decrease of necessities and solutions has evidently made it harder for the country to maintain a decent environment for its people to live in.
In the last four years, there has been a huge increase in occurrences of blackouts across areas of Pakistan. Problems with electric and gas in the cities due to job reductions and fewer power supplies has meant that blackouts and power cuts have become more frequent. This has made living conditions more difficult, people living roughly 25% of the time without gas, electricity and essential power to maintain a decent living. Elevation of prices on energy supplies has made matters worse for the country’s people. Pakistan’s poverty rate is slowly increasing each month as more and more people struggle to keep up with costs and survive with the lesser amounts of essentials available to them. The deterioration of electricity and gas available to citizens in Pakistani cities has meant that among 1.4million people live daily lives having to cope with shortages of essentials.
The country’s main supporting industries stand as a current problematic situation to the economy. Pakistan is renowned worldwide for being one of the prime countries that produce clothing for global brands as well as largely supporting the global textiles industry producing textiles products, fabrics and other various materials. It has been recently reported that around 30% of Pakistan’s textiles based industries are being moved to areas of Bangladesh and other countries. This has further increased the number of job losses in the country, making matters worse for its people. Most businesses that have chosen to stay have announced to its workers that in order to maintain costs and keep businesses running, salary deductions have to be made. Working people in a large majority of businesses in Pakistan have had to deal with announcements that lesser money is being paid to them for their work. Fewer resources has affected the national average incomes resulting in less money being paid to people who still have to work just as hard in order to earn a salary.
Job losses, price increases, salary deductions and minimal resources have all largely influenced the public outcries as of late in the cities of Pakistan. The main headlines of news channels across Asia and global channels have reported on the rioting, protesting and violent outbursts of Pakistani citizens having to tolerate the further worsening living conditions. Riots broke out across Faisalabad and Islamabad in April after the blackout situation had worsened and more and more people were having to deal with energy shortages. Rioting in Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi has resulted in both minor and serious injuries to members of the public fighting with each over the unfortunate occurrences in society. This has further worsened the county’s state as it has become less safe and secure for people. Acts of violence and aggression have been carried out daily in the major cities and more crimes such as thievery and fraud are being committed due to the ever increasing unemployment rate in the country. Recent reports of a riot taking place in Pakistan reported on the violent outbursts at the energy crisis, as protestors resorted to setting alight the office of members of parliament and engaging in fights with other people in the streets. Police armed with tear gas and rifles were struck down by civilians furious at the worsening state of the country’s economy.
Only time will tell whether or not the current situation in Pakistan will improve or not. The unstable state of the country has affected the tourism rates and made it a much less secure and safe place for its people to live in. Living in hope and dependant on donations from neighbouring countries has helped the people of Pakistan live in the hope that it can once again maintain a good standard of living for its people and remain to be a country of good manner.
