In the past, people feared that if war beings between two countries, there would be a famine, food would be expensive and life would become difficult. But nowadays, we are witnessing conditions like famine, hunger, unemployment and misery even there is no war.
Poverty in Pakistan is increasing day by day and people are worried about who will solve their problems. The so-called foreign powers – who carry the banner of humanity and talk about eradicating poverty – do not look to their own institutions because the people of all the developing and underdeveloped countries are suffering today because of their wrong decisions.
Whether it is the Russia-Ukraine war or the tug-of-war between China and the United States, the poorest nations have to suffer. Even the Muslim countries which have oil reserves are doing business only for their own benefit while forgetting humanity. We have never heard of any Muslim country selling oil to a poor country. Their generosity is seen only in lending oil and the compensation they receive.
Obviously, when oil prices rise, it will put a heavy burden on the economy.
With rise in oil prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also sharpens its knife so that poor countries can put under pressure.
Tax burden are imposed on petroleum products which makes it easier for banks to collect their principal and interest.
Pakistan’s misfortune is that even in the PTI government we cried over the fact that petrol, electricity and gas prices should not be increased. But today it is being seen that whether it is the PTI government or PML-N, both of them seem compelled before the IMF due to which taxes on all items are increased.
Rising electricity, gas and petroleum prices are not limited, but these three things increase the cost of production of all commodities, including groceries, and cause a storm of inflation. Politicians, when they are in opposition, call the IMF a scapegoat, but after coming to power, they use the excuse of compulsion to justify the situation and kneel before the IMF.
The pressure on the economy increases because whenever we have done development work, we spend more than the stipulated budget and want to prepare the plan before the estimated time, an example of which is CPEC. This project was a very lucrative project for Pakistan which today has plunged the country into huge debts.
The reason for this huge debt is all the CPEC projects cost much higher than what was estimated so that they could be completed before the time. If these projects were developed slowly according to the budget, we would not be burdened with debts and we would be able to make a profit from these projects.
But all this would have been possible if our politicians had made decisions in the interest of the country and the nation instead of shining their politics. Today, all of our decisions are reviewed many times, sometimes in China, sometimes in the United States, and we are often under pressure to make decisions that may not be appropriate for us.
When we want to buy cheap oil from Russia, the United States gets angry. When we buy from Saudi Arabia, we face the wrath of Iran, and because of these problems, we have never bought cheap oil. While India has always bought cheap oil from Iran and Russia and has never been objected to by Saudi Arabia or the United States, perhaps these two countries put pressure on us because we are indebted to them.
