PML-N faces public wrath

There is no doubt that PML-N would have won 2013 elections, even if few of its candidates had displayed moral courage not to be involved in alleged rigging, especially in Lahore’s DHA and NA 122 constituencies, with all this media hype and live coverage reporting. The anger on the streets in cities, towns and villages is because inflation and price escalation has broken the back of the poor and middle class in this country, whilst massive corruption has denied them any access to relief and it is this which Imran Khan is exploiting.

Within just over a year of being elected this government faces public outrage and anger from the very same people who voted for them. The choice for PM Nawaz Sharif is to tax rich, be they traders, factory owners, retailers, agriculturists, real estate business etc and cut down on indirect taxation and have enough finances to give subsidy to poor and middle class facing an economic crunch of vast magnitude.

He must immediately improve governance and appoint qualified Pakistani nationals, of which there is no dearth, to head all state owned corporations, regulatory authorities etc. It is not just power shutdowns but also the rise in the cost of electricity which has had its impact even on middle class because these utility charges consume almost half of their monthly average, with balance insufficient to pay for education and feed two meals a day because of basic food items’ price escalation due to indirect taxation.

If he fails to do that then he will face the wrath of angry masses and in the process damage consolidation of democracy in this country as envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam, who wanted Pakistan to be a modern democratic welfare state, where will of the people is supreme and the state with all its paid bureaucracy is there to serve people in accordance with constitution and not vice versa.

MALIK TARIQ

Lahore