BOTH Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi have expressed serious concern over economic losses to the country and its citizens because of political tension and law and order situation. According to the Finance Minister, the country suffers a staggering loss of Rs.190 billion daily due to the protest call of the PTI which affects productivity, economic activities, exports and revenue collection. The Interior Minister while referring to the harm caused by the protest call said once the protests conclude, the authorities will make public assessment of the damage done so that people can make decisions.
In fact, what the two ministers said was not a revelation as similar estimates were given by the authorities concerned in the past as well but regrettably self-centred politics continue to rock the economy and bring untold miseries to the common man. The country is making frantic efforts to mobilize both internal and external resources to support the economy, lure investors, increase exports, shore up foreign exchange reserves and resolve chronic problems like continued load-shedding of electricity and gas and their sky-rocketing tariffs. In this backdrop, can we afford the luxury of inflicting a huge loss of Rs. 190 billion daily on the national economy? The losses in the IT and telecom sector are not included in this assessment while no one can quantify the losses to families and individuals due to loss of economic activities and wages and disruption in daily routines. The details of the losses as given by the Finance Minister should serve as eye-opener for all stakeholders. According to a conservative estimate, the GDP is losing Rs144 billion a day due to the strike and there is a loss of Rs26 billion a day due to a decrease in exports. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is affected during the protest and there is a daily loss of Rs3 billion. The daily loss to the provinces in the agricultural sector is Rs26 billion and the loss to the provinces in the industrial sector is more than Rs20 billion. Train and air services remain partially suspended and Pakistan Railways and airlines incur significant losses due to inability of the passengers to complete their travel plans because of lockdowns and restrictions on movement. The governance is also badly affected and in this case the Federal and the Punjab governments have been forced to divert billions of rupees towards plans and measures to counter threat to the security and maintain law and order. It should also be a matter of concern that frequent closure of educational institutions plays havoc with the career of students. Similarly, people face tremendous difficulties in approaching medical services in case of any emergency. It is because of all this that the ordinary citizen has become weary of the politics of protests and violence and pays scant attention to frequent calls for agitation. People rightly argue that such tendencies ruin business activities and affect the academic career of students. It is all the more alarming that at a time when the country is extending all sorts of assurances to prospective investors, frequent strikes, wheel-jams and violent protests send negative signals to the outside world, conveying wrong impressions of instability. The situation is unlikely to change until and unless all political parties vow to say goodbye to self-centred approaches and put interests of the country uppermost in their minds while deciding their course of action in different situations. Regrettably, the ongoing tussle takes place despite passage of a law to ensure peaceful assembly of people in the federal capital and a clear cut order of the Islamabad High Court on the issue. Political rhetoric notwithstanding, no one will emerge victorious out of the existing messy situation and therefore, focus should shift to dialogue and discussions.
