Tazeen Akhtar
The news on Pakistani social media is not that Qatar will invest US $ 3 Billion in Pakistan. The public is giving weight to the SLEEPERS of Amir of Qatar and comparing them with branded shoes of the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister and his delegation including Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in the picture.
The government of Pakistan is terming it an investment but the people are declaring it a loan that will bring strict conditions but will be eaten by the ruling class and nothing will reach the public except the liability and markup.
More than that people are criticizing that a giver is a simple person wearing simple sleepers while the beggars are in branded suits and imported boots. The public in Pakistan has taken strong notice of this scene in which Amir of Qatar looks like a man with austerity while the needy men look like big investors.
Pakistani public does not take seriously any investment or grant or loan from any country/ IMF/ World Bank etc because they have learned from history, about all types of governments that the loans, grants, and investments are never spent on the welfare of the commoners but they are used for maintaining a balance of payments or to avoid the default only. People think that all governments used the loans and grants whatsoever taken in the names of the People of Pakistan for their own personal and partly welfare and the people of Pakistan have just emptied their pockets to pay the loans and markups back.
Certainly, it is their misunderstanding but when one party blames the other for misuse of the government exchequer and corruption, the apprehensions of the public become strong.
That is why the public did not welcome the government’s announcement of 3 billion dollar investment but highlighted the sleepers of Amir of Qatar in a sense that how simple is the giver and how branded are the takers.
Pakistani public questions the qualification of the ruling class. What are you good for? If you can not improve your economy with your own resources and intelligence what you are doing sitting in power? Taking loans and running the system is not the way the country can be governed for long. The burden of payments and liabilities crosses the limit to more than our total GDP. We need austerity measures more than anything else. We must generate our own dollars to strengthen our economy.
It seems to be just another social media chit chat but the government of Pakistan and a whole lot of political leaders and their supporters can learn a lesson from it if they want.
