Pakistan's Load Shedding: A less than ‘electric’ Eid

In an attempt to appease the general public and to distract from the faltering supply of electricity, the government cut off electricity supply to industries in order to meet domestic demand over Eid. The ‘populist’ measure hit Pakistan’s already struggling economy severely, with estimated loss of exports reaching $ 700 million plus. The problems caused by the shutdown of electricity to the industrial sector were compounded by the government’s decision to grant four mid-week holidays on the occasion of Eid. These holidays effectively connected two consecutive weekends, which meant that most of the country remained shut for a period of 10 days.

These decisions demonstrate great ineptitude on the part of the government, which in an attempt to garner popular support has further compromised the economy, which faces enough challenges already with more than one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) still floundering and constant load shedding ensuring a slowdown. Given these realities, these decisions are akin to shooting oneself in the foot, or rather amputating the foot itself, and it is unlikely that the short-term benefits to the ruling PML-N will outweigh the long-term problems faced by the majority of the population. Daily-wagers comprise a large percentage of Pakistan’s workforce and as a result of the 10-day shutdown, most of them lost about a third of their monthly earnings — a prospect particularly daunting in these straitened times.

The government’s actions are symptomatic of negative attitudes prevalent in our society, which place comfort and vacationing ahead of hard work for future prosperity. After all, the government’s decision to grant such holidays was the result of it seeing this as a possibility to please many people, who readily took the opportunity to take extended holidays even though, strictly speaking, the Friday and Saturday following the four Eid holidays were not off-days. Thus it would be unfair to put the blame entirely on the government for the complete shutdown of the country over these 10 days, since it clearly found an approving echo amongst most people. Granted, many people in the country no longer work in the cities, towns and villages from which they hail and take the opportunity over occasions like Eid to return home for as long as possible. But even keeping this in mind, the work ethic (or lack of it) we as a society exhibit is inexcusable. If there is to be any change and we are to avoid such mistakes in future, we must change our own attitudes when we are ourselves part of the problem that afflicts this country.