SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Summer season is showing its signs and with every passing day, a citizen seems haunted by the coming hot days without power. All the claims of PML-N government proved false and they just remained on the piece of paper. Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif have not insulted the intelligence of the public by claiming that load-shedding will end in the next six months or “by the end of this year” as Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was wont to claim. Their claims are more realistic, with a three-year time horizon given to fix the problem and this summer’s load-shedding schedule identified as being between six and eight hours long every day. But what is the point of this relative honesty if the government lacks the courage to implement solutions that by now have become glaringly obvious? The government’s plan for managing the pain this year, for instance, relies on the same tired old combination of trying to increase power generation and reducing consumption by forcing commercial areas to shut down early so as to use less electricity. These adhoc measures are worse than worthless because not only will they do nothing to solve the long-term core of the problem — which is rampant theft of electricity — but also try to serve a temporary fix by actively slowing down economic activity. These measures are akin to trying to stop a patient from bleeding by stopping the heart. The bleeding will most definitely stop, but the patient will still be dead. The shortsightedness when it comes to addressing this crisis is so pervasive as to become maddening. And the voters are rapidly losing patience. Despite spending Rs125 billion in targeted development projects, the PPP was unceremoniously shoved out of office. Now it is turn of PML-N and Prime Minister seems worried about the situation. With hot summer the anger boils equally and in the presence of strong opposition like Imran Khan, Prime Minister’s concerns are genuine.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
