WORKING people in Pakistan are literally struggling to breathe. If they seek some relief from the heat by turning on a couple of fans and using a refrigerator (assuming they own one), they will be hit with an electricity bill well in excess of their entire household earnings. To rub salt in their wounds, they are forced to pay through their teeth despite long hours of loadshedding.

It should now be common knowledge that this is all happening because the World Bank and IMF forced the so-called IPPs down our throats in 1994, and we are now stuck with binding agreements to pay these power producers at exorbitant dollar rates. Our own venal ruling class — both khaki supremos and civilian juniors — refuse to pay income tax at all, let alone redistribute wealth, so it is left to the blue- and white-collar working masses to foot the bill.

The IPP scandal is only the tip of a very large iceberg. The government of Pakistan has to meet public debt obligations of $70 billion over the next three years. This does not include private debt to commercial banks which would make the figures even more unfathomable. Seen thus, the class war against working people will only intensify.

This war includes attacks on livelihoods. Urban........

© Dawn