The budget has been out for a few weeks now and with each passing day, both the disappointment and frustration amongst all sectors of society are mounting. Perhaps the real problem, even more than the inflicted pain, is that of stolen hope. According to Gallup, more than 90% of Pakistanis surveyed across varying spectrums are looking for an exit strategy from Pakistan, which is not only disturbing but also rather sad. So, we are on board an IMF program yet again, but what does it matter to the ordinary people or struggling businesses; they neither borrowed nor spent these funds in the past nor will they be doing so in the future. And ironically, all this accumulated debt has done scant little to positively change the fortunes of an average Pakistani in any way! In an ongoing inflation saga – arguably the longest and the severest in the country’s history – that has drained peoples’ pockets like never before, this budget comes across not only as vision-less but also mindless to the extent of being extremely insensitive. The hypocrisy is glaring while the people in power or the governing classes are rewarding themselves regardless of performance benchmarks, everyone else is being asked to pay for the financial shenanigans they have been no part of. What we often forget is that the in essence the state has a contract with the people that demands their contribution in return for bettering their lives through good management and sound policies; Social Contracts, as we know to succeed need to be honoured by both sides! Quite frankly, the governmental end of this contract has been falling short in its commitments for a long time now and what is indeed troublingly is that one does not see any remorse either. This budget exposes this very weakness where there is not even an attempt by the policymakers to look inwards to address the underlying follies that led us to this impasse in the first place: unfunded state pensions that keep on swelling at the expense of the working class cum taxpayers; no real effort to outsource or........

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