Through the ages, there have always been individuals who have had to ask others for help to sustain themselves. Not inherent in human nature, stretching out a hand to a fellow being is at the cost of self-respect and dignity. The truly needy do it out of compulsion. The able-bodied who do it as a convenient shortcut to livelihood are looked down upon and deemed a social evil.

If begging becomes part of the official parlance at the highest level, one can well imagine how that country is viewed by the world. Shehbaz Sharif, as leader of the opposition, admonished us that “beggars can’t be choosers”.

Having caught on to the theme, today’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded after the 2022 floods that Pakistan should not be forced to go out with a “begging bowl”. He added that visiting countries think that “we have come to beg for money”. He also declared that “the country was not created to live on debts and act like a beggar”.

In a January 2023 report in these pages, the worthy prime minister bemoaned that “it is a matter of shame that a nuclear power has to beg amid its faltering economy.” On a state visit to Dubai in May this year, Shehbaz Sharif claimed that “gone are the days when officials from cash-strapped Pakistan will visit brotherly countries with begging bowls”.

The fact is that,........

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