AS the Trump regime plays the world’s self-appointed policeman, killing and abducting world leaders and destroying countries, the people of Pakistan face another enemy — one that continues to harass and destroy lives and livelihoods each day. As a nation constantly hopping from one IMF programme to another, it is no surprise that Pakistanis face abject poverty as their worst enemy.

Such is the poverty in Pakistan that charitable food distribution has now become a national spectacle, with the misery of the poor becoming fodder for television reporting. With a bleak job market and ever-rising inflation thanks lately to international misadventures in the Middle East, most Pakistanis find themselves living a life of despair. As per the World Inequality Report 2026, Pakistan’s top 10 per cent earners take home 42pc of the total income as opposed to the forgotten 50pc left to squabble amongst themselves to divide up 19pc. If these figures are correct, Pakistan may well be witnessing a new version of the ‘two-nation theory’, where division is not rooted in religion or identity but in wealth.

On one side exists a Pakistan of privilege, which lives inside gated housing societies with uninterrupted electricity........

© Dawn