ANY country that goes through the ordeal of political instability, political point scoring and political character assassination, loses its bearings and the ensuing result is that economy, businesses and democracy become hostage to these political machinations. Pakistan is suffering from this triple whammy. Changing the national model requires that the Federal and Provincial governments need to take certain pragmatic steps to ease economic pressure on households and businesses.

It is incumbent upon the decision- makers to primarily address the needs and requirements of the populace. Despite innumerable impacts on the nation, it is imperative that pro-poor policies and decisions are designed and implemented. Social safety nets are welcome, but these seldom alleviate the difficulties of all people. The first immediate step is to rein in the wastage of financial resources on projects that are more publicity centric for government and rarely beneficial for citizens. Over-employment in bureaucracy, defence forces, judiciary and state-owned enterprises must immediately be rationalized. Strict accountability of each department, organization or agency must be undertaken to relieve excess of prescribed human resource requirements. The second step for both Federal and Provincial governments is to immediately remove all taxes, levies, duties, fees etc on movement and sale of food, medicines and........

© Pakistan Observer