ISLAMABAD: As the government unveiled the new fiscal budget, expectations were high that this time, the needs of the poor and working class would finally take center stage. However, as facts came to light, disappointment reverberated from slums to little rooms, exposing the chasm between official statements and the reality on the ground.
From the start, some detractors labeled the budget as another ‘IMF-written budget’, full of technical jargon, but with little to no upside for the average person. Like every year, promises of relief for salaried employees and daily wage earners were made in political speeches, but on paper, only a marginal increase in salaries materialised. Even they, experts say, fails to match the pace of soaring inflation.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail criticized the move said that “while the Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker increased their own salaries significantly, the poor were once again given nothing.”
THE COST OF NEGLECT
From Karachi to Islamabad, the consequences of economic despair are evident. In Karachi, official statistics for June 2022 paint a dismal picture – 5,288 robberies in one month. Nearly 2,800 motorbikes and 159 automobiles were hijacked at gunpoint. More than 1,000 mobile phones were also targeted, and 40 individuals were killed simply for refusing to hand over their mobile phones during robberies. This is not an anomaly. Each year, an average of 6,000 people fall victim to armed robberies in the city.
Lahore has not fared any better. During the month of Ramazan alone, the city witnessed 384 cases of armed robbery. Between January and February this year, 262 vehicles and 2,000 motorcycles were reported stolen.
In the capital city of Islamabad too, which is often deemed safer, crime rate is increasing. In just one week in June, 42 cars were stolen, 11 armed robberies occurred, and four people were murdered.
What’s driving this spike? Economists and sociologists point toward a dangerous mix of unemployment, hopelessness, and growing inequality.
LIFE ON THE MARGINS
Take Yasin Joiya is a longtime resident of Islamabad’s impoverished Meer Abadi. He has lived in the area since 1986 and is currently battling liver disease. He needs surgery next month at PIMS hospital, but with no savings and no government support, even paying for medicine seems impossible for him.
“Our income is very low. Prices keep going up. There is nothing in this budget for people like us,” Yasin says, sitting outside his rented one-room home.
Not far from him lives Sikandar Hayat, a stone polisher by trade. His hands are rough with years of labor, but the budget offered him nothing to ease his burden. “There’s a lot in it for the rich. For us? Nothing,” he says.
THE BIG NUMBERS – AND THE BIGGER QUESTIONS
According to budget documents, tax exemptions worth Rs 5,840 billion were granted to industrial sectors and elites – up from Rs. 3,880 billion last year. These figures stand in sharp contrast to the government’s claim of “broadening the tax net” and building an equitable economy.
The Prime Minister had promised a “people’s budget” – one that would lighten the load for struggling families and deliver relief to the ordinary Pakistani. But when the budget was announced, many felt that promise sounded empty. Rather than protecting those who need the most protection, the budget appears to reward those already at the top: the powerful, the well-connected, and those who never pay their fair share in taxes.
Outside on the streets – away from the staged speeches and press releases – the narrative is quite another. It is one of increasing prices, declining incomes, and families making do with either medicine or food. It is a narrative of desperation, of hope being lost by young people, and of parents who cannot sleep at night thinking about how they will make it through the next month.
Government ministers continue to defend the budget, calling it “balanced and necessary.” But for people like Yasin, who can’t even afford a necessary surgery, or Sikandar, who polishes stones for a living but can’t see a future for his children, the question remains painfully simple: If this budget isn’t for them, then who is it really for?
Additional reporting by Abobakar Khan
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