CHITRAL: Infaltion, inflation, inflation! is cry of the day in Pakistan. Every one rich or poor is feeling it’s pinch, with the middle class white collared strata of the society being the hardest hit. The importance of sunshine is felt when darkness sets in and the value of water realised when the well goes dry.

No doubt the present recessive state of the economy is a result of wrong economic policies (wrong doings) of all our governments past and present, ever since the inception of Pakistan. Taking loan upon loan and then further loan to repay the interest on previous loans without bothering to pay off the principle amount has brought us to the edge of the precipice – inevitable bankruptcy.

The demon of inflation, though a distraughtful reality, has nevertheless come forth with some positive ramifications too. Some of them being:

— Due to high price of fuel the unnecessary use vehicles for aimless wandering in the name of recreation has come down causing reduction in fuel import bill and carbon pollution. Similarly rise in gas prices has forced consumers to cut down use of gas heaters and geysers which hitherto would be used mercilessly.

— The increase in food price has forced people to cut down on the consumption of food, over-eating being the biggest cause of illnesses and accrued medical expenses. As reported In Chitral bazars, many shopkeepers etc have abandoned the afternoon lunch- thus saving money and bettering their health in the bargain.

— In the heyday of Pakistan’s pseudo ‘prosperity’ when American dollars were flowing in, people were so satiated that in Chitral when charity food (khairaat) was served in mosques people would poke fingers in the rice to see if there were chunks of meat in it, if they didn’t find any they would reject the rice plate. Now, when rice plates are distributed nobody looks for meat but crazily grab at the rice plate.

— Pakistan is in it’s real financial health state now. If we had been austere in our ways, not squandered public money on perks and privileges of the elite and rulers set examples of simplicity and frugality for the public, we would not have seen this day. .. CN report, 21 Nov 2022