No theatrics by the government can hide the fact that Pakistan is facing an unprecedented gas conundrum that the government and its ministers are trying to solve by some clever wordplay. The impending shortage of gas will cause tremendous hardships for business and domestic consumers alike as winter stretches its cold claws. That Pakistan is likely to face this hard challenge is not good news for anyone but the government ministers and high officials have preferred not to accept the ground realities, consistently circumventing fundamental questions that point fingers at their own inept handling of the situation despite repeated warnings and cautionary news stories in the media. The only possible solution that the government is proposing relates to severe rationing of the fuel. Soon, there will be no gas for cooking when you need it the most; there will be electricity outages; industries will be choking to death; heating will not be available in the chilly weather; and even the transport sector will face shortage of fuel. Let it be clear that the economy is already in shambles and can hardly afford a fuel crisis at a time when it is trying to recover from the global impact of Covid-19. This is the time when we need rapid acceleration in economic and industrial activities to recoup the losses we have been facing for the past couple of years.
At this crucial moment, gas shortages will have a fairly adverse impact in Pakistan, affecting nearly all sectors. The economy of Pakistan simply cannot afford to pay that heavy price just because the government departments and ministries were busy in ‘debates’ – real and imaginary both – and denying the very existence of the crisis. The significance of this negligence is pretty serious and a slowdown in economic activities will hamper the pace of exports that the country badly needs. How can government ministers then indulge in polemics and rhetoric at this time when they should be paying sole attention to solving the crisis rather than denying it or blaming it on others? Just assurances are not going to do the trick, what the country needs is a stable and uninterrupted supply of gas and not rationing of it. Rationing is a relic of the Second World War, and the world has moved forward since then. The promise to domestic consumers that they would get gas supply just three times a day for cooking during winter is a sign of bad governance and mismanagement of something that directly affects the citizens of Pakistan. That means if you want to take a bath or wash clothes, either you look for a ‘hammam’ or go to the laundry for your clothes.
Winter has not yet arrived with its full intensity and gas pressure is already low in many areas of the country. This gas shortfall is not unexpected and that’s where the crux of the matter is. You prepare for something that you know is coming. The growing demand in winter is also not a new phenomenon. We also know that our domestic gas reserves are depleting fast as our energy managers allowed this precious resource to burn in automobiles and fertilizer factories. Had the government managed the LNG issue properly, the shortage could have been manageable. A persistent uncertainty over LNG supply has loomed large in the country since 2018. The government should have kept an eye on changing international price trends to make the right decisions at the right time. Since the government failed to do so, it is the economy and people of Pakistan that suffer the most. The government must realise now that just by challenging anchors and journalists over LNG issues, the crisis is not going to disappear. The failure of the government to secure steady imports of LNG is one of the primary causes of this imbroglio. Time is running out fast and the government must buckle up.