Under debt

This refers to the article, ‘Debt will choke Pakistan’ (June 7). The article should be a wakeup call for the present Pakistan government, especially its financial setup. It is often said that common sense after all is not that common. As correctly pointed out by the writer, we are definitely living far beyond our means. It would have been acceptable if we were building up our industrial capacity and improving our exports.

To be a third world poor country and then take mega loans from almost hostile lending agencies to show off development work such as metros, orange trains and such like is not very sensible. Such ‘developments’ comes after you have looked after the common citizen’s interests. But if you are living from hand to mouth – as Pakistan is – then as the writer rightly says: going for huge projects you cannot afford is downright madness. What kind of legacy are we going to leave for our future generations, where each one of our yet unborn child is already under heavy debt?

M. Masud Butt

Lahore