No relief

During a media talk, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that at the moment no public issue is being taken up by the legislators, and that they indulge in petty talks aimed to humiliate each other. In the same way, former PM Raja Parvez Ashraf has voiced his concerns and rightly pointed out the deteriorating and fragile law and order situation and lamented that parliamentarians use parliament only to settle personal grudges and that public issues are placed on the backburner. Similarly, during a cabinet meeting, Murad Saeed and Sheikh Rasheed have taken Umer Ayub, the federal minister for energy, to task for over billing and providing costly electricity to the consumers. It is not that politicians or the other individuals who have embezzled, plundered and fleeced the country's resources with both hands should be given a clean chit, but what about the average person who has nothing to do with all this and is still struggling hard to make ends meet? Ever since the PTI-led government has come into power, the prices of electricity, gas and petroleum products have seen an astronomical hike. To date, no relief for the common masses is in sight.

It merits a mention here that the people who were fed up with the malpractices of the past rulers desperately voted the PTI into power. Their objective was to get some sort of relief in terms of health, education, justice, improved living standards and law and order situation but speaking frankly, to date, all the affairs are being run on promises with nothing substantial. To alleviate the economic concerns of the people, the government's finance team must spring into action and draft pro-poor strategies. Unless the measures to control and reduce the ever-increasing cost of living are taken, the economic successes of the current government will be taken with a pinch of salt by those who voted the PTI into power.

Muhammad Fayyaz Nawrha

Mianwali