Death by perks

Pakistan faces a horrendous economic crisis, where the state must take on vast foreign and domestic debts, not to invest in socio-economic development projects, but to pay exorbitant salaries, pensions, and perks. If anything, we need to lower the public payroll and reform public-sector salaries and pensions. We have witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union, which despite being the equal of US and Nato in military terms, failed to achieve the pace of economic progress needed to cater for the welfare and aspirations of the masses. To avoid a similar fate, now is the time to rectify our bloated public sector and revive the moribund private economy.

It is an established fact that our expenditure on the bureaucracy far exceeds our means and has become a burden on this nation. There is no rationale for the wide gap in pay between our managers, doctors, engineers, and our high-ranking bureaucrats. For a country like Pakistan foreign loans should only be procured for investment in vital infrastructure, health, and R&D with not a penny for a salary raise. Sanity must prevail before it is too late, and we become so bankrupt that our vital nuclear deterrence may be compromised. It is the economy that sustains national security and not vice versa.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore