Stopgap or long-term?

2026-03-19 - 04:20

ONE must acknowledge that the government acted promptly in response to the breakout of hostilities on Feb 28 between the US and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other. Immediately after the beginning of the coordinated bombing on targets in Iran, Tehran almost immediately — in fact on the very next day —responded by launching its missiles and drones in the direction of Israel and neighbouring Arab Gulf states hosting US military facilities. Although the Arab states did not retaliate and confined their actions to defensive measures, there was no doubt left that the disruption of oil supply from these states would create a huge energy crisis around the globe, which would disproportionately hurt developing countries like Pakistan that relied on imported energy. As world oil prices began to soar, the government wasted no time in increasing petrol and diesel prices by the unprecedentedly huge margin of Rs55 per litre on March 6 — despite the fact that government ministers had claimed a day earlier that they had sufficient fuel stocks for a month, which had been purchased at the old price. As anticipated, the price hike — popularly termed as the ‘petrol bomb’ even by serious newspapers like this one — led to an immediate and universal public backlash. The common theme in the harsh criticism by diverse segments of the population and media outlets was the lavish lifestyle of the government and its top officials. They asserted that the government routinely passes on the increase in petrol prices to the common people and expects them to make sacrifices but that senior government officials in all three branches of the state — the executive, legislature and judiciary — continue to enjoy free petrol quota, unlimited in some cases, not only for multiple vehicles for their personal use but also for fleets of automobiles earmarked for their protocol and security squads. The public criticism was so intense that the prime minister hurriedly got an elaborate austerity plan prepared over the weekend and on March 9 (the next working day) announced measures in a televised address to cut down on state expenses especially in relation to petrol and transport usage by senior government officials. This was a timely step before public criticism could escalate into street protests. Although the government was not in a position to withdraw the increase in petrol prices as the rising trend prevailed in the global market, the announced austerity measures did somewhat pacify the public sentiment. Provincial governments, parliament and the provincial assemblies also followed suit and announced their own set of austerity plans. So did the judiciary. The austerity plan is for a limited period and hence of limited benefit. The swift action by the government underscored the fact that elected democratic governments have to cater for public sentiments, no matter how flawed the electoral process which brought them to power is perceived to be and irrespective of the deficiencies in the quality of democracy. The hard part, however, is yet to come. The announced austerity measures can be grouped into two broad categories. One set of actions are substantial and will have a positive impact. Grounding 60 per cent of government vehicles, a blanket ban on foreign trips of government officials, doing away with iftar dinners and receptions, limiting protocol/ security vehicles to one for each official, restrictions on the use of hotels for government events, deferring the purchase of new vehicles, a 50pc cut in fuel allowances for federal ministers and officials, stoppage of total allowance in Punjab, and replacement of in-person meetings with online meetings to reduce travel appear to have resulted in considerable savings. In the second set of austerity measures, reducing the speed limit on motorways and highways seems to be a superfluous idea. Reducing the work week to four days from five without increasing the daily working hours may, in fact, be counterproductive as the speed of work, which in any case is never satisfactory, will slow down further and have a negative impact on decision-making. Getting half the staff to work from home will further eat into bureaucratic efficiency. Decreasing court days to four will increase the pendency of cases, which is already hurting the litigants. Online classes for educational institutions may not hurt if confined to a couple of weeks but past experience shows that this step can be discriminatory as not all students have proper access to the internet. A cut in the salaries of cabinet ministers and legislators is more symbolic than substantial and meant to show empathy with the suffering people. The austerity plan is for a limited period and hence of limited benefit. Effective implementation of the announced measures of either category will be another serious challenge. Monitoring fuel consumption by government officials will require an elaborate mechanism. The pace of work at government offices is already slow because generally, people are in vacation mode due to Ramazan and now the coming Eid holidays. However, the shortened work week, the work-from-home regime and online classes will seriously impact routine work after Eid unless serious adjustments are made to working hours and internet quality for long-term application of these measures. It is critical to accept the bitter reality that our official style of governance does not match the precarious and loans-afflicted state of our economy which will be further weakened because of high energy prices. The austerity measures should, therefore, not be restricted to just a couple of months or until the fuel crisis lasts; rather, they should be adopted as a long-term way of life and policy. The opulence which we reflect in the grandeur of our offices, official residences, multiple vehicles for top judges and government officials, state events, foreign trips, elaborate protocols etc. need to be replaced with a simple but effective way of governance. An ‘austerity commission’ may be constituted to develop a long-term austerity plan for all three branches of government with no leniency for any sacred cow. The writer is president of the Pakistan-based think tank Pildat. president@pildat.org X: @ABMPildat Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026