There is far too much social injustice in the state of Pakistan to allow a functioning social fabric. Economic exploitation, the status quo, pro-rich economic arrangements, and indifference to the ordinary are some of the key concerns often mentioned by citizens and economic experts alike. Much fleecing of the public has been witnessed over the years. A case in point is the fixed charges being introduced in electricity bills.
The Fixed Charges Saga
Reportedly, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has allowed the federal government to levy a fixed charge of up to Rs350 per month on domestic consumers - including the protected ones - using up to 300 units. The regulator also allowed a reduction of up to Rs4.58 per unit and Rs1.53 per unit respectively, for different categories of industrial and domestic consumers.
Previously, only non-protected users consuming more than 300 units per month were subject to fixed charges, while protected domestic consumers were exempted from the charges. However, as per the decision, fixed charges will be extended to households consuming up to 300 units a month, including protected consumers.
Similarly, for protected consumers, levying a fixed charge of Rs200 per/KW/month on the consumers using 1-100 units and Rs300/KW/month for those consuming 101-200 units was approved by the authority. For non-protected consumers, fixed charges of Rs275/KW/month for usage 1-100 units, Rs300 for 101-200 units and Rs350 for 201-300 units were approved by the regulator."
Let us not forget that gas subscribers have already been bearing the brunt of a bad economic model called fixed charges in their bills for a long time. The fixed charges being taken from subscribers have also been revised and subsequently increased. Recently, a farmer was issued the following bill:
The Breakup of the Gas Bill:
- Gas charges: Rs 755
- Meter Rent: Rs 40
- Fixed charges: Rs 600
- General Sales Tax: Rs 251
The amount of the fixed charges, accompanied by the general sales tax, is higher than the gas consumption charges. Previously, the same subscriber was charged a fixed fee of Rs 400, which has now been increased to Rs 600. This imprudent economic model, presided over by successive regimes, continues to burden the cash-starved majority. Besides, as per media reports, the federal government is mulling levying Rs 5 per unit for gas subscribers in order to clear the gas circular debt, reportedly amounting to Rs 3,400 billion. The recent economic arrangement—fixed charges introduced in electricity bills—of taking from the ordinary just to balance the books (i.e., the relief given to industrial sectors) is an unsustainable solution. The individual economy lubricates the engines of commercial activity in any country. People in Pakistan are losing purchasing power due to industrial stagnation and subsequent layoffs, insufficient pay, inflation, and a lack of social safety nets.
According to a World Bank report, almost forty-five percent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line. Reportedly, gender-disaggregated data suggests that over 75% of the poor are women and girls. Pakistan also ranks last among 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, underscoring the persistent inequalities in education, health, political representation, and economic opportunities. From early marriage to restricted mobility, and from unpaid care burdens to limited inheritance rights, these systemic barriers deny women the tools to build capabilities, earn income, and live with dignity.
Huma Baqai, a foreign and current affairs expert, recently posted on her Facebook wall that: "Pakistan now formally in a crises of hunger and nutrition, with people eating less, children are out of school and graduates are without jobs, the back bone of any country the middle class struggling to meet ends and live with dignity, if it wasn’t for charity people would go hungry even in Ramzan, because of profiteers … but of course lavish weddings and luxurious jets and unnecessary foreign trips are on, who may dare ask why so utterly shameless is our ruling elite."
Poverty is a network of disadvantages at play, undermining personal and professional prospects. According to the Global Goals initiative, ending poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today. Poverty is not just a lack of income; it is a lack of education, food, healthcare, shelter, political inclusion, choice, safety, and dignity. Critics continue to criticize the discriminatory social contract. In a post on X, Najam Ali said: " Our economic crisis is not about lack of resources or talent. It is the predictable outcome of decades of bad governance and an economy captured by parasitic elites who privatise profits and socialise losses. And yet, every five years, we return them to power and expect a different outcome."
NEPRA has already authorized the federal government to levy a fixed charge of up to Rs350 per month on all domestic consumers, effectively extracting revenue from the most vulnerable households
The Shahbaz Sharif-led government's political, economic, and institutional policies have failed to strike a chord with the wider sections of society. This economic arrangement will be the last straw in terms of public anger patently boiling underneath various economic decisions exploiting the already exploited. Skyrocketing commodity prices are snatching morsels from the mouths of those struggling under hard economic conditions stemming from manipulative monetary mechanisms institutionalized by those in glass houses. Sweeping economic measures, wrapped as reforms and austerity measures on the heels of a widening Middle East war, will usher in deprivation and depression, ultimately leading the deprived to lose control over their lives.
The government's recent spike in the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 55 per liter, respectively, has brought in its wake unprecedented anger across all sections of society. The public conveyed their concerns in no uncertain terms, saying that the inflated rates of the commodities in question will open the floodgates of inflation for Pakistanis. Such a hefty increase on the pre-war stock is nothing but a move to punish the poverty-stricken population. They demanded that the government should have instead reduced its levy tariff in order to ameliorate the worsening economic crisis faced by the public.
In a country where around 45 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, this hurriedly hammered-out economic arrangement will create unimaginable pain for the weaker sections of society, including the salaried class. They were, are, and will remain in the same economic trap. There is no respite in sight. "Fuelflation" can be measured by the inflated prices of food and items of daily use, like sugar, cooking oil, chicken, vegetables, fruits, and solar panels.
If the Iran war drags on, whose likelihood cannot be ruled out, global oil prices will surge. This will lay inflationary mines for consumers in Pakistan and elsewhere, and subsequently financially strangulate those left on the margins. People across all walks of life not only questioned the credibility of the government's measures, like the hike in the price of commodities (petrol and diesel) on old stock, but social media networking sites were also awash with a rallying cry against the free litres of petrol and units of gas and electricity given to the already privileged sections.
Under public pressure, the Shahbaz Sharif-led government announced austerity measures that too failed to earn public praise following its foggy agenda and historical failure to implement policies in letter and spirit. The Pakistani diaspora kept reminding PML-N heavyweights like Maryam Nawaz of their often-churned-out slogans over past hikes: "When there is a hike in the price of petrol, think that the PM is supposed to be the thief". Various people have uploaded videos in which the present CM of Punjab and PM Shahbaz Sharif could be heard directing their guns at the spiked prices of energy and their subsequent inflationary impact.
This will follow and haunt those making a volte-face. Various media bigwigs—journalists and anchors—came under fire over their silence on the issue of the staggering spike in the prices of petrol and diesel in the country. Not only this, but the Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government has earned public ire over the purchase of a princely jet for the CM of Punjab. People questioned the rationale behind purchasing the princely jet and opting for foreign pilots for the CM in a country grappling with poverty. Instances such as these demonstrate the moral depravity of the Pakistani ruling elites. People perish in poverty. The ruling elites live in luxury while prioritizing a spending spree with taxpayers' money.
Imagine the scale of entitlement for the ruling elites in a country where almost half of the population is living below the breadline. A luxury vehicle worth Rs 90 million was bought from the Senate budget by its chairman, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The discriminatory distribution of national resources has created a financial paradise for the privileged sections and a hellish struggle for the rest.
Miftah Ismail smells a rat in the spike of energy prices (petrol and diesel) at the drop of a hat, just to facilitate profiteering oil companies. He placed the blame at the door of the incumbent government for favouring oil barons. Manipulation is deeply entrenched in our day-to-day affairs. The transporters lost no time and increased fares as per their wishes for both intercity and countryside commuters, thanks to a lack of robust checks and balances.
Miftah Ismail is of the opinion that the middle class has been crushed. There is no denying that no country has ever progressed without its middle class making economic progress. As the Israel-US war on Iran has conflagrated across the Middle East, the consequences of the war and the subsequent business crunch are yet to emerge from the global oil crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Global economies are feeling the economic tremors. There are reports of dwindling hotel and other industries in the Gulf states. Remittances will dip as laid-off Pakistanis return home.
Miftah Ismail was joined by senior journalist Syed Talat Hussain, who, in a post on X, wrote in the same vein: "Those explaining away the dropping of the dirty petro bomb on the people r clueless about its crushing impact. Food included everything in the market has gone up by 30% already. Next weeks will be even worse. Govts won't be able to control hoarding nor price hike. The public will be crushed. This is as heartless and callous as it is politically stupid. Why can't you cut your fancy expenditures? Why must everything be squeezed out of an already drained public?"
Recently, a video went viral featuring a reporter from a certain TV channel who highlighted a discrepancy in the measurement of sweets, which was off by as much as 80 grams thanks to the box provided by the outlet. It thus robbed its customers of around Rs 45 per kg. Unchecked monkey business continues to extract hard-earned cash through murky methods applied by small- and big-scale capitalists in the country. Achieving economic stability without clean governance will remain a pipe dream. During the PTI-led government, mainstream political parties like the PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F held rallies, public demonstrations, and long marches over the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel and the subsequent exploding price hike.
Now, these mainstream political parties are coalition partners and are crying for their pound of flesh. The PTI—now the opposition—is mired in its struggle for political survival and is solely obsessed with it.
The undemocratic distribution of wealth and the rising cost of living are not the concerns of MPs. After all, those voted into power forget their constituencies until the next electoral season arrives. Members of parliament present themselves as messiahs when they are sitting on the opposition benches. After their entry into the corridors of power, they change their political character sooner than expected.
The federal government directed provincial governments to ensure that hoarding and black marketing do not happen following "fuelflation." Everyone knows that a weak price control mechanism is commonplace, creating space for predators. Citizen journalists and critics alike accused the present government of using the national economy, impacted by the Iran war, as an opportunity to extract money from the masses. The oligarchy, a minority deciding the economic fate of the majority, must see if the cap fits.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced a reduction of 5 percent to 30 percent in the salaries of employees of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and autonomous institutions under government supervision. According to the PM, the deducted amount will be utilized for public welfare. What had this government done before the ongoing Middle East conflict to minimize the economic burden faced by the shirtless?
The first casualty of any crisis in our dear country is education. This has been the case over the years. The abrupt closure of educational institutions is incredibly disappointing. What the ruling elites need to realize is that online education is no answer given the poor internet and lack of access for those hailing from humble economic backgrounds. The majority of the population lives in rural Pakistan, and they enroll their children in schools near their homes. The children of the ordinary and low-paid servants enrolled in the public and private education systems commute in school vans, buses, and on motorbikes. Only the affluent, the bureaucracy, and business tycoons opt for an elite private education system and pick up and drop off their children in luxurious vehicles, consuming large quantities of the commodity in question that is supposed to be conserved. Even war-torn countries avoid closing their schools.
Educating the masses has never been the priority of our policymakers. Nor are the highly educated lot and intellectuals respected and accommodated by society and those in the corridors of power, respectively. While developed economies are incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) based on computational cognitive science into their curriculums and learning, our learning is still rooted in rote memorization, limiting the critical thinking and decision-making qualities of learners.
The movers and shakers who have consolidated political and economic power in their hands are actually afraid of a well-educated citizenry. They ask difficult questions, demand answers, and ask for a democratic economic framework and inclusive political structures. Under such circumstances, the public education system is both poorly managed and underfunded. Undermining education is a political necessity.
This is the reason why, today, we as a nation suffer in every imaginable way, as we have mediocre minds in every field, from politics to economic policymaking institutions. People across all sections of society questioned the wisdom of the knee-jerk decision to close learning centres.
Access to education, affordable food, and shelter are the fundamental rights of the people. Yet around 25 million children are out of school in our dear country. And those enrolled in the public sector and the ordinary private education system are facing poor learning outcomes.
According to a World Bank report, 2 in 3 low- and middle-income countries have seen declines in nutrition, learning, or workforce skills over the last 15 years. Last year, around 3,800 to 4,000 doctors reportedly left Pakistan, marking the highest annual number of doctor emigrations ever recorded. Professional people leaving the country for greener pastures is alarming because this trend, if it persists, will leave Pakistan professionally and intellectually dry. The main triggers for this brain drain include poor working conditions, low salaries, limited career growth, and safety concerns.
We have defeated external aggression. We need to win the war against poverty, which is looming large over a multitude of the population thanks to an extractive economic framework. The moribund national economy is time and again underpinned by bailout packages from international lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Make no mistake, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hit the headlines while raising concerns over recent legal amendments that limit the public disclosure of assets held by members of parliament. Dr Ikramul Haq, in his recent write-up titled Why Secrecy Around Lawmakers' Wealth Threatens Pakistan's Democracy, wrote: "This contradiction is not accidental. It reflects a deeper structural feature of Pakistan’s constitutional political economy, where transparency is often demanded from citizens and lower tiers of the state, but resisted by those occupying the highest political offices"
A question that arises is: why are they hiding their assets from those who voted them into parliament? According to a FAFEN (Free and Fair Election Network) staff report: "Out of a total membership of 1,181 lawmakers across Parliament and the four provincial assemblies, 446 members failed to submit their statements of assets and liabilities by 31 December 2025. This constitutes nearly 38 percent of all legislators. However, the level of non-compliance varies across assemblies."
This reluctance to reveal assets and the quest for secrecy around them is self-explanatory, speaking louder than this piece of writing can portray. Pakistan needs a new crop of elected representatives that is not only clean but also willing to measure the economic pain emanating from various economic decisions before finalizing the arrangements in question.
Pakistan is considered to be the fifth-largest young country in the world. Around 63 percent of the country's population comprises youth aged between 15 and 33. Hopelessness and disillusionment are on the rise, draining the youth bulge, who see their dreams being crushed under the heavy weight of joblessness and a lack of equal opportunities in various fields of business. We have failed the youth. As a result, they are experiencing multiple mental health issues. Real economic growth and an industrial and agricultural revolution are still a distant dream.
Pakistan's Gen Z sees things differently compared to their parents and grandparents. Their quest for a political framework that can flush out political bad eggs from political and economic decision-making centres is gaining momentum. Underestimating their disillusionment with the current economic quagmire will prove to be suicidal for the ruling elites in terms of their political careers and their elevation to the highest echelons of power. The sooner they realize the brewing storm, the better. The individual economy lubricates the engines of commercialism in Pakistan and elsewhere; it is being strained following "fuelflation." It calls for urgent recalibration with emerging political realities and economic needs. Shaking off big projects seen through the prism of political visibility is imperative. And carrying coals to Newcastle needs to be curtailed in order to prioritize need-based public service delivery.
We need clean governance, accountable political leadership, and people-centered economic decisions by those at the helm of the country's affairs. Remember that mass protests spearheaded by Gen Z (students and young people) in 2024 directly led to the ouster of long-term Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The protesters were utterly disillusioned with the pattern of governance under her watch.
Aristotle’s observation serves as a powerful warning for societies and political dynastic families: ignoring widespread deprivation and failing to provide pathways for upward mobility tends to destabilize social and political cohesion.