Each day, the economic crisis in Pakistan is becoming severe, and it is impacting every industrial sector and households. The decline in general economic condition is accelerated by an increase in foreign loans by the government, increasing current account deficit and continuous decline in value of the currency. The clouds of hyperinflation have devastated the vast majority of the population, making them unable to purchase items to maintain a decent living. The population is constantly being pushed into destitution, and there is a constant fight going on against this menace. Despite all these problems, the wealth of the rich is increasing at a double-digit rate every year. The super-rich in Pakistan is enjoying the best of lifestyle, unimaginable by anybody in the world. You will see huge mansions, the most expensive cars, ownerships of buildings and posh flats in London, Dubai and New York owned by these Pakistani rich people. The overreliance of the government on IMF loans is considered important by all politicians and government functionaries. Evidence suggests that all these loans end into the pocket of the rich. Ordinary people of Pakistan are left to pay back these loans on very strict conditions. Conditions such as austerity in public services, privatisation of public services, ending government subsidies on gas and electricity etc.
The economic crisis has affected the industrial sector to the worse. The industrial growth is continuously on the decline. Thousands of industrial units are closing down triggering massive unemployment. Pakistani government and business owners are incapable of addressing these challenges to ensure employment generation and maintain living standards. The Chinese CPEC project, once considered as a golden opportunity for Pakistan, has now become a social, economic and environmental challenge. The heavy inflow of cheap product manufactured in slavery-ridden factories in China is being dumped in Pakistani markets. This is closing down local manufacturing as they are unable to complete with maintaining decent working conditions. Hence there is a continuous pressure to drive down the general living of the people to the point of extinction.
There is no solution by any economists and experts who are advising the government on matters of the industry. All intellectuals and media experts keep on criticising government policies but offer no solutions to the crisis. Pakistani workers are feeling the heat with their lives and families suffering from the crisis. All hopes from the government and all politicians are lost hence the general contempt against the status quo. Mainstream politicians are fighting with each other on issues that have zero relevance on improving living and working conditions of workers. The only way forward for workers is to organise themselves and defend their rights inside and outside of the workplaces. Workers once organised would never be defeated. International workers are facing the same challenges as Pakistani workers with varied level of intensities. Therefore, strong solidarity is the need of time.
