The battle within

The battle lines are drawn with unprecedented clarity. This year's rapidly mounting flood-related catastrophes have exposed the gaps within Pakistan, which have long been ignored under successive governments. In brief, the eventual outcome of Pakistan's mounting crises caused by climate change and population growth will eventually define the country’s future.

In this moment of crisis, the leadership of the federal government and the province of Punjab, together responsible for serving an overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s population, have shown glaring gaps in responding to fast-mounting challenges.

Their disregard for conditions across large parts of the country, combined with the fallout from earlier policy failures and misplaced priorities, has together fuelled the rot.

A combination of such choices, along with the wrong kind of symbolism, has reinforced the public's view of being ruled by a structure with little regard for the worsening realities across the grassroots of Pakistan.

In the latest instance, as destruction spread rapidly across the Punjab, the chief minister of the province faced growing criticism for her recent travels to Japan and Thailand, just when the crisis was unfolding at home. Even if the trip was vital in Pakistan’s national interest, the manner in which it was undertaken was clearly not.

Troubling questions were raised over the sheer number of travellers who accompanied the leader of the largest province to Japan. They reportedly included the children of at least two of the Punjab-based VIPs, who joined the entourage for no justifiable reason. Besides, the controversy escalated over reports of a friend of a child of a VVIP, who managed to gain entry to that group, as well as some domestic help who also allegedly travelled.

The contrast between Pakistan's unravelling and ever-growing misery on the ground versus the lives of the ruling elite smacks of a one-country, two-classes syndrome. In other words, it showcased a dark side of Pakistan, where ruling politicians remain detached from the reality surrounding the daily lives of the mainstream population.

As Pakistan remains saddled with a high incidence of poverty at 45% of the population or more, the conduct of ruling politicians is tragically set to sharpen the rich versus poor divide across the country, with a population of more than 250 million.

As for the federal government, it must also face compelling questions over at least two glaring gaps surrounding its commitment to the future of Pakistan.

On the one hand, in this moment of crisis, the road ahead still appears to be driven by the pursuit of large infrastructure projects, just when the ground appears to be slipping from underneath. The moment of crisis is so severe that the federal and provincial governments must immediately suspend all new spending, except for tackling climate change and its related destruction across Pakistan.

This is all the more vital as the federal National Disaster Management Authority or NDMA has already forecast next year's expected rainfall likely to exceed the intensity and volume of this year's dramatic rainfall by more than 20%. Besides, the ongoing destruction has already raised doubts over Pakistan's ability to meet its economic targets for this year.

On the other hand, Pakistan's slippages of recent years have witnessed the widening of food insecurity across the country, as the performance of the all too critical agriculture sector simply plummeted. Reversing this trend urgently must become Pakistan’s top priority.

During the last financial year (July-June), the agriculture sector grew by a dismal 0.6% of GDP — well below Pakistan’s population growth rate.

The ongoing destruction to some of Pakistan’s richest cropland raises the dangerous possibility of the agriculture sector continuing to underperform for the foreseeable future.

The rot in this area deepened in spring last year (2024) when the government of Punjab reneged on its promise of purchasing stocks of newly harvested wheat, after earlier announcing a price of Rupees 3900 per maund (40kgs). With that promise abruptly withdrawn, the price of wheat for farmers crashed by 30-35$.

Even before the latest floods came, widespread reports from Pakistan’s rural belt spoke of sharply rising indebtedness among farmers. Going forward, the root cause of Pakistan’s present-day crisis and the tragic outlook for the future are abundantly clear.

This journey to the unknown will certainly become futile unless needless future ventures are completely abandoned. As Pakistan positions itself to battle clearly visible storms of the future, its leaders must immediately review how best they can change the country's destiny.

A failure to do so only risks taking Pakistan towards unpredictable consequences, with few chances of a timely recovery for the better. The destruction already witnessed this year and more to come with expected rainfall and more floods clearly point towards an internal battle that must be won for Pakistan.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer's own and don't necessarily reflect Geo.tv's editorial policy.

The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist who writes on political and economic affairs. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Originally published in The News