just like the faqeers who beg for imdaad at teen talwaar in karachi, the foreign minister of pakistan was in saudi arabia last week begging saudi govt to supply free oil to pakistan.
and saudi response to pak: chalo raasta naapo - a response our country fully deserves. pakistanis clearly dont have problem with chor leaders who feel no shame in begging. rest of the world however has a different criteria for judging leaders than pakistani awam does. foreign investors for example believed that last govt was honest and competent and as a result in financial year 2007, pakistan was able to attract investment of $8bn. in comparison, under the current govt both local and foreign investors are taking out money from pakistan which is why foreign reserves are dwindling.
so what does this all mean for ordinary pakistanis? answer: lots of economic pain. for example, global oil prices have declined by about 40% over the last few weeks and yet pakistani govt is raising oil prices because of weakening rupee. moreover because of dwindling reserves, country cannot afford all the oil that it needs which means large scale load shedding all through ramzan. not that i have any sympathy because people who accept leaders like zardari and nawaz sharif deserve no better. unfortunately pakistani awam is going to need a lot more sympathy. zardari is now starting to appoint his cronies to financial institutions and slowly, these people will suck out any remaining juice remaining in the economy. icing on the cake will come when zardari and sharif start fighting kutta-billee style as they did in the 90’s. i predict this fighting is going to resume fairly soon. country might not be able to afford a lot of bijlee by that time but at least phadda by politicians should at least provide some entertainment. higher aspirations are pointless.
some recent headlines on economy:
http://brecorder.com/index.php?id=802281&currPageNo=3&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government has appointed party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf as president/chief executive of the Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). Zaka, is said to be one of the closest friends of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and the chairman, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Punjab Zone.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=132452
The News found that the Pakistan Electric Powewr Company would continue with the current practice of reducing high cost electricity production and increase load shedding until it has enough resources to pay for high oil cost. The next increase in power tariff is on cards that might generate some resources for Pakistan Electric Powewr Company to increase high cost of oil-based electricity generation.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C02%5Cstory_2-9-2008_pg7_1
The sources said Saudi Arabia did not give a final response to a delegation led by Finance Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who also holds the charge of the Petroleum Ministry. Saudi Arabia said it was observing the current situation in Pakistan and would give a final response on the oil facility after the presidential election, they said.
