PESHAWAR: For Sabir Hussain Shah, an MBA in Finance, doing more than one job is a more practical option than wasting time in raising voice against the soaring cost of living. Lodging protest, he believes, is a futile exercise because it has no impact on the government. If anything, it can only multiply his miseries, he says. “The entire nation thinks that way. What can I do alone,” he adds with a shrug of shoulders.

Shah works for a leading insurance company in Peshawar from 8am to 5pm and earns a fixed amount of Rs25,000 a month. In the evening, he works as a part-time accountant at a local warehouse for at least four to five hours to earn an additional Rs 8-10,000. The two amounts together enable Shah to manage a reasonable life for his six-member family, including his four school-going kids. “I am always hand-to-mouth,” laments Shah after following such a hectic schedule.

Lives of the people having white collar jobs in Peshawar are no different. They are striving hard to overcome their growing financial woes in the face of rising commodity prices. A survey conducted to assess the impact on households in the provincial capital suggests that the prices almost every single kitchen item have increased by 32 per cent after the Feb 18 general election.

Prices of non-food items, including that of kerosene oil, have witnessed a surge of 120 per cent, putting households in a difficult situation. No wonder, a majority of them are applying different strategies to cope with the crisis. These include doing additional work as well as cutting down costs wherever possible.

According to the survey, 50 per cent of middle class households with average monthly incomes of Rs 25,000 or more, are doing additional work, 40 per cent of lower middle class setups – incomes ranging between Rs9,000 and Rs17,000 per month – are doing the same, while the relevant percentage in the last category earning less than Rs9,000 is 20.

While people are doing whatever they can, the question on everyone’s mind is why there has been no intervention from the government and in its absence, why no pressure group has been able to mobilise public opinion against it.

Ghulam Sarwar Mohmand, a former president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, attributes the current state of national despair to the anti-masses policies of the rulers. He believes the political leadership of the country had always breached the people’s trust through irrational economic policies.

“Failure of the state has brought us to the current state of despair, where people are finding ways to cope with the situation, while the leaders are unable to see beyond their nose,” opines Mr Mohmand.

“People are convinced that they cannot make any difference, even if they block roads,” he remarks, adding: “Doing dual jobs is easier and more productive than protests and roadblocks.”

Sharafat Ali Mubarik, a local leader of PML-N and General Secretary of the Traders Alliance, says people are in such a sever grip of inflation that they cannot afford to hold protest demonstrations, which, he believes, “is a dangerous phenomenon.”

A shopkeeper in Peshawar, he says, has to earn at least Rs6,000 daily just to meet his daily operational expenses, which is extremely difficult in the current poor economic situation. “If I advise my fellow shopkeeper to close down their businesses in protest for even one day, it will only add to their sufferings,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone.