IS the purpose of a government to perpetuate a deplorable system, or address the issues of the people? In Pakistan, it would appear to be the former. Those in positions of influence in Islamabad and at the top tiers of society play a long-term game in which various elements engage in efforts to out-manoeuvre each other. Meanwhile, the electorate continues to be mired in ever-worsening poverty. A Save the Children report launched in Islamabad on Wednesday found that 38 per cent of surveyed families had been forced to cut down on food intake while 58 per cent were food insecure; one in five parents said that their child did not get enough food. While Pakistan does not yet have the highest rate of stunting among children due to malnutrition — that dubious honour goes to India — the stunting rate in the country has gone up by almost 50 per cent over the past decade. Over the next 15 years, Pakistan will have the highest percentage of stunted children.

This is not the first report that presents such an appalling picture. Last month, the National Nutritional Survey presented similar findings on malnutrition. In 2011, a World Bank report said the poorest households were spending up to 70 per cent, or more, of their income on food alone. And nutrition is hardly the only sector showing such pitiful statistics. Every indicator of welfare has taken a sharp downward turn. Consider the spiralling rates of unemployment and illiteracy, for example. It is not that efforts have not been made to counter the situation, but that almost all initiatives are piecemeal and linked to specific governments or personalities. Clearly, policymaking in development does not figure highly on the state’s agenda, regardless of the government in power. Few policies can be expected to survive a change at the helm. It is not surprising then that the poor continue to become poorer with little access to even the most basic of human rights. With elections round the corner, the political elite as a whole may wish to dwell on this situation.