THE ruling party never stops boasting about the prosperity they are bringing to the country by initiating projects never done before. Their opponents, on the other hand, blame them for hoodwinking the people with false promises.

They forget that neither prosperity nor peace can be attained without a strong sustainable economy, about which both don’t seem serious. For example, our elite on both sides took no concrete steps to preserve forests and build dams, which are essential for water storage and generation of cheap electricity.

Our elite perhaps have not heard Confucius saying that those who won’t economise would have to agonise. Our country has been driven to the brink of disaster in every sense. We now rank amongst the lowest along with Angola, Sudan, Somalia and Syria on almost every human index, but our rulers seem oblivious to this fact.

They should understand that motorways, flyovers and underpasses in a few cities and running a train in Lahore at the cost of health, education and human uplift not constitute prosperity.

The government needs to curtail its expenditure, increase income, and save money for strengthening the economy. It also needs to review its policy of creating isles of prosperity in a few pockets of Punjab at the expense of the rest of the country.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017