COST OF WEDDINGS: One thing that often puzzles me is that why marriage, which is supposed to be a private matter between two consenting adults, is celebrated with such pomp and gaiety in Pakistan, a country that is facing economic woes of the highest magnitude. For most people, marriage, especially of a daughter, is quite an expensive and nerve-wracking event. The wedding business has now become a flourishing industry. Starting with the matchmaker, the list of ‘stakeholders’ is rather long, comprising the designer, the jeweller, the beauty parlour, the marquee owner, the caterer, the event organiser, the videographer and a whole lot of others. The vendors thrive as their businesses grow, but the parents end up spending their savings worth a lifetime on marriages. Why can we not have a simple marriage ceremony?

Khaled
Islamabad

CONTAMINATED WATER ISSUES: Hospitals in Karachi have been receiving a lot of cases with abdominal complaints owing to the consumption of contaminated water. The health and wellbeing of people from underprivileged social backgrounds are particularly at stake as they are unable to buy clean water and, therefore, use whatever water is available to them. The local government has clearly failed to address the issue effectively. It is time for the higher authorities to intervene and ensure adequate supply of safe and clean water as everyone cannot afford to buy filtered water on a daily basis.

Irfan Hussain
Karac

CONSISTENT FAILURE: The dismal performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Pakistan has been a longstanding issue that has hampered the country’s economic journey. Factors like political interference, disregard for meritocracy and institutional deficiencies happen to be behind the phenomenon. Large-scale changes are needed rather urgently to give all these organisations at least an outside chance of being effective.

Naveed Akhtar
Adelaide, Australia

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2024