HAVE you had a chance to adjust to the latest crisis — take your pick from a medley of economic, social or security issues currently affecting Pakistan. I ask because I’ve not really recovered from the anxiety wrought on by the pandemic, then the floods, actually climate change altogether, then the violence against minorities, women, children, the IMF deal or default situation. I find myself in a varying state of alertness, never wanting to let my guard down in case something bigger (read worse) comes my way.

Can it get worse? I imagine so but an overwhelming majority of this country’s beleaguered population have only ever known this way. The question is whether those that have always been able to buy their way out of discomfort are feeling the same insecurity felt by the rest of us.

I ask because I wonder what we will tell future generations about this moment in history; about what we did and didn’t do — or rather what was or wasn’t possible given the erasure of rights.

I ask because surely this set of crises impacts everyone, including those who can buy their way out of situations; for whom taxes or rising inflation and bills or bombs in Fata don’t matter. In their world, the crisis is happening to someone else. Except now, new laws are being passed at a dizzying speed and at some point, everyone is at risk of state brutality.

One way to break this cycle is to make the right demands.

This cycle of crisis after crisis, that has defined Pakistan from its existence, has succeeded in disengaging a whole lot of people who are resigned to any possibility of change. The people entrusted to bring about structural changes are today the very people bulldozing fundamental rights.

As hard as it is to imagine right now, individual and collective action can lead to change.

One way to break this rinse/repeat cycle is to make the right demands, those that are rooted in an equitable redistribution of wealth and justice. For example, instead of blaming the poor for overpopulation, call for a change in the system that forces poor people to send children to work. There can be no justification for hiring children or for paying household help less than the mandated minimum wage. We all know such people: they hold onto their wealth at all costs even in the face of the country’s impending economic doom. Their fortunes are for themselves and their children.

To believe change is possible, one only has to look at the past.

People have shown tremendous resistance to oppression — the women’s groups, the farmers, the trade unionists, students and their teachers, the list is long. The circumstances, of course, are different. The movement to restore democracy cannot be compared to this hotchpotch of political parties who have banded together to do their master’s bidding. All politicians all over the world lust for power and make compromises but this country is witnessing a besharmi (shamelessness) like never before. I wonder if there is even any point to elections.

This capitulation is only going to cause more disillusionment. Some of this can be evidenced by an exodus of skilled and unskilled labour. For those living here, there is little interest or hope or desire to do something to counter the assault. This inaction suits the all-powerful institution the most as evidenced by the passing of laws to little resistance.

I’m hoping those with influence in this country — who have not had to face any bad luck while leaders ruined the economy — are waking up to the realisation that this moment impacts them as well. They too can face midday/midnight knocks for crimes so ludicrous, so laughable, yet here we are, another iteration of a previous crisis which seemed pressing then.

I don’t think it’s possible to continue being immune to crisis after crisis. I don’t think people can afford to believe in a saviour — human or institution — that will pull Pakistan out of this mess. I think we’ve seen how the last promised saviour fared. It is pointless to demand a return to X leader’s tenure where things were better because there has never been a time where everyone felt secure.

A grand push is needed to stop the elite from contributing to the rising inequality in Pakistan. They must be made to pay taxes, for example. Elite groups’ reaction to demographic changes is at the heart of the instability in this country.

Too much has been compromised for the sake of national interest. There is a systematic erasure of communities taking place for the sake of some weird version of Pakistan. The reality is that the country is gripped in a whirlwind of conflict. And to change that, people who do not think anything bad can happen to them have to be willing to do the work to ensure no one is erased.

The writer researches newsroom culture in Pakistan.

Twitter: @LedeingLady

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2023