The fault in our Dar(s)

Pakistan is suffering from a pandemic of irrationality among its ruling elite. This irrationality has manifested itself in the form of public policies that have continuously failed in advancing the state of the country’s 230 million citizens. In fact, the determination with which these policies are adopted time and again, with the expectation that they will yield different results, has meant that Pakistan today is the sick man of South Asia. For the past few weeks, we have been experiencing the application of a particularly dangerous, irrational public policy. Like a fast-moving wildfire in the dry season, this policy has the potential to completely torch Pakistan’s economy and what little purchasing power remains with ordinary citizens. When he returned to Pakistan as the country’s next finance minister, the victorious Ishaq Dar was beaming. Confident in his ability to shout down the US dollar, Dar quickly went around holding a victory speech. But like George Bush Jr’s preemptive declaration of victory in Iraq, Dar’s pronouncements were premature. As the days went by, reality set in and the promise of bringing down the dollar to below the 200-mark fell by the wayside.