Privatisation myth

BEYOND sensational late-night arrests of opposition MNAs, impunity for abductors and unending intrigue, there is a remarkable degree of continuity and consistency in how the Pakistani ruling class rules. Working people and ethnic peripheries are of secondary importance to all who occupy the corridors of power; their primary concern is to appease big creditors and foreign investors. Which is why former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s unveiled dig at the IMF is somewhat amusing. Let’s be honest: all bourgeois parties seek only to secure a share of the piece in the debt-ridden, militarised structure of power, so much so that policymaking is akin to farce. Whoever is in the seat of government reproduces the same tired economic policy prescriptions. There is no bigger example of this than the privatisation mantra.