Thread by @AtifRMian

A🧵on what Feb 8 elections mean for Pakistan

Pakistan’s economy has consistently fallen behind globally – last year was one of the worse, with the economy actually contracting

Every macro fundamental is flashing red: inflation, growth, debt, investment, to name a few
1/n

The federal gov has no money

It cannot even afford to pay the salary of a peon or a soldier without borrowing

The entire tax revenue is consumed after paying provinces their share, pensions to retirees, and interest on debt
2/n

Inflation cannot be controlled when the entire government is run on deficit

Growth is impossible when government has no money to invest in the future

And lack of growth makes every problem worse.

The country is bankrupt. It is sinking deeper every year
3/n

I have never seen such despondency

So many wanting to leave, established firms no longer comfortable investing

Yet no leader has a viable economic plan for the future
4/n

The shady establishment that calls shots from behind is especially clueless

SIFC? ... Really?

You expect foreigners to believe in the country when your own people are losing all hope?
5/n

It is in this backdrop that Feb 8 elections were held

People are mad – and they have every right to be. 442,353 children died in Pakistan just last year due to poverty

that is almost half a million dead kids EVERY YEAR
6/n

But the establishment was busy playing its usual games –

put this one in jail, and that one in parliament this time –

keep the system just unstable enough so we stay relevant –

our children be damned
7/n

They obviously sensed the people’s anger, so every action to rig the elections was taken –

except it only made the public madder

So here we are post Feb 8 – the distance between the ruler and the ruled has never been wider

Do they understand how dangerous that is?
8/n

There is an attempt – once again – to cobble together a compromised group

No one has a plan to fix the economy

But even if they magically did somehow, they cannot do anything

because they have lost all trust with their people

they are foreigners in their own land
/end