A woman approached him, prescription and medicines in hand.
asserted
woman → approach → hand
She was simply but not shabbily dressed.
asserted
She → dress → ?
But she still returned a quarter of the medication once the bill was generated.
asserted
bill → return → medication
The man behind the counter explained the bill was around Rs4,000, and she returned about Rs1,000 worth of medication.
asserted
she → explain → medication
This took place at a pharmacy in the heart of Islamabad, where real estate sells or rents at eye-watering prices.
asserted
estate → take → prices
The woman, chances are, lived close by.
asserted
chances → live → ?
It is not a dramatic story or one that really shocks.
asserted
that → shock → ?
Tell it to a group of people and they will nod, and, in fact, recount similar stories.
asserted
they → tell → stories
The loans they have taken.
asserted
they → take → ?
How someone got a utility bill higher than their salary.
asserted
someone → get → salary
How a colleague had switched from his car to a motorbike.
asserted
colleague → switch → motorbike
How another had begun shopping for lower-quality food.
asserted
another → begin → food
Conversations such as these abound.
asserted
Conversations → abound → these
And this is before the past week when petrol hikes — even those of a daily kind — had begun to hit the headlines.
asserted
hikes → begin → headlines
People are now taking bets on when the price of petrol will hit 400 — a far more probable prospect than the cricket team managing a respectable score.
asserted
price → take → score
That the government realises the impact of the petrol hikes is evident from its announcement to relaunch its subsidy scheme.
asserted
realises → realise → scheme
There is little clarity on how effective the last one had been and how long it lasted, but it’s now back with some tweaks.
asserted
it → be → tweaks
Ask the government to reduce the petrol levy, and suddenly the big bad IMF enters the conversation; the same IMF which can’t get the government to impose a proper tax on traders or agriculture income or even stop it from giving relief to real estate.
asserted
government → ask → estate
There is little conversation about what inflationary impact this petrol hike will have.
asserted
hike → be → impact
And of course, there is little conversation about what inflationary impact this petrol hike will have on food, transport and more — what will happen to the electricity bills, and what this new cycle of inflation will do to already weakened purchasing power.
asserted
cycle → be → power
Before the reader rolls her eyes at my audacity to write a piece on the economy, let me clarify that I am about to do no such thing.
asserted
I → roll → thing
This is simply going to be a clutch-my-pearls piece on the callousness of the ruling elite.
asserted
This → go → elite
It doesn’t get simpler than that.
asserted
It → get → that
Nearly 20 per cent of the population has an insufficient caloric intake, and around 40pc of children under five years are malnourished and suffer from stunting — in this, Pakistan is comparable to countries hit by conflict and civil war.
asserted
Pakistan → have → conflict
The numbers are not recent so as to be linked to the economic mess of the past few years.
asserted
numbers → link → years
This is the real story, with facts and figures, along with our own experiences and the anecdotes we all hear of the suffering of the people.
asserted
we → hear → people
This may seem a bit harsh but what else does one say when governments are incapable of curbing even their own lavish personal lifestyles in the face of human misery?
uncertain
governments → seem → misery
The prime minister and his deputy, it seems, spend more time abroad than in the country.
asserted
it → seem → country
Newly born babies recently died in a hospital fire in the heart of the capital, petrol is going up faster than pollution, and we already know he is off to New York on the 20th to tell the world about Pakistan’s efforts in mediation.
asserted
he → bear → mediation
When one’s home is on fire, shouldn’t saving it be more important?
asserted
saving → save → it
A rhetorical question — for soon we will be subjected to a bunch of ministers and advisers walking on the tarmac and entering a plane.
asserted
bunch → subject → plane
Just recently both the president and the chief minister of Punjab travelled to Europe on personal visits on private planes.
asserted
president → travel → planes
And only widespread criticism forced them both to make public the information that the trips were paid for personally.
asserted
trips → force → that
As if anyone needed any more proof of such disconnect from the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.
asserted
anyone → need → Pakistanis
The president was on a personal visit while the party and the government he heads was announcing war on proposals to divide Sindh.
asserted
he → head → Sindh
And the Punjab CM — two-and-a-half years later — does not seem to realise that a display of wealth in these times is just poor judgement.
asserted
display → seem → times
Despite the widespread criticism of the aircraft purchased by the Punjab government, it was used for a personal trip.
asserted
it → purchase → trip
The display of a lavish wedding followed all of this.
asserted
display → follow → this
This is not to say that politicians should not be allowed private lives; they have every right to it.
asserted
they → say → it
However, extensive footage and images displaying the grandeur of an event is simply a poor decision.
asserted
footage → display → event
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
