What happened: The last three days have been very taxing for everyone, from daily wagers to ones with offices in high rises, from freelancers to delivery riders and students too, all of us were affected by the political crisis. More: Following Imran Khan’s arrest, major riots broke out throughout the country due to which multiple things happened, the angry protesters broke into the IV corps commander’s house in Lahore and vandalised it, destroying property of the army which was funded by the tax, the building, and its valuables cannot be priced as it was the house of Quaid-e-Azam which was rented to the army in 1948. Further: The violent protests also forced retailers to shut down markets for around 3 days causing massive losses to the retailers themselves and the national exchequer too as there were no sales for three days hence taxes could also not be collected for 3 long days. Delivery riders also took the toll, as data services were ordered to be shut, and companies like Bykea, Careem, and others were forced to seize their operations due to the non-availability of internet services causing riders to suffer as they relied on their daily earnings of providing services, as this form of transport was shut, in a city like Karachi, the Peoples Bus Service which the people of Karachi got after years of prayers, it’s busses were also set ablaze. While the Internet was shut down, freelancers, who are very important for a country dwindling with its foreign reserves, were also not cared for, freelancers could not work to get paid as the connecting websites reportedly added a note to Pakistani freelancers that, they may not be able to work due to internet problems. According to The Nation, the telecom industry itself suffered losses of over rupees 2 billion due to the suspension of the network. Further: It is the Public who shall be affected by all this as the country runs on their hard-earned money, the protests also caused losses to the national treasury as the there were the police, rangers, army, paramedical staff, and personnel of other state institutes, they all used the taxpayers money to conduct all their operations, all of this also increased Pakistan’s daily expenditure while there was no earning of the state for 3 whole days.
Amongst all this political frenzy, very few people noticed that the price of the United States Dollar in Pakistani rupees had crossed 300rupees. The finance minister was yet nowhere to be seen but his tall claims of the IMF bailing out the cash-ridden government went in vain, as of the 5th of May, the Express Tribune reported that Pakistan’s foreign reserves had fallen by 74 million US dollars to around 4.4 billion US dollars. Future: While all were affected, students, the future of Pakistan also got a glimpse of what the future beheld them in their own country, their annual exams of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades were cancelled by their respective boards, years which were deciding years for their future were badly affected, all their hard work went in vain as exams were cancelled throughout the country.
