News from the National Assembly and the Senate regularly brings legislation and perks that rub salt into the wounds of ordinary citizens. Sometimes it is a staggering rise in lawmakers' salaries. At other times it is a proposal that anyone elected senator, even for a single day or without completing a term, should be showered along with their family with lifelong blue passports and other special privileges. On one side stand the elite's limitless entitlements. On the other is the severe economic, social, and psychological toll borne by the common citizen.
The Hard Facts
Set emotion aside and consider only figures from credible international and local institutions, and the gravity of the situation is chilling.
| Issue | The Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Poverty | 40%+ of the population below the poverty line | World Bank |
| Educated unemployment | 31–33% of graduates and educated youth are jobless | PIDE |
| Out-of-school children | 26 million+ children aged 5–16 out of school | UNICEF |
| Mental illness | ~34% of the population affected by depression, anxiety, or other conditions | BMJ / mental health experts |
| Brain drain | 1.5–2 million Pakistanis emigrated in recent years | Bureau of Emigration |
Poverty
According to World Bank reports, more than 40 per cent of Pakistan's population lives below the poverty line, and a large share of the region's poorest people reside in this country. Inflation, needless taxes, and punishing electricity and gas bills have broken the back of the salaried and middle classes, pushing them, too, into the ranks of the poor.
Educated and Jobless
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) puts unemployment among educated youth and graduates at 31 to 33pc. That is, one in every three degree-holders is out of work. In a country where talent goes unrewarded and nepotism and recommendation rule, degrees in the hands of young people have been reduced to scraps of paper.
A Future Denied Education
According to UNICEF, more than 26 million children aged five to 16 are out of school in Pakistan, one of the largest out-of-school populations in the world. Article 25-A of the Constitution guarantees every child free and compulsory education as a fundamental right, yet in practice that right has been snatched from millions.
Mental Illness and Suicide
According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and mental health experts, roughly 34pc of the population, or one in three people, suffers from depression, anxiety, or some other mental illness. The leading causes are economic distress, unemployment, and uncertainty about the future. Worries over livelihood and the cruelty of circumstance have driven some talented young people to the extreme step of taking their own lives.
Brain Drain
Bureau of Emigration data show that over the past few years, between 1.5 and two million Pakistanis, including doctors, engineers, IT professionals, and skilled young people, have left the country. Today, every Pakistani is looking for a chance to escape the system.
Policies That Add Fuel to the Fire
For years, and especially since 2022, the public has been fed the same assurance: "bear a little more, make sacrifices, economic stability is around the corner." Yet in the name of cooperation and sacrifice, it is only the poor and the middle classes who are being ground down like oxen at the oil press.
Citizens are being deprived of life's basic necessities, law and order is in shambles, and people have lost all political hope. Meanwhile, the ruling class and the elite have not trimmed their lavish expenses, protocol, and free perks by an inch. When elected representatives, instead of resolving public problems, award themselves extraordinary and unnecessary increases in privileges, what is that if not adding fuel to the fire?
The Need of the Hour, and the Storm Ahead
Those in power must now come to their senses. Instead of paper claims, they must take timely and correct decisions that bring the public immediate and real relief.
It should not be forgotten that in the next few years, when the new generation, Gen Z, shoulders the practical responsibility for its homes, families, and country, these disillusioned and weary young people will not sit silent. If they have no jobs in their hands and no hope of a better future in their eyes, these sleeping lions may awaken and, in the name of reform, wreck a great deal. Before time runs out, the elite must change its priorities.