The Petroleum Division of Pakistan has issued a chilling warning that the nation is left with only 27 days of petrol and a mere 9 days of LPG, underscoring a dangerous 70% dependency on imports that leaves our sovereignty at the mercy of others. While the Secretary of Petroleum attempts to justify the recent 55-rupee price hike as a measure to “curb hoarding,” the reality feels like a calculated heist on the public’s pocket, designed to bury the masses under the crushing weight of survival so they can no longer find the strength to demand their basic rights.
This economic catastrophe is reflected in the latest data from the World Bank and local experts, which reveals that over 40% of Pakistanis—more than 90 million people—now live below the poverty line, unable to provide even two basic meals a day for their children. In just one year, runaway inflation between 30% and 40% has pushed another 10 million souls into absolute destitution, turning the traditional caloric measure of the poverty line into a line written in blood.
The “Food Poverty” is now so acute that a single bag of flour costs a laborer three days of hard wages, while “Energy Poverty” ensures that every petrol hike instantly inflates the price of milk and vegetables, effectively vanishing the curry from the poor man’s plate. As education and healthcare become unattainable luxuries for families spending 80% of their income on bills, a specific elite class continues to “swallow” free fuel at the public’s expense even during the holy month of Ramadan. While a commoner weeps at the petrol pump, Supreme Court judges are allotted 600 liters, High Court judges 500 liters, and senior bureaucrats and ministers between 300 to 600 liters of free petrol every month—perks that often continue long after retirement.
It is a stinging injustice that while the economy is on a ventilator, luxury SUV convoys and lavish protocols remain untouched, and not a single rupee has been voluntarily cut from the privileges of the ruling class. The time for empty promises has passed; if the state is to be saved from total collapse, the reform must begin at the top by immediately abolishing free fuel, electricity, and gas for the elite and diverting those funds to provide direct relief to the starving population. We must remember that in a society where the guardians of law roam on free fuel while children cry from hunger, the system does not just fail—it collapses under the weight of its own hypocrisy.
