In the midst of the chaos due to ongoing protests in Pok region, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif has announced an $86 million grant for POK on 13th May.
But, the question that arises is how economically crippled Pakistan will collect such a high amount together – both external and internal debt of Pakistan is more than 50% of Pakistan’s GDP, and it is also not the case that Pakistan is experiencing high growth this year with the World Bank estimating that Pakistan’s growth rate will be around 1.8% till June 2025.
Grant to be funded by Iraq deal
Thus, to manage the fund, Pakistan has a cracked new deal with Iraq.
Reportedly, Pakistan will sell 12 JF fighter jets to Iraq for 1.8 billion dollars. This is a much-needed amount for Pakistan, which is in dire economic condition. Pakistani media is refering to this as the land-mark agreement between Islamabad and Baghdad.
JF fighter jets were jointly developed by Pakistan and its debt trapper China. Internationally, Pakistan’s arm imports from China have increased from 69% in 2014 to 82% in 2023 – this is a significant jump all around the world.
While countries are trying to divert from China and trying not to depend upon China, Pakistan is increasing its dependency on China, which is costing huge weight to Pakistan’s pockets. This friendship between both countries is adversely affecting the financial conditions of people in PAK. as in order to pay off its huge debt and its soaring interest, Pak government laid huge tax rates on Pak people.
Reasons for the ongoing protests
The main reasons behind this uprising is said to be rising inflation in the country.
To register public protests against the government, the trade union joint Awama action committee started a strike, but events took dramatic turn when 70 members of this committee were arrested. This worked as fuel in fire for the people in Pok who have already been facing high soaring inflation, and now their right to protest was also harmed.
Reports suggest that Pakistani forces also tried to stop trade with India; this was an additional reason for anger.
The leaders in Pok have been protesting against discrimination in the distribution of power in the area. The premier of the region complained about not getting their fair share of the hydropower produced by the project. Haq said that his request for resources to increase salaries of government employees in the recent budget was not accepted and that he had to divert development funds to pay them.
