[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 11 | June 1, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Abstract:
The present paper probes the issue related to economic condition Pakistan and differentiate between poor and rich people. It demonstrates how the economic differences create social and emotional problems among these two groups. Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron present these two types of social classes which have unfriendly experience for each others. The sincere study of this aspect discovers many roots for social disharmony and chaos in Pakistan.
Article
Socio-economic problems of Pakistan stand as microcosm of global problems. The need of the hour is to understand that such economic disparity of a particular nation is not a problem of the nation only. In today’s time, when thousands of unemployed or poor are turning to be terrorist, it can’t be regarded as a problem of Pakistan only. The Novel of Kamila Shamsie thus, do the works of an eye opener for the rest of the world.
Dr. Norman Ahmed slams the quality of education at all the levels, starting from school to college level, non-existence of academic discipline, frequent closure due to political movements, terrorism and examination pattern have played a crucial role for the current academic system which ultimately affect the education system. He mentions about the credibility of university degree in “Incompetence: Educated, but unemployable” published in Dawn Newspaper on 16/03/2014:
The credibility of university degrees has greatly diluted. The private employers devise their own procedures to induct fresh cadres for common purpose jobs. In the case of public-sector employers, the validity of degrees and their corresponding link to promotion process is a matter beset with scandals. It was alleged in press reports recently that the high office of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority was lately occupied by a person who possessed no relevant educational background suitable for the job. – (Ahmed, “Incompetence: Educated”,“Dawn”)
It is also the fact that wars of decades and social instability, have impacted Pakistan’s economy. Based on the study of history of Pakistan, in case of Pakistan’s economic condition, there are many factors which affect the present scenario of economy of Pakistan such as:
- Continuous wars and battles
- Problems of terrorism
- Unemployment
- Tumbling stock market
- Unprecedented inflation
- Declining exports
- Loss of foreign exchange through terrorism
- Influx of local people from war ridden area and their rehabilitation – ( Saeed,“Pakistan: poor economy, rich country”, “The Express Tribune”)
At the heart of the novel Salt and Saffron of Kamila Shamsie, lies the socio economic condition of Pakistan. To lament the economic discrimination in Pakistan, she represents two classes of Pakistan which are completely opposite to each. The title itself reveals the theme of the novel. Salt represents the Poor and Saffron represents the Elite class. The novelist presents her ideas on how socio-economic discrimination is one of the most complex (and damaging) inequalities in the society because it is so closely linked to other forms of inequality and discrimination. The factors which determine a person’s socio-economic status have subtle influences on a person’s individual identity. Factor such as ability, family background, ethnicity, accent and choice of clothing; reading material, language, leisure activities, political and food preference etc. These identifying markers are often used to (wrongly) judge a person’s social ‘placement’ within society and the perceived ‘value’ of that placement. These perceptions and judgments are damaging because they are often used as a way of devaluing people who are thought to be of lower status. Trevor Phillips the chair of the Equality and Human Right Commission of U.K, alerts us about the dangers of socio-economic discriminations:
This inequality can affect a person’s self-esteem and motivation which may impact on other areas of their lives such as their health and employment. This disadvantage can ‘lock’ whole generations of families into cycles of deprivation and stop social-economic mobility within whole communities especially when poverty is usually an underlying factor. (Phillips, “What is socio-economic?”)
When Aliya, a central character of the novel Salt and Saffron, gives tips to waiter her arrogance for her money is observed. She says; “I tipped him more than generous amount.( That was another tip of dadi for making the lowly feel lower)” – (Shamsie, Salt) About the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, Riaz Haq, a retired government official who worked in tax collection in Pakistan for 38 years writes:
“This is a system of the elite, by the elite and for the elite,” and
“It is a skewed system in which the poor man subsidizes the rich man.”- (Riaz Haq, Working for the Few).
The New York Times published the news that Pakistan’s elite pays few taxes and widens the gap among financially unfortunate and fortunate. Much of Pakistan’s capital city looks like a rich Los Angeles suburb. Shiny sport utility vehicles purr down gated driveways. Sabrina Tavernise writes:
Elegant multistory homes are tended by servants. Laundry is never hung out to dry. But behind the opulence lurks a troubling fact. Very few of these households pay income tax. That is mostly because the politicians who make the rules are also the country’s richest citizens, and are skilled at finding ways to exempt themselves. – ( Tavernise, “Pakistan’s Elite”)
Pakistan’s policy of strengthening elites and devastating poor gets articulated in the following passage:
All this does is unmask the real character of this capitalist regime that has come out unashamedly and blatantly to strengthen the rich and the mighty in an economy that faces record deficits and is in an eternal financial crunch. All doubts have been cast aside as the burdens of the system and its crisis are squarely resting on the shoulders of the deprived and disenfranchised masses. This is in reality an open declaration of a class war as the crumbling capitalism in Pakistan has made the ruling class more insecure. They have shed all pretence, hypocrisy, deception and have revealed their true colours with naked economic repression of the already impoverished masses. It is ordinary people on the street who are paying for the plunder of this cruel and callous Sharif government and their crony capitalism. The rich are being exempted from taxation and the capitalists given unprecedented incentives to raise their already huge profits whilst the poor are being subjected to more and more indirect taxation. The combination of these two policies have wrecked havoc in the form of astronomical levels price increase and inflation and diminishing purchasing abilities. People are being forced into absolute poverty, hunger, starvation and this not only in Thar and Cholistan. – (Khan,L. “Pakistan; Strengthening the rich,devasting the poor”)
The emerging gap among the poor and the rich is the problem for not only Pakistan but for any nation of the world. But in Pakistan it causes more dangerous effect due to lack of a workable tax system.
As in Kamila Shamsie’s Salt and Saffron, where the difference of earning also affects human emotions, Shabbar Zaidi says:
In this country, no one asks, ‘How did you get that flat in zayfair?’ It’s a very good country for the rich man who has chauffeurs, servants, big houses. The question is who is suffering? The common man. -( Zaidi, Tavernise’s “Pakistan’s Elite”)
Nasir Aslam Zahid, a former Supreme Court justice, agreeing with Mohsin Hamid and Kamila Shamsie’s portrayal of moral decay of elite people in the novels such as Moth Smoke and Salt and Saffron, writes: “In my time, it was considered a moral thing for a person to file a tax return. Today, corruption has broken all records.” -(Zahid, “Pakistan’s elite…”). The novelists send the message that in Pakistan, people have lost the respect for rules due to the moral decay and thus, merit has been forgotten and cheating has become a way of life.
Somehow, the scenario in India is the same. One blames politicians, bureaucrats and government officers for swindling, hoarding and sending their money to Swiss Bank. The situation in Pakistan is the same where elite people don’t think twice when they have to pay for their entertainment and other leisure. Faiza Mirza writes:
Most of us work and every year we demand our respective employers to evaluate our performance. Some of us even fight with our immediate supervisors for a raise, however, very few of us think about giving an increment to our servants. Or is it just because we assume that the affects of price hikes only apply to us? – (Mirza, “Letting the rich get”, “Dawn”)
Shamsie scorns the people who corrupt the society and expand the gap between ‘Salt class’ and ‘Saffron class’. She shares a message that Pakistan’s people whether the rich or the poor, need to understand that taking benefits of their predicament is not only against the principles of basic human rights but also causes cruel effect on the economy. It is the time when people should realize that if they don’t pay the taxes as per the rule, they are increasing the inequalities.
It is clear that the constant war and terrorism have affected the economy of the nation. Shamsie, in her final novel Burnt Shadows, writes about life of people living in ‘War Forever’ condition. The situation of ‘War Forever’ affects almost all the factors of society. The novelist depicts many examples where people are fighting for the food, they are killing and selling their children due to the drought.Andre glorifies the significance of economic development in “Money is Root of all evils” that common men work and struggle for money. When he is in debt, he also cries for money. The basic difference between human being is also due to money because money makes a person rich or poor.
Considering the population as one of the root causes of the economic condition, an anonymous article says:
The major problem in Pakistan is increase in population which is directly effecting our economic growth. Of course, due to higher rate of population, we should increase our investments but due to less financial reserves this investment is not possible.
– (“Economic of Condition Pakistan”, “Made for Pakistan”)
Works Cited
- Shamsie, Kamila. Burnt Shadows. Paperback, Bloomsbury, 2010 Print.
- —, Broken Verses. Paperback, Bloomsbury, 2010 Print.
- —.“Calling Karachi”, “Nirali”, April 2008, Web. January 05, 2012
- —. Kartography. Paperback, Bloomsbury, 2010 Print.
- Dar, Ishaq. “Elimination of terrorism will make Pakistan ideal market”, “Daily Times”, 14/10/2014. Web. Retrieved from
- Haq, Riaz. “Haq’s Musing”, “Comparing Pakistan and USA”, October, 2013, Web. Retrieved from
http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/10/comparing-us-and-pakistani-tax-evaders.html
- —. Working for the Few:Political capture and economic inequality,
- Khan, Lal. “Pakistan; Strengthening the rich, devastating the poors”, “In Defence of Marxcism”,08/04/2014, Web. Retrieved from http://www.marxist.com/strengthening-the-rich-devastating-the-poor.htm
- Mirza, Faiza. “Letting the rich get richer and poor get poorer”, “Dawn”, 19/11/2012. Web.
Retrieved from http://www.dawn.com/news/765272/letting-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-poorer
- “Pakistan’s economic condition on its worse: IMF report”, 12/09/2013, Pakistan, 2013. Web. Retrieved from
http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/09/12/pakistans-economic- condition-on-its-worse-imf-report/