Pakistan’s Energy Crisis – A Window of Opportunity

As I write this article, Pakistan is going through its worst energy crisis… in fact perhaps the world’s worst energy crisis. We have a shortfall of around 8000 MW of electricity and in order to cover this shortfall, the Power Distribution Company here conducts electrical load shedding.

As per this load shedding, cities go without electricity for as long as 12 – 16 hours a day and small cities, towns and villages remain powerless for upto 18 – 24 hours!

In the scorching summer heat, this is resulting in a manic frustration at the inefficiency of the corrupt government which failed to work this need out in advance. There are widespread protests in smaller cities where water shortages and daily work loss are all time high. So far more than three people have been killed in the protests which the police tried to disperse with aerial firing.

There is a sense of manic frustration in the people towards the corrupt government that seems completely unmoved by the huge economic loss the country is incurring every day.

However, this frustration is actually very risky business. It is not healthy because even though it stems from legitimate reasons, it is creating as feeling of victimhood. Victims are those who feel they have been wronged and that they are entitled to something better which the other must give them. Victimhood can result from legitimate grievance however since it is a feeling of embittered resentment, it doesn’t take a person too far on the path to growth and excellence.

Victims for instance feel that they can go ahead and do whatever they think right in order to avenge themselves. So in order to avenge themselves, the angry protestors are damaging public utilities like traffic signals, road signs, electricity poles and transformers, thereby creating more harm. Ripping traffic signals and public utility offices will certainly not solve the problem. Nor will buying more generators help.

What we suggest is not an ascetic take on the crisis whereby a traumatized affectee must endure the misery quietly hoping to achieve some sort of nirvana.

As Fakhir Shah says, “We need to understand the difference between rights focus and duties focus. Rights focus means that one is demanding others to give one his rights – they have to do something. Duties focus does not mean to give up your rights – it means what one should be doing in a situation where his rights are being withheld illegitimately.”

Here is what can be done by the civil society right now in order to overcome the grave crisis:

1. The civil society can form a unified, unanimous body that pledges to overcome the crisis irrespective of the members’ ethnic and social background.
2. Each elected representative of the affected areas must be approached and a complaint be lodged formally.
3. The elected representatives and the government can be held accountable in the court of law. Thankfully our judiciary is still quite competent compared to the other institutions.
4.  Concerted effort must be made by engaging wealthy entrepreneurs, media, scientists and technical experts within this body to collaborate for indigenous energy solutions using solar, thermal and wind power.
5. The youth can be engaged by funding amateur projects that come up with alternative energy solutions. We certainly need more of these than what the TV channels are churning out in the name of marriage and dance reality shows!
6. The civil body could collaborate with the power authority in wiping out illegal electrical connections.

The idea is that adversity brings a window of opportunity if one sees the adverse situation as a potential for the self to contribute. People like Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, Edhi and Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank realized this while encountering great adversity.

There’s tremendous opportunity in the adversity Pakistan is facing right now, provided we shift our attention from a focus on our rights to a focus on our duties.