The Federal Government’s latest cabinet decision has laid bare one of the most disturbing contradictions in Pakistan’s governance.

At a time when the country is confronting an unprecedented fiscal crisis, a public debt exceeding Rs90 trillion, soaring inflation, shrinking economic opportunities, and a rapidly declining standard of living, the government has chosen to reward the country’s highest bureaucracy with new allowances and enhanced executive benefits while offering only a token 7% increase in salaries to millions of government employees and even less relief to pensioners. In the very same meeting, the Cabinet also extended austerity measures for the rest of the public sector and the nation. Such contradictory decisions raise a fundamental question: Is austerity meant only for ordinary employees and citizens, while privilege remains the exclusive preserve of a select few?

This is not merely a financial decision; it is a test of the government’s commitment to fairness, equity, and responsible governance.

Across Pakistan, millions of citizens are struggling every day simply to make ends meet. Families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford food, electricity, gas, healthcare, education, housing, and transportation. Unemployment and underemployment continue to cast a dark shadow over the country’s future. Countless young graduates, despite years of education and sacrifice by their families, remain unemployed or underemployed.

Frustration among the youth is growing as opportunities continue to diminish. Pensioners are watching the purchasing power of their lifelong savings disappear, while lower-paid government employees are forced to make painful compromises merely to provide for their families.

At such a difficult time, when the nation expects those entrusted with public office to demonstrate restraint and solidarity, the decision to further enhance the financial privileges of the highest bureaucracy sends a deeply disturbing message about national priorities.

The Cabinet has approved only a 7% increase in salaries for government employees, while pensioners have received even less relief. For millions of serving and retired public servants, this increase is insignificant when compared with the relentless rise in inflation, electricity and gas tariffs, fuel prices, rents, school fees, and healthcare costs. The purchasing power of ordinary employees has steadily declined, yet they have once again been told that the country’s financial position does not permit meaningful relief.

Ironically, during the very same meeting, the Cabinet approved a new All Pakistan Services (APS) Provincial Governments’ Cadre Posts’ Parity Allowance, effective from 1 July 2026, and further decided that the existing 150% Executive Allowance would now be calculated on the running basic pay instead of the outdated 2017 pay scales. These decisions are expected to cost the national exchequer approximately Rs1.8 billion.

Adding to the contradiction, the Cabinet also extended austerity measures by restricting the purchase of new government vehicles, banning the creation of new posts, limiting procurement of durable goods, and discouraging non-essential foreign visits. The obvious question is: Who is actually expected to observe austerity?

Pakistan today is passing through one of the gravest economic crises in its history. Public debt has crossed Rs90 trillion (over Rs90,000 billion), equivalent to more than US$138 billion. Every Pakistani today carries a debt burden of approximately Rs250,000. Every newborn child enters this world already burdened with public debt accumulated over decades. The government repeatedly reminds citizens that there is no fiscal space for relief. Taxes continue to rise, utility bills continue to increase, development spending remains constrained, and inflation continues to erode household incomes. Yet, when the issue concerns enhancing the financial benefits of the highest bureaucracy, billions of rupees suddenly become available.

This is the contradiction that ordinary Pakistanis find increasingly difficult to understand.
No cadre of the civil service, however prestigious, belongs to another class. No public servant comes from another planet, nor is any service composed of superhuman beings.

Every officer and every employee is paid from the same national exchequer. Every rupee spent on salaries and allowances comes from the taxes paid by the people of Pakistan. The Constitution enshrines the principle of equality before the law, and public policy should reflect the same spirit of fairness, impartiality, and equal respect for every public servant.

Teachers educate future generations. Doctors and nurses protect public health. Veterinary professionals safeguard Pakistan’s livestock sector, one of the country’s most valuable economic assets. Engineers build infrastructure. Police personnel maintain law and order. Agricultural scientists strengthen food security. Researchers, accountants, clerks, technicians, and thousands of field staff keep government institutions functioning every single day.
Government is a collective enterprise. No single cadre can claim exclusive ownership of the State.

The issue is not whether senior officers deserve respectable salaries.
They certainly do. Every public servant deserves fair and dignified compensation. The real issue is why fairness appears to operate selectively. Whenever ordinary employees seek salary revisions, fiscal constraints are cited. Whenever pensioners request meaningful relief, they are advised to exercise patience.

Whenever development projects require funding, austerity becomes the guiding principle. Yet when proposals arise to enhance the compensation of a privileged segment of the bureaucracy, financial constraints somehow disappear.

Such decisions inevitably create the perception that Pakistan has two systems operating side by side: one for the privileged and another for everyone else. One group is repeatedly asked to sacrifice in the national interest, while another continues to receive enhanced financial privileges even during a period officially described as economic emergency.

The consequences extend far beyond salaries and allowances. When millions of teachers, doctors, veterinarians, engineers, police personnel, researchers, ministerial staff, and other public servants feel neglected, morale declines, motivation weakens, and confidence in public institutions erodes. Ultimately, it is the ordinary citizen who pays the price through weaker public services and less effective governance.

The financial impact of these allowances may be estimated at Rs1.8 billion, but the more important question is one of priorities. In a country facing severe fiscal stress, every rupee carries immense value.

The same resources could have strengthened public hospitals, improved government schools, established veterinary hospitals, financed scholarships, supported research, recruited essential staff, or provided more meaningful relief to lower-paid employees and pensioners.

Having served as Financial Adviser in the Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, I fully understand the importance of fiscal discipline and prudent financial management. I also recognise that governments must often make difficult decisions in times of economic stress. However, fiscal discipline derives its legitimacy from fairness, transparency, and shared sacrifice. It cannot command public confidence if ordinary employees, pensioners, and taxpayers are repeatedly asked to bear the burden of adjustment while additional financial privileges continue to flow to those who are already among the highest-paid public servants. Such an approach risks undermining not only employee morale but also public confidence in the government’s commitment to justice, equity, and sound governance.

A nation burdened with debt exceeding Rs90 trillion, where every citizen carries an average debt of approximately Rs250,000, cannot afford selective generosity. A government that asks its people to embrace austerity must first demonstrate that austerity begins at the top. Shared sacrifice must genuinely be shared.

The question before the nation is simple but profound: When millions of Pakistanis are struggling to survive, when unemployed youth are losing hope, when pensioners cannot cope with inflation, when lower-paid employees are unable to meet the basic cost of living, and when every citizen is burdened with an enormous national debt, should the government’s priority be creating new financial privileges for those who are already among the highest-paid public servants—or providing meaningful relief to the people who keep the machinery of the State running every day?

History will judge governments not by how generously they rewarded the powerful, but by how fairly they treated ordinary citizens during the nation’s most difficult economic times.

Dr Alamdar Hussain Malik
Advisor Academics,University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Swat
Former Financial Adviser,Finance Division, Government of Pakistan