In the past few weeks, the crippling power crisis has led to riots in parts of Pakistan. At the same time, the USD 10 million bounty on founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Saeed, announced by the US government has caught the attention of the people of Pakistan, and become the focus of various politicians. Amid these larger concerns, it is easy to gloss over the predicament of various state-run institutions of Pakistan, many of whom have been beset by economic woes and plagued by news of corruption scandals. Indeed, even the national media has often given less importance to this news over the past months when compared to political machinations and foreign policy issues. Most of the institutions form the very backbone of Pakistan's domestic infrastructure. Despite Pakistan's hardy nature which has seemingly survived various disasters in the past, the complete collapse of anyone of these institutions could send the country into a tailspin that it may not be able to recover from. 

One such institution is the national airline, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). While PIA has been in economic trouble for years, recent information indicates that it may be heading to the point of no return. Presently, 10 aircrafts out of a total fleet size of 40, or one quarter of all PIA aircrafts, are grounded due to technical issues that the airline does not the have the funds to repair. Some of these have been grounded for months. Airport authorities of countries like the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia (two of the most popular flight destinations of PIA) have issued repeated warnings to PIA to ensure their flights land and take off in time or face penalties. Surging fuel costs have also proven to be a stumbling block for the airline which has running at a loss of billions of rupees for years now. PIA has also been mired in a corruption scandal over the purchase of 5 777ER aircrafts from Boeing. When former Air Force Chief of Staff Rao Qamar Suleman took charge as the Managing Director of PIA in March 2012, most newspapers carried editorials and articles detailing the "uphill tasks" he had ahead of him in attempting to rescue the beleaguered airline. 

Another institution, more crucial to the domestic situation of the country than PIA, the Pakistan Railways (PR) has also been troubled by economic issues for years now. In March 2012, the Economic Coordination Committee of Pakistan (ECC) announced a Rs. 6.1 billion loan to PR so that it can fund the repair nearly of 96 locomotives. Also in March 2012, PR's General Manager Saeed Akhtar, a close associate of Railways Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on charges of corruption. In late 2011, protests by the staff of PR over non-payment of salaries and the inability of the Railways to pay its fuel bills led to a virtual shuttering down of train services throughout Pakistan, until President Zardari authorized an emergency fund release to tide PR over the crisis. 

Other vital services and institutions, such as the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) have also been facing similar issues. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftekhar Chaudhry, while demanding an explanation for losses in 2009 in PSM totalling Rs. 26.5 billion due to mismanagement, recently stated that PIA, PSM and PR have all been hampered by corruption. In recent years, apart from these national institutions, various smaller provincial institutions have also been overwhelmed by similar issues of lack of budget, financial losses, non-payment of salaries to staff, misappropriation of funds and corruption. While similar issues are found in government-run bodies of most developing nations, the confluence of this many institutions failing in all these ways is undesirable for a country like Pakistan that is at a crucial stage in its economic development. Public anger against the failure of the government to provide basic amenities such as transport, water and power is rising daily as is evidenced by riots and public rallies over these issues. Moreover, in many parts of the country, the government is the main source of employment for many and non-payment of salaries and dues to groups such as railway employees, water board employees and teachers has resulted in opposition from unions and middle class members of Pakistani society.  

In the next year or so, the United States is looking to disentangle itself from the region. Given the increasing tension and friction between the US and its erstwhile ally, Pakistan, this means that much of the support extended to the Pakistani government and authorities, both financial and otherwise, will cease. This is certain to have a tangential impact on domestic institutions, placing them in further jeopardy. While Pakistan has looked repeatedly to China as its new support system, this is one situation while the latter is unlikely to be willing to help without economic returns. This indicates that the PPP-led civilian government has little idea on how to extricate itself from this potentially calamitous situation. This coupled with the anger of the public over these issues leaves the country open to disastrous results. In Pakistan, the tendency is to focus on the large, attention-grabbing issues: terrorism, religious extremism, dependence on the US, and most of all, political manoeuvring. Even as government-run bodies are haemorrhaging billions of rupees annually, political parties have not truly stated how this situation might be addressed, even with elections around the corner. Whether it is PPP, or PML-N, or PTI, or some combination thereof, there seems to be a lack of vision or roadmap out of these troubles. However hardy and resilient Pakistan has been in the past, a complete collapse of one or more of these state-run institutions will spell catastrophe for the country.