IT was, perhaps, inevitable given the work ethic that prevails in Pakistan. After initially declaring a three-day holiday period for Eidul Azha, the federal government followed Sindh’s lead and, on Monday, announced that on Friday, too, the country would be taking time out from business as usual, thus extending the break from Tuesday through to next Sunday. As far as the government is concerned, Pakistan has its affairs well in order and there is little work of any pressing nature to do — never mind the fact that so dire is the situation that, as stated in the editorial above, the government is holding multiparty consultations on how to revive it. Were the doors of government opened at the beginning of this week only to announce that it was elongating the break? The element of delight would have been even greater had a few more days been thrown in.

As usual, short-term gains have trumped the bigger picture, and here lies one clue to the riddle of why the state is in such a shambles. True, there are many people across the country who have to travel back to their hometowns to be with their families on Eid. But by the time the additional day off was announced, most travel plans would already have been made. Indeed, the conscientious who expected to be back at work on Friday will end up being penalised. More importantly, though, is no one counting the costs of having banks, businesses, educational institutions and indeed, the government itself, closed for such an extended period? Clearly not. This is a country where transport, commerce and business etc already face frequent shutdowns due to strikes and violence. The last thing the government ought to be doing is wilfully adding to the time wasted.