The haunting soliloquy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To be, or not to be,” was never just about a prince’s indecision, it was a meditation on the agony of existence under the weight of injustice. Today, as Pakistan grapples with a spiraling economic crisis and a fractured polity, this question resonates through the streets of Islamabad and the wheat fields of Pakistan in particular province of Punjab. But in our context, the question has shifted from the philosophical to the existential. Does the government exist for its people, or merely for its “frontmen”?

The recent revelations raised by political figures regarding the wheat scandal where cheap grain was reportedly diverted to influential frontmen while the masses braced for inflation, perfectly encapsulate the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that the Pakistani citizen and farmer must endure.

In our political lexicon, the “Frontman” has become a permanent institution. Whether it is the procurement of wheat, the allocation of sugar quotas, or the management of real estate empires, the real power often hides behind a veneer of proxies. These frontmen are the gatekeepers of the elite’s interests, ensuring that “to be” is a privilege reserved for the few, while “not to be” in terms of economic survival is the destiny of the many.

When wheat, the very lifeline of the common man, becomes a tool for rewarding loyalists, the social contract isn’t just broken; it is incinerated. We are left in a state of perpetual “Hamlet-like” hesitation. Should we reform the system from within, or is the corruption so deep-rooted that the system itself is seeking its own “quietus”?

Pakistan’s current political state is defined by a “pale cast of thought.” We see a government caught in the clutches of IMF mandates on one side and populist pressure on the other. Every decision feels like a gamble, and every policy feels like a temporary fix. The ruling elite is perpetually stuck in the dilemma of “To be (in power) or not to be (accountable).”

The tragedy of Hamlet was that his inaction led to a stage littered with bodies. For Pakistan, the inaction or rather, the action taken only to benefit “frontmen” leads to a middle class sliding into poverty and a youth force looking for the nearest exit out of the country.

For Pakistan to truly “be,” it must dismantle the culture of proxies. If we continue to prioritize the “frontmen” over the “common man,” the question of our national stability will no longer be a matter of debate, it will be a tragic conclusion. It is time for the government to choose existence over extinction, and transparency over the shadows.